Creating Emergency Action Plans isn’t as challenging as you might think. Most action plans are only a few pages at the most, and keeping things simple also makes it easier for your team members to learn and understand. Not to mention, people tend to retain items easier when they are straightforward and to the point, so we recommend making your Emergency Action Plan follow these same criteria.

An Emergency Action Plan is critical to business emergency mitigation and hazard avoidance protocol. Ensuring that your business meets the criteria for minimum regulatory requirements is merely the first step. It requires the creation of an Emergency Action Plan as a means of training team members to emergency processes and regulations.

Let’s look at how the Emergency Action Plan (or EAP) is set up and the sections that we can use to build our own, following the example provided. You can have your EAP up and running in no time, so stick with us, and by the end of this article, you’ll know exactly what you need to complete your Emergency Action Plans. Stick around after for the essential tips we’ve got to help you speed up the process and make it more efficient. We’ll start with what you need to include in your EAP.

Emergency Action Plan Inclusions

Creating your EAP isn’t as hard as you might think. A simple method to creating one is to merely break it down into segments and complete each brief part. 

According to the OSHA, you should include six sections in your EAP. We’ve broken them down for ease of EAP creation:

1. An emergency reporting process
2. An emergency evacuation plan including evacuation routes
3. Team member accountability headcount process post evacuation
4. Rescue and first-aid duties
5. Critical operations procedures for final shutdown
6. Emergency contact list

An Emergency Reporting Process

Every business is different, and many have various means of reporting emergencies. Various emergencies may also have different standards of reporting. For example, fire emergencies might require pulling an internal fire alarm. Or maybe it’s merely to call 911. As each business is different, the means of reporting may differ.

When creating your emergency reporting process, start with the most predictable emergency potentials and work your way out from there. Fire is a typical starting point, given its voracity. Here’s a sample of what a business might have in this section of the EAP:

Emergency Reporting Processes For Acme Company

• Fire – Trigger local fire alarm and meet at the designated evacuation point. Report to the regional area supervisor.
• Accident Causing Injury – Complete emergency first-aid or notify local first-aid trained team members. If applicable, call 911. If the injured individual meets the criteria for non-emergency treatment, provide transport to a medical facility as deemed appropriate and report to the local area supervisor.
• Chemical Spill – Place emergency cones around the area and retrieve the chemical spill kit. Follow instructions provided with the spill kit, utilizing the included personal protective equipment. Report spill to the local area supervisor.
• Machine Fault – Electrical – Immediately use emergency disconnect if accessible. If not accessible, place safety cones a safe distance from fault and call the local manager to turn off the power to the area.

An Emergency Evacuation Plan Including Evacuation Routes

Each facility needs to have posted evacuation plans. Most businesses use a printed map of the facility that shows the entrances and fire exits. Posting the evacuation plans in conspicuous locations throughout your facility will guarantee that staff is well-versed in evacuation exit points.

Here is a sample of what one of these posted evacuation plans might look like:

Team member Accountability Headcount Process Post Evacuation

With over $14.8 billion in property damage from the 1,291,500 fires in 2019, it’s no wonder that businesses wish to avoid adding to the statistics. Regularly scheduled fire drills are one way to steer your company in the right direction and avoid joining the statistic. (source)

When you complete your evacuations, whether a drill or the real thing, you must have a process to count all people in the facility before evacuation.

Creating your team member accountability process must include guests, contractors, visitors, and employees. One of the best ways to achieve this task quickly and efficiently is to use a departmental breakdown for team members and assign a specific individual or department to include the guests, contractors, and other non-company personnel on-site.

Sample of a Team Member Accountability Procedure

Post Evacuation Headcount Procedure

Upon arrival to their respective department’s evacuation point, each team leader will maintain a headcount of all personnel, both company and otherwise, who were at the evacuation point. Upon ascertaining the headcount, the team leader will relay that headcount to the administration at evacuation point one. If changes to the headcount are required, the team leader will immediately notify the administrative department.

Rescue And First-Aid Duties

Rescue and first-aid duties will be proportional to the facility operations and potential incident types. In most typical scenarios, each team member is trained in their respective department’s emergency rescue and evacuation procedures, and members of each department are tasked with first-aid training. The first-aid training typically operates on a volunteer basis, but some companies may opt for appointed status if local legislation permits.

Most rescuers are also trained on how to write an incident report in case they face a rescue situation.

A sample rescue and first-aid duties section of your EAP might look something like the following sample:

Emergency Action Plan Rescue And First-Aid Duties

All employees will do their best to rescue anyone in danger within the facility as long as it is safe to do so. Staff members trained in first-aid procedures will administer emergency first-aid as required within the facility.

The rescue and first-aid duties section of any section of the EAP may not need to be highly in-depth. In truth, a simple process is often understood as simpler than a complex procedure. However, don’t forget to include any pertinent details required with your particular operations.

Critical Operations Procedures For Final Shutdown

Many companies with complex machinery or processes may require a more complicated shutdown procedure for safety reasons. Take a manufacturing process that utilizes flammable or hazardous materials. The safe shutdown procedure may require a moment or even two. In the case of a fire, we want to evacuate immediately, but you don’t evacuate something like a nuclear plant because of a small fire – leaving it to grow and cause more significant hazards.

Within your EAP, you must include the necessary operating procedures for your facility’s final and safe shutdown. The policies must maximize safety and strive to complete the shutdown procedure as quickly and safely as possible.

Here is a same of a potential critical operation procedure for a facility with a refueling station:

Critical Operations Shutdown Procedure

1. Upon activation of an alarm system, you must clear the refueling station and the emergency gas valve closed.
2. Upon initial gas shutoff valve closure, immediately close the secondary valves.
3. Lock and shut the flameproof cabinet cover over the gas meters and ensure all fire shutters have closed fully.
4. Exit the refueling station via the north or south-central fire exits and ensure the door closes behind you.
5. Proceed to the department evacuation point and notify management of the completed shutdown procedure.

Emergency Contact List

The final minimum requirement for completing a good Emergency Action Plan is a list of emergency contacts. The contacts should include local emergency departments, supervisors, managers, or other personnel within the management team at your organization and any other specific emergency service providers such as private security, for example.

Putting Your Emergency Action Plan Together

In order to complete your EAP, there are a couple of best practices. First, we recommend maintaining a master binder or other copy of your emergency action plan. Second, it is best to provide your team members with multiple EAP copies and offer an initial training meeting on the core concepts.

Upon completing a general training session with your team, we recommend taking your EAP and specializing the training to suit each department’s particular set of operations. Set up routine refresher training and fire drills to complete the process.

7 Tips To Leading The Use Of Emergency Action Plans

Having new processes for your team members can create challenging training scenarios. That’s why we recommend using a unified system to deliver and maintain your EAP processes and policies. But what happens if you have revolving positions or a large corporation? Training can pose a challenging task. Luckily, we have some solutions for you.

Tip 1: Use A Digital Reporting System

Delivering your training and EAP documents via a digital platform is one of, if not the single best, way to maintain, train, and utilize the core concepts of a robust EAP. Similarly, using checklists to help automate the process and keep your staff from missing key points is a proven technique for a complete emergency action plan process.

Tip 2: Make Your Policy Rewarding

So long as there is something to be gained (and perhaps even sometimes when there is not), employees will respond well to positively reinforcing processes. Implementing an EAP can help team members access training, certification, or provide other non-tangible benefits for having good processes in place; you will see your compliance rates rise quickly.

Tip 3: Inspect What You Expect

This technique will take diligence and consistency on management, but it works well if done correctly. The idea behind this ideal solution is that you have a defined period during which it’s time to go through all of the policy documents together. Not only does this create additional buy-in from leadership staff, but it also allows for a more natural review process on an as-needed basis.

Tip 4: Let Employees Take The Lead

One way to get employees invested in the safety of their workplace is to give them a voice in the emergency action planning process. Allowing individuals to have a say in what they feel comfortable with and where they think potential risks may exist can be extremely helpful in getting buy-in from your team members.

Tip 5: Utilize Technology Wisely

Technology can play an essential role in maintaining processes and implementing solutions during an emergency but beware of becoming a crutch. Using technology for things like checklists, recordings, or other documentation purposes is generally a good idea, whereas delivering critical safety information can often result in disaster. That’s why trusting a viable solution like the 1st Reporting app is a wise move.

Tip 6: Use Training Sessions Effectively

Employees need to be able to understand the EAP processes and be able to enact them quickly and effectively when needed. It is why using practical training sessions that engage employees is so essential. Allowing team members to ask questions and participate in drills can help ensure that everyone understands what needs to happen when an emergency does arise.

Tip 7: Keep It Fresh

Like anything else, it’s essential to keep your emergency action plan process fresh. Reviewing and updating documents as needed, conducting training sessions regularly, and utilizing different methods of communication are all great ways to make sure that your team is both aware of and ready for anything that might happen.