All industrial facilities should have an emergency response plan. Here are ten tips for establishing and implementing an emergency response plan.
1. Establish a well-defined Emergency Response Plan (ERP)
* Check ERP to ensure compliance with regulations and standards
* Involve various plant disciplines in the ERP such as operations, management, medical, industrial, hygiene, safety, environmental
* Take recommendations for improvements from various plant sectors
2. Ensure the company personnel are familiarized and trained to carry out the ERP
* Perform fire drills and run simulated release scenarios
3. Update the ERP in response to changes in operations, state and federal regulations, etc.
4. Coordinate and plan post-incident investigation
* Evaluate system policies and the effects of spoliation issues
* Review electronic security and policies
* Appropriate use of attorney-client privilege
5. Stress importance of proper report-writing technique
* All observations and conclusions should be factual
* Committee opinions and beliefs based on circumstantial evidence should not be stated
* Recommendations should be limited to those which have a direct bearing on the incident in question
* All documents and emails are most likely discoverable and may be used in court
6. Update management on facility maintenance and operational safety procedures
* Train employees on writing reports and keeping accurate files
* Install professional systems and a safety audit
7. Establish accurate procedures for communication with state
and federal authorities
* Review calculations and reporting procedure – Peer review system
* Library of materials for calculations
* Emphasize wording and language of report
* Train personnel on importance of accurate documentation
8. Establish effective and accurate lines of communication with community
* Identify and train spokespeople
* Establish lines of communication with security personnel
* Review community alert systems and warning system for neighboring plants
* Retain media consultant
9. Mitigate severe health consequences immediately
* Have an on-site toxicologist / industrial hygienist
* Review and audit MSDS’s
* Train emergency responders and update plant medical personnel
10. Install chemical monitoring equipment; map and trace hazardous concentration of released chemicals
* Pre-mapped demographic information of surrounding area
* Procedure for obtaining meteorological data
* Pre-established monitoring points correlated to meteorological data
* Plan for necessary monitoring equipment/acquisition of data