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Emergency Response Plans for Your Office

March 28, 2022

Your office should have an emergency response plan to ensure the safety of your employees and visitors. When an on-going emergency response plan (ERP) is in place, you need to quickly give instructions to anyone present in the building. Inform them whether they should evacuate, find shelter, shelter in place, or go into lock-down mode.

Creating Emergency Response Plans

Communication is key when creating an ERP for your office. Gather everyone together to discuss before making any permanent plans for your team members. After resolving any communication issues, one of the most important things to do is conduct a “risk assessment.”

During a risk assessment, you identify any potential hazards and what to do if facing that situation. It is your job to be prepared for any unexpected emergencies that could happen in your office or around it. This includes flooding, tornadoes, fires, or even just a simple electrical outage.

After risk assessment, the next important thing to do is create performance objectives. These performance objectives should be a list of goals that you would need to accomplish in the event of an emergency. The first thing you need to do is make sure everyone in your office is safe. After ensuring everyone’s safety, then you must resolve the emergency, which might be done by calling emergency services and identifying any other hazards that could follow.

Office Response

Offer training to all your employees for when the unexpected occurs. Finding shelter, sheltering in place, lockdown procedures, evacuations, and fire drills should all be taught and practiced to keep safety as everyone’s main priority. In addition, having your employees CPR certified and trained in basic first aid can be extremely valuable during an emergency.

You can also create a written policy and an emergency response team for your office. A written policy consists of tasks, like making sure everyone is accounted for after the emergency, reporting any incidents, and getting medical help for those who need it. The emergency response team should be a group of volunteers who are good at keeping calm and keeping things orderly. They will be the people in charge of carrying out the written policy, which should be specifically made by your office and for your office.

Unexpected Emergencies

Of course, nobody can expect the unexpected, which is why an ERP and office training are so important. There is a lot to do when creating this type of plan, but ensuring the safety of your employees and office guests will always make it worth it.

When it comes to training your employees for emergencies, Specialized Health and Safety Management can help. We offer CPR certification classes, basic first aid, and more—enroll in a class today!


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