Drill as an Emergency Response - Innovative Emergency Drill Ideas

somashekar

Staff member
Super Moderator
#1
Has anyone conducted an emergency drill when the director's are having an important meeting in the premise ? What has been the reaction of the management ? What is the general level of support and involvement of the top management in any such drills ?
In a routine firedrill, do we normally put a fire and check the preparedness of the fire control abilities ? What are the other types of emergencies for which drills can be made to assess an emergency response capability.
My intention in asking this is to see both top management's active support as well as to get some innovative emergency drill ideas ...
 
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SteelMaiden

Super Moderator
Super Moderator
#2
Re: Drill as an emergency response.

Our drills are coordinated with the safety dept. and the other managers as far as scheduling goes, so I seriously doubt we'd ever have one with (all) our directors present.

Fire drills have always been just that a drill with no fire. We do have opportunities throughout the year for people to test their ability to actually use fire extinguishers.
 
S

samsung

#3
Has anyone conducted an emergency drill when the director's are having an important meeting in the premise ? What has been the reaction of the management ? What is the general level of support and involvement of the top management in any such drills ?
In a routine firedrill, do we normally put a fire and check the preparedness of the fire control abilities ? What are the other types of emergencies for which drills can be made to assess an emergency response capability.
My intention in asking this is to see both top management's active support as well as to get some innovative emergency drill ideas ...
This is indeed a good idea to have a drill on such an occasion although we haven't so far had one while a high level meeting is in progress at the plant. Our CEO is normally stationed at the site and when informed of an emergency (drill or real), he would immediately rush to the site and would virtually take control of the situation and wouldn't leave until normalcy is restored. If it's a real incident, he would essentially hold a high level review meeting once the investigations are over in order to make sure that effective actions (including document review) are taken wherever discrepancies were reported/ observed.

We normally put something like dry grass/ dead wood, piles of garbage etc. on fire to simulate the scenario else it wouldn't enable us to evaluate the level of preparedness and people's response required during the actual emergencies.

In addition to Fire, the other emergencies identified as part of our 'On Site EP' are:
• Explosion (Boilers & Explosive storage)
• Accidental emissions to air & discharge of pollutants to land
• Accidental Spillage of Hazardous Chemicals (gasoline, explosives, acids or chemicals)
• Food Poisoning in Canteen / poisoning of common water storage (around 6000 people use water from the same source)
• Sabotage (being located in tribal belt)
• Theft of gamma ray (radioactive) Source (used for analytical purpose)
• Collapse of structure (heavy movement of earth moving machinery & heavy vehicles in the premises)

Fire & other top 4 on the list have been categorized as high priority & the rest as medium priority based on the likelihood & potential damage each of the emergencies can cause. Six monthly mock drills are done for the top order emergencies while for others, the preparedness level is evaluated through audits/interviews/ EHS inspections etc.

In addition to meeting the requirement of EMS/OHSAS, we are legally mandated to conduct and report the outcomes of periodic mock drills to the concerned regulatory authorities.

Especially in case of fire, one should consider conducting mock drills during late night or early morning hours wherein you can compare the degree of response received during 'normal' and 'abnormal' hours. My experience is that the response is very poor, in particular, between 2:00 AM to 4:00 AM and as I have read somewhere, about 40% of the fire disasters have so far occurred during these odd hours.
 
A

Arkimedius

#4
Has anyone conducted an emergency drill when the director's are having an important meeting in the premise ? What has been the reaction of the management ? What is the general level of support and involvement of the top management in any such drills ?
In a routine firedrill, do we normally put a fire and check the preparedness of the fire control abilities ? What are the other types of emergencies for which drills can be made to assess an emergency response capability.
My intention in asking this is to see both top management's active support as well as to get some innovative emergency drill ideas ...
We have specifically targeted days of high/important activity within the org to have emergency evac drills. When management does whinge (top management in my experience doesn't, but usually some mid level whingers), we tell them that emergencies don't wait for meetings and guilt them into compliance/silence.

I like to ask a member of staff to... relocate to a less obvious location (toilets, lunch rooms, etc..) as a test to see if the wardens are thoroughly checking the premises.

I've also left 'suspicious packages' lying in odd places during bomb evac drills.

Fire extinguisher training is fun, and usually surprises the wardens as to how long (er.. rather how short) a time an extinguisher actually operates before it is empty.

I'm not sure what you mean by "do we normally put a fire and check the preparedness of the fire control abilities?" If I get your meaning, NO you never create a fire then test your fire control system. You DO get system tests frequently performed by a service provider.

Don't fall into the trap of only paying attention to Fire as the type of emergency. There are many potential causes for an emergency.

You could do white powder training, simulate a medical emergency, etc..

If you are having trouble with management support, which astounds me tbh, then I would perform a risk assessment detailing raw outcomes for not having controls in place (ie. evac drills, wardens, training, etc..) then the outcomes with those controls in place. You should be able to easily paint a picture to management that translates into saving dollars (and lives if they care.) Throw in that its all about business continuity and you shouldn't have any issues with top management. If all this fails, then I'd start throwing (and always do this as a LAST resort) legislation and duty of care at them (Sounds heavy handed, but when people do die at least you will have a foot to stand on when the courts get involved.)

Remember, complacency kills.
 

Chennaiite

Never-say-die
Trusted Information Resource
#5
What are the other types of emergencies for which drills can be made to assess an emergency response capability.
My intention in asking this is to see both top management's active support as well as to get some innovative emergency drill ideas ...
I remember, we had a Mock Drill (4 years back). Everyone was informed of just the week the drill was expected to be conducted (not the exact day). The Working committee had a couple of tricks
- chosen the most heaviest guy and requested him to pretend (as if injured) at the time of drill. The guy was more than 100 kg/230 pounds, just for an information.
- Requested one Lady to stay back in the toilet during drill.

The Emergency task force team was not informed of the trick (obviously). During the drill, the task force team did a terrific job by lifting the guy out of the building and into the ambulance, but failed to enter the Ladies toilet to rescue the victims, if at all. The whole drama ended after counting heads in the emergency assembly and matching with the day's attendance. We thoroughly enjoyed, as we learned few things as well.
 
S

samsung

#7
Is SOP required for every identified Emergency Situations ?

Minrah
SOP per se may not be required but you have to have a Plan/ procedure to deal (respond) with emergency situations. The procedure should atleast address the following:

1. How you identify the emergency situations (criteria) which typically should come from the aspect/ risk assessment process. The risk assessment process should be ongoing and proactive.

2. How will you respond to or what people are supposed to do if an emergency strikes. So, the roles and responsibilities of persons at different levels must be documented and communicated to them.

3. People must be trained on / be made aware of the potential emergencies as well as the Emergency Response procedures.

4. Periodic testing (e.g. mock drill) of the emergency preparedness/ procedure in order to ensure that it will work fine in case of actual emergencies.

5. Requirements for periodic review of the procedure/ preparedness (who, how, when).

Hope this helps.
 

minrah

Involved In Discussions
#8
2. How will you respond to or what people are supposed to do if an emergency strikes. So, the roles and responsibilities of persons at different levels must be documented and communicated to them.
Any example how to document it?

Minrah
 
S

samsung

#10
Minrah,

Please note that in India, the legislative framework and the requirements for an Emergency Plan ( On site as well as Off Site) are covered in Rule # 13 of the MSIHC Rules, 1989 (framed under the EP Act, 1986).

Please see this presentation for further details.
 
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