What Goes into A Workplace Emergency Response Plan?
Even in the safest of workplaces, you need to be prepared for the unexpected. By enacting an emergency response plan, you can prevent injuries and loss of intellectual property, save a company money, and obtain peace of mind. There are threats of disgruntled employees, terrorism, hacking, viruses and other physical and cyber adversaries that must be prevented or quickly remedied. Let’s look at what an emergency response plan is and why they are so important.
Emergency Response Plan Objectives
A successful emergency response plan must meet certain objectives. A plan should be geared toward preventing injuries and fatalities, reducing physical and cyber property damage, and getting back to normal operations as soon as possible. In meeting these objectives, you must do an assessment of vulnerability. This involves figuring out how likely a situation is to occur, how you can stop or prevent that situation, and what must be done if the worst happens. When employees know you have a plan in place to protect them as well as the business, it can give them peace of mind and lets them know that their safety is being considered.
What is a Vulnerability Assessment?
Even though an emergency is an unplanned, sudden event, there are ways to estimate vulnerabilities. One way to do this is by making a record of past incidents in both the company and other companies in the industry. The workplace will be analyzed for surveillance efficiency, cyber security, and any other gaps in protection. The assessment analyzes the risks associated with each potential hazard to prioritize planning, mitigation, response, and recovery procedures.
Technological and Security Hazards
It is also important to learn the types of hazards that companies typically look out for. An emergency plan should define, identify and classify security holes on personal computers, networks, and communications infrastructure.
A company also must have trained security personnel on site to protect against the threat of theft or violence. There should also be thorough and functioning surveillance of a workplace. This acts as a deterrent for potential criminals as well as a way to catch them. Make sure that you hire an experienced company to train security personnel as well as for general security consulting.
Actions Required
The most important part of an emergency response plan is determining what needs to be done in the case of an emergency and how to accomplish that. When an emergency occurs companies must alert all employees, evacuate and close off the danger zone, call for outside aid, begin rescue operations, and attend to injuries. When the threat is cyber, preparations must be taken to halt the cyber attack, remove viruses, prevent the threat from spreading, and teaching the staff how to avoid the situation in the future.
Insurance
In the event of an emergency, a good insurance plan is the last line of defense. There needs to be a way to protect your business if there is a physical attack causing personal injury or property damage after a security breach. Unfortunately, many businesses underestimate the likelihood of an emergency and may allow a few gaps in insurance coverage. This leaves a business vulnerable and some never recover from the financial hit they take. Every business should make sure they are properly covered on all fronts- this could be a lifesaver.
Professional Emergency Response Plan
We have only scratched the surface of what goes into a comprehensive emergency response plan. In order to develop the best plan for your business, it is necessary to consult with an expert. South and Associates, LLC has a reputation of quality service and all of the necessary skills to thoroughly prepare your business for an emergency. We offer security consulting as well as training programs that work to get your company prepared. To get started on the development of an emergency response plan, contact us today.