EMERGENCY

RESPONSE
PROCEDURE

When an emergency occurs, the first

priority is always life safety. The
second priority is the stabilization of
the incident. There are many actions
that can be taken to stabilize an
incident and minimize potential
damage. An emergency is a serious,
unexpected, often dangerous
situation that requires immediate
action.

Protective actions for life

safety include:

Evacuation
Sheltering
Shelter-In-Place
Lockdown

Environmental emergencies are incidents or

events that threaten public safety, health, and
welfare and include hurricanes, floods, wildfires,
industrial plant explosions, chemical spills, acts
of terrorism, and others.
Emergency response is the organizing,
coordinating, and directing of available resources
in order to respond to the event and bring the
emergency under control. The goal of this
coordinated response is to protect public health
by minimizing the impact of the event on the
community and the environment.

Types of Emergency
1. Biological Emergencies
2. Chemical Emergencies
3. Radiological Emergencies
4. Weather and Home Emergencies
5. Floods
6. Fire
7. Hurricanes
8. Earthquake
9. Droughts
10.Tsunamis

Biological Emergencies
These include diseases as well as
biological agents that may be used for
terrorism.

Chemical Emergencies
These include harmful chemical spills and
chemicals that are used in acts of terrorism. The
hazard assessment through these methods has
to be done before the setting up of such a
hazardous unit.

Radiological Emergencies
These are emergencies involving the
release of radiation that could harm
people's health.

Weather and Home

Emergencies
These are emergencies
involving potential hazards
such as winter weather,
extreme heat, flooding, or
carbon monoxide.

Floods
Floods are temporary inundations of land
with water caused by rains, overflowing of
rivers, discharges released from large
reservoirs, cyclones, tsunami, melting of
glaciers and sea tides. It may come
gradually and take hours and days
together to recede or may even happen
suddenly due to heavy rains, breach in
embankments, failure of dams, cloud
bursts, storm surge etc.

Storing Flood Water in reservoirs may help in

reducing flood intensity, but the sedimentation
caused by the stored flood water may
subsequently reduce the capacity of the
reservoir. As such, smaller reservoirs are often
better choice than larger ones.
Channel Alterations help in reducing the gushing
of flood water and these should again be done
with provisions for regular maintenance of the
slopes in the channel, removing of debris and
other obstructions, using natural vegetation for
strengthening the sides of the channels and for
using it as a source of promoting fisheries etc.

Watershed Management measures

reduce overland runoffs from agricultural
lands to streams or other water bodies by
improving infiltration of rainfall into the
soil, minimizing run-off and reducing the
sedimentation that can clog stream
channel or storage reservoirs. The
measures to avoid it include maintaining
trees, shrubbery and vegetative cover,
slope stabilization etc.

Fire
The mitigation measures for
fire-hazards are simple
keep the fire away from what
fuels it into a hazard.
Normally it is always done.
But sometimes due to human
lapses or taking observance
of norms lightly we pay a
price in the form of
devastation and destruction
of life and assets. Such
measures are :

 Developing low-cost houses with nonflammable walls like mud, bricks and
roofing like tin sheets properly fitted.
Wiring of houses and buildings properly
insulated and fitted with cut-outs, fuses
and fire alarms.
Placing easily operatable fire
extinguishers at proper places in high
rise buildings.
Providing clusterbased fire
extinguishers.

Hurricanes
Strong storms that can be life-threatening
as well as cause serious propertythreatening hazards such as flooding,
storm surge, high winds and tornadoes.
Preparation is the best protection against
the dangers of a hurricane. Know the
difference between the threat levels and
plan accordingly.

Earthquake
An earthquake is a sudden, rapid shaking
of the earth caused by the breaking and
shifting of rock beneath the earths
surface. Earthquakes strike suddenly,
without warning, and they can occur at
any time of the year, day or night. The
prime structural mitigation measures that
are expected to considerably reduce the
impact of earthquake are:

 Properly designed, engineered and

constructed structures residential,
service or infrastructure built on well
tested soil for adapting to suitable
adjustments in design.
Retrofitting in old structures so that
short-comings in construction could be
externally strengthened to a
considerable extent to withstand the
convulsions caused by Earthquake.

Droughts
A drought is a period of abnormally dry
weather that persists long enough to
produce a serious hydrologic imbalance,
causing, for example, crop damage and
shortages in the water supply. The
severity of a drought depends on the
degree of moisture deficiency, the
duration, and the size of the affected
area. Drought can be defined four ways:

 Meteorological

 Agricultural Drought

 Hydrological Drought

 Socioeconomic drought

Thus, drought mitigation measures have to be

taken on three counts: water, soil and cropping.
Water Management: In the land of flooding
rivers, if drought is a recurring feature then
surely, it is a clear-cut case of poor water
management.
Soil Management: The use of organic
fertilizer gets better values of the products in
the market, specifically in the developed
countries. Afforestation which helps in both
water and soil conservation. Such plants that
have shorter growing period should be
preferred. It helps the soils in enhancing its
capacity to hold water and prevents erosion. It
is also said to be the best method to contain
the spread of drought.

 Crop Management: The third

factor responsible for agricultural
drought is kind of cropping being
done. There are cropping patterns
that help in soil conservation as
well as in getting better farm yield.

Tsunamis
These are a series of large ocean waves
generated by major earthquakes beneath the
ocean floor or major landslides into the ocean.
When the waves enter shallow water, they
may rise to several feet or, in rare cases, tens
of feet, striking the coast with devastating
force. People on the beach or in low coastal
areas need to be aware that a tsunami could
arrive within minutes after a severe
earthquake. The tsunami danger period can
continue for many hours after a major
earthquake. A tsunami can occur during any
season of the year and at any time, day or
night.

 The purpose of these emergency

procedures is to ensure that any form
of emergency that interrupts normal
and safe working conditions in the plant
can be dealt with quickly in a
systematic manner. Operational
procedures are spelt out to enable a
coordinated plan of action to be carried
out to control the emergency situation
and restore it back to normal.

 Scope:
Control and or extinguish the fires;
Contain leakage and spills in the event
of a chemical incident;
Rescue and treatment of casualties;
Safeguard human lives and
Minimize damage to property and the
environment

 Types of Emergency:
The following are some of the most common
situations that may lead to an EMERGENCY in
the plant:
Outbreak of fire
Occurrence of fire
Occurrence of serious accident and
Damage to building and plant which endangers
the safety of personnel

 Emergency Response Plans must take into

account all aspects of any foreseeable
emergency and outline planned responses.
Information that should be included in the plan
includes:
workplace location and layout
muster point(s) or emergency assembly
location(s)
emergency telephone number
identification of all personnel appointed to
assume responsibility in an emergency
specific planned responses to a potential
emergency situation

 arrangements for raising the alarm

emergency evacuation arrangements
specific to the worksite
Employees and visitors to work sites
must be aware of the emergency
arrangements for the site this is
usually part of the induction.
Subcontractors who work on site,
particularly those who are not
supervised, should also be made aware
of the emergency arrangements.

 Priority One - People and their safety

In an emergency everyone needs to know
what their role is and where they should go.
The workplace should have a very clear step
by step list of actions that clearly identifies
everyones role in an emergency. This
emergency instruction should:
exist for each type of emergency
be easily seen and understood both by
reading and by signs or pictorial diagrams

 be regularly practiced so that emergency

responses are controlled and safe
Some of the ways this information can be
communicated throughout the workforce is
via:
training (including mock emergency
responses conducted on a regular basis)
inductions
maps, signs and pictures
procedures and work instructions
Emergency evacuation plans are visible and
understood by all employees. It is a legal
requirement that safety and emergency
responses are discussed in workplaces.