Emergency response planning is essential for the successful management of construction projects. The right plan reduces human suffering. It can also minimize damage to property and the environment, as well as economic losses. Failure to plan appropriately could result in reduced reaction time, increasing the emergency. The regulation for construction projects requires constructors to establish written emergency procedures for each project before commencing work. These must be posted and easy to find, and need to be updated as the work, hazards on the site, and number of workers change.
How HIRA helps in Boosting your Business?
Risk assessment is a systematic approach towards the identification of possible hazards. The association of risks to those hazards, and then to determine the possible likelihood of these risks becoming a reality, along with the possible consequences associated with those risks.
Risk is a combination of severity of the incident that might happen and possibility of the likelihood of the incident that might happen. Through HIRA, risk assessment is a continuous, systematic approach towards health and safety, which means that the risk assessment document is a live document which has to be referred to continually, and adopted and improved on continually. So that whatever evolving risks or hazards may emerge from the workplace can be controlled as time moves by.
How Does an Emergency Action Plan Benefit Your Workplace?
Emergencies are unpredictable and can arise from various causes such as fires, explosions, chemical spills, medical emergencies, natural disasters, bomb threats, or violence. Preparing a pre-planned emergency response program is vital in ensuring the safety of workers and visitors in the event of an emergency because an emergency action plan benefits your workplace. A work-related emergency is any situation that poses a danger to the safety and health of workers, visitors, or members of the general public, resulting in damage or disruption of workplace operations.
This detailed guide aims to provide comprehensive information for preparing effective emergency plans and procedures-
1. Plan- The emergency plan should be thoroughly designed, easy to understand, and tailored to the specific workplace. Factors such as the nature of the work, the hazards present, the size and location of the workplace, and the number and composition of workers and other persons at the workplace must be taken into consideration while creating an emergency plan. The emergency plan must include emergency procedures, frequent testing of these procedures, and provision of appropriate information, training, and instruction to implement emergency procedures.
2. Procedures- The emergency procedures must be comprehensive and include an effective response to an emergency, evacuation procedures, notifying emergency service organizations at the earliest opportunity, medical treatment and assistance, and effective communication between the person authorized by the business or employer to coordinate the emergency response and all persons at the workplace.
3. Training- Adequate training in emergency procedures is necessary for all workers. The emergency plan must outline arrangements for information, training, and instruction of workers. Emergency training may include practising evacuations, identifying assembly points, locating emergency equipment, first aid arrangements, and safely shutting down machinery and equipment. It is essential to consider emergency procedure training during induction courses for new workers, refresher training for existing workers, including shift workers, part-time and casual workers, short-term contractors, or visitors, and specific training for people with a formal role such as fire wardens, area wardens, or first aiders.
4. Shared Workplace- If a work environment is shared with other businesses, it is necessary to consult with them when preparing the emergency plan. Preparing a master emergency plan for firms or tenants in these locations for a coordinated response to an emergency is advisable.
5. Making Plans Accessible- The emergency plans or a summary of key elements of the emergency plan should be readily accessible to workers or on display at the workplace. Workers must be aware of the location of the plans as well as how to implement them. In addition, the emergency plan should be available in different formats so that all workers can understand it, including workers who have visual, auditory, or cognitive disabilities.
6. Review Plans- It is crucial to review and revise emergency plans regularly to ensure they remain current and effective. Changes in the workplace, such as relocation or refurbishments, changes to the number and composition of workers, introduction of new activities to the workplace, and testing plans after an actual emergency to identify failings and improvements are all circumstances that require the review and updating of emergency plans. Additionally, emergency plans should be reviewed after each emergency to identify any shortcomings and areas for improvement. Businesses must have an effective emergency plan in place to ensure the safety and well-being of all workers and visitors.
How to Bring Risk Assessment into Action Mode?
The hierarchy of control has to be considered an effective control measure. Which is typically shown in the form or shape of a pyramid, where the most effective control measure will be at the top of the pyramid and the least effective control measure will be at the bottom of the pyramid. Once you implement the controls, it is very very very important to communicate with people about the implementations. Every person in the department must be aware of what controls have been made, and what process changes are done and if the person is not trained, he is not supposed to operate on the machines.
Once you have trained your people, now you need to monitor that what steps you have taken are actually working in the right direction or there are still incidents which are happening on the machine or new hazards are identified post implementation of the controls.
A task-based risk assessment is a specific approach towards risk analysis. Which looks at tasks and activities being performed at the workplace. Therefore, it focuses on the risk control measures that need to be implemented to make sure that risk is controlled and employees remain safe. Typically, task-based risk assessment is highly effective.
A task-based risk assessment is more specific than a general risk assessment. It analyses every task and activity, looking at all the steps, materials or resources being used in such tasks or activities. Therefore, it also considers all possible hazards and risks associated with those hazards to be able to implement or at least identify the control measures for implementation during risk management. This involves assessing the likelihood and the severity of these risks associated with the hazards.
Conclusion
A risk assessment is not a stagnant or static item that remains on a bookshelf. It’s something that needs to be considered continually. As work progresses, hazards may change, risk levels go up and down, and therefore your risk assessment document remains a live document. Through HIRA, organizations can protect not only the most important or valuable assets in the business but also mitigate the risks which are most likely to occur and result in major damage.