Generally, any emergency management should be a uninterrupted progression by which all stakeholders and workers in an organization manage perils in an effort to stay away from the impact of a disaster. To do this effectively, there ought to be integration of emergency plans at all levels.
This is because activities at one level usually affect the activities at other levels. The management of disasters should start at the lowest level and only proceed to the next upon exhaustion of resources. In the private sector, emergency planning is applied interchangeably with business continuity. The procedure centers around four stages from preparedness to mitigation.
Only recently ago, a fierce fire razed down one of the major branches of the supermarket chain stores where I work. This was due to one of the customers lighting a cigarette next to the store where cylinders with liquid petroleum gas were displayed. The entire store burnt down. Fortunately, the supermarket branch was insured against fire. However, a lot of lessons were learned from this incident.
First, that there was no clear warning to customers not to smoke within the supermarket. Besides, the attendants were not regularly checking the cylinders for any possible defects such as a leakage. They were also not trained on how to act in case of fire, plus they did not know how to operate the fire extinguisher. These were bitter lessons as these could have been avoided so incredibly easy.
The focus should thus be on avoiding a repeat of the identified mistakes by putting clear warnings to all customers, ensuring the supermarket attendants check all new cylinders brought and training them on how to operate the fire extinguisher and act appropriately. Plans are thus needed in order to pay more attention to details of emergency response in case of another disaster.
The company should thus meet and discuss on how to develop a policy on the same. It should also compare notes with other major corporations on their strategies of emergency response. In formulating these strategies, first the company needs to get facts right.
For example, that spread of onset is one characteristic of a disaster or crisis. Other characteristics are the scope and the duration of the impact; how predictable the events is, what the primary impacts to assets are and whether they are secondary impacts and the state of preparation to respond and recover (Lecture Notes, 2010).
Business continuity relies on strategies to maintain the operation of critical function incase of a disaster. Business functions comprise both assets and processes. Thus, companies need to protect the availability and reliability of assets, whether physical or intellectual property.
Organizations also need to carry out what the US Secret Service refers to as the insider threat study. This takes account of former as well as current labor force of a given firm. This is because an insider can intentionally exceed or misuse an authorized level of system access in a security firm for example and end up creating a disaster.
The researchers undertaking the study ought to concentrate on online demeanor of workers, particularly with respect to their communications before the occurrence of an episode. This method takes a wider observable fact (than previous studies) on finding the (insider) activity (USSS, 2010).
In the recent BP episode that resulted in the spillage of oil deep into the ocean, it’s notable that the oil giant company had a history of similar incidences yet upon response, enough was not done. The gas and oil pipelines should have been checked regularly for blockage, all the equipment meant to prevent gas build ups should be in working condition at all time.
The warning system for workers should also be properly installed. All other safety measures should also be taken into account to prevent recurrence and the response following a disaster need to be immediate and intense.
In the aftermath of such an incidence, shifting blame to other companies or stakeholders involved should however be avoided. Given the social and economic impact of such incidences, preparedness is necessary.
References List
Lecture Notes, (2010): Business Continuity: Disaster Recovery, Planning and Response USSS, (2010). National Threat Assessment Center – Insider Threat Study. Retrieved from https://www.secretservice.gov/