Its vacation season-time to review your accident/incident procedures!
Posted on Tue, Aug 25, 2009 @ 08:41 AM
By Kristen Motel, Environmental Compliance Specialist
We all know that accidents don’t usually happen at 10 AM on a Wednesday in March. They inconveniently will happen at 4:15 on a Friday in July. And on that Friday, chances are, at least one emergency coordinator, safety officer, or EHS manager will be on vacation. Some employees might have already crept out hoping to start the weekend early. Then there are the remaining employees….already mentally at the beach. With that said, it’s important to have a back-up plan to your normal accident/incident procedure. Ask yourself:
-Do personnel know who to notify when an accident occurs?
-If the point of contact is unavailable, do others know the chain of command?
-If you yourself are taking vacation – have you told anyone else besides your supervisor? It’s a good idea to communicate time off, because if there is an evacuation, and your supervisor has already left for the day – people will be wondering where you are!
-How are other employees notified that an incident has occurred or that an area of the building is being evacuated or off-limits?
-Does the back-up person in charge know the procedure to take when someone is injured?
After the incident, it’s a good idea to have a review meeting with relevant personnel to brainstorm corrective actions and follow up tasks. This meeting will also help summarize the incident for those who were absent at the time. They can get an idea for what happened, and how it can be prevented in the future.