In case of an emergency in your workplace … what is to happen?

Can you answer that question?

What about all your employees, can they answer it?

If you can’t, then maybe you will need a good pair running shoes – not to escape the emergency but to clear out from the potential consequences of not being compliant.

You are legally required to have a plan to deal with potential emergencies in your workplace.

Well, the requirement is even stronger … just having a plan is not good enough, it must be both understood by and accessible to every employee in your workplace.

Here are some steps to kick you off on building your emergency plan.

1. Establish a team of key people to research, create, and implement your plan. The fundamental tasks of this team and each member are
   • identifying potential emergency situations
   • developing plans to manage each of those situations should they arise
2. Create communications mechanisms & channels for issuing notifications (internally and externally) of emergencies as they are happening.
3. Instal suitable emergency equipment for the identified potential risks and ensure each piece of equipment is correctly installed, operational and maintained.
4. Establish roles for managing emergencies and assign responsibilities for each of those roles. Ensure each person with responsibilities fully understand their role.
5. Ensure your emergency plan – or a summary of it – is easily accessible to everyone in your workplace and each person knows how and where to access it.
6. Schedule reviews (at least annually) for your plan and create triggers for checking you plan against any changes in your business situation or practices.

Following these six steps will place you in a position to handle workplace emergencies.

It is also very important that you document all your activities associated with building, implementing, reviewing and improving your emergency plans.

Now you can do all this, keep notes and archives, maintain spreadsheets & maintenance logs … but what happens if these different devices don’t connect or someone overlooks making an entry or accidently deletes information.

All your hard work and diligence might come to nought.

The best approach really is to consider using a comprehensive online compliance management system. Look around and find one that suits your workplace, your team and your budget.

To start, try taking a look at Online WHS. Click here to visit our website.