How to Prepare Your Office for Any Emergency Situation

While emergency situations don’t arise often, it is important to be prepared in case something happens. If you are unprepared, any emergency can be very serious for you and your employees. To prepare for emergency situations, make sure to remember the following!

Discuss Your Plan with Employees

You need to have a written emergency action in place for your employees. This should be something that you effectively communicate to all employees. Your plan should be written out and a copy should be given out to each employee. Each employee should also be given a layout of the building with locations of emergency exits and escape routes. New employees should be given this information as part of their new hire orientation, along with their role in the emergency action plan. Your plan should be reviewed regularly to ensure it can be carried out effectively should an emergency arise.

Know Your Exits

Knowing exits is an important part of your emergency plan. This will be essential to leaving the building safely if an emergency arises, such as a fire. Your exits should be clearly mapped out and all employees should know where they are. These can be included in your handouts for employees to ensure they are always aware of exits. Exits need to remain clear with no tripping hazards and nothing blocking them. Exits should be clearly marked with signs that are easy to see and clearly marked pathways, even to be seen in the dark. Glow-in-the-dark tape can provide illumination during a power outage.

Emergency Response Team

Your emergency response plan needs to be organized for it to be effective. To help keep your plan organized, you should designate an on-site emergency response team to help carry out plans in the case of an emergency. Your emergency response team can help organize evacuation should it be necessary. This team can help keep track of employees by carrying out headcounts and can help give details to emergency responders. Your emergency response team can help make sure that more vulnerable employees are taken care of during emergencies.

Your office needs to have a plan in case of an emergency. This plan is the essential preparation to ensure safety of your employees. To prepare for emergency situations, discuss your plan with employees, know your exits, and have an emergency response team.

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