The Link between Community as Core Value and Emergency Action Plans - Research Proposal Example

The Link between Community as Core Value and Emergency Action Plans Emergency Action Plan of Saint Leo have both privileges and responsibilities to perform. Thus for the better development of the student academically and morally the University has established a code of conduct to see its fulfillment. Apart from academic prosperity the University has also developed core values that will help the students nurture their talents and be responsible people in the society. The students are required to have respect for other people and perform their duties without infringing on the rights of others. Hence to ensure that its students gain good skills that can enable them survive in this dynamic world and take up leadership roles the university as developed core values to guide them through this part. The six core values include: excellence, community, respect, personal development, responsible stewardship and Integrity (University, 2013). For this essay I am going to look on how the core value of community applies to maintaining safety environments both at work and off work in the process of developing emergency action plans. Saint Leo University describes the core value community as follows: Community: Saint Leo University develops hospitable Christian learning communities everywhere we serve. We foster a spirit of belonging, unity, and interdependence based on mutual trust and respect to create socially responsible environments that challenge all of us to listen, to learn, to change, and to serve. (University, 2013) Thus using this value can help people developing emergency action plans tap to this rich acquired knowledge to maintain safe environments. And this university is at the forefront of developing future skillful and responsible citizens. In the real world basically “a perfectly safe” environment doesn’t exist at all, or terming people as “accidental prone” does not apply. Hence risk managements studies help students be safe and create a virtual safe environment. Students need to familiarize with current issues of safety when managing people at places of work. Through acquisition of knowledge on diagnosis, prevention and evaluation of safety tools and procedures students will be best equipped to maintain a healthy lifestyle both in the work and outside environment. Hence, when students go into their respective fields of work they ought to understand the risk management concepts and terms. Occupational accidents both minor and fatal are much common in our daily lives. Statistics show that majority of this are caused by road accidents. Hence in developing strategies to respond to and prevent some accidents the planners need to be broad in assessing various possibilities and solutions. Injuries incurred outside the workplace show a trend of consuming much time than those incurred in workplaces thus bringing extra costs to the employees and employers. Some of these injuries are intentional but majority are unintentional incurred. Thus incorporating the core value of community in the strategies of preventing accidents will be of great help. People need to understand the need for following certain guidelines, and learn on new prevention techniques which are the basis of community. The value of community will help a great deal in that people always try to be responsible with things around them thus avoiding the intentional injuries (Goetsch, 2010). The basis of emergency action plans is to give directions to be adhered to in the event of an emergency. This are essentials for instance in the case of a fire in a building the set guidelines will ensure that people can safely retreat from the building and each person will be accounted for, through them being able to assemble in a certain secure location. There will be also emergency numbers to fire fighting agencies or people tasked for those duties who can be reached for help. Also having some people in the building with knowhow on the usage of the little fire extinguishers available will be beneficial. It is usually advisable that persons who don’t know how to use such devices not to do so. In these plans there is always escape routes usually labeled for any person to easily see. It is advisable for every individual to assemble at the assembly points since these locations are the best evaluated safe points and will help to account for missing colleagues. In the case of fires people are advised not to panic but be clam and composed, this will help in thinking clearly for an escape plan. Emergencies that occur when handling chemicals i.e. chemical spills, a person needs to have substantial knowhow on the chemicals he/she is working on to best deal with the situation. Generally in all manner of emergencies like earthquakes, tornadoes, and bomb threats etc. one needs to have little knowledge on the best measures to take. Emergency plans are just there to help people escape hazardous situations smoothly. This in line with the University core value of community that insists on learning new challenges, being responsible and taking up an initiative of helping or serving others. Life is learning process and even after graduation, getting nice jobs; students should never ignore any learning initiatives terming them as irrelevant. Many organizations usually hold workshops for their employees to discuss safety precautions and conducts to uphold in cases of any emergencies. Thus people ought to correlate as one big community and attentively and willingly attend such workshops. They may seem irrelevant at that time but in the long run may be helpful somehow (Vivacqua, 2012). Life safety is the overall and major objective of any crisis response strategy. Also there are other considerations like protection of property loss and damage. These response strategies should be of high quality and people made aware of such strategies. This is with the spirit of community value constantly sharing information and caring for others. Good communication systems and quick first aid and medical assistance should be put in place. The various crisis response strategies and people involved should be flexible, can shift from one strategy to another in case a situation changes. Individually one needs to be prepared to have shifting roles in various teams. One first starts by evaluating his own situation, then of his neighbor, and then team up with others to form rescue teams. All these involve flexibility in various teams. Rescue teams generally offer physical assistance to the victims. Some victims are usually affected by the disaster events and suffer mentally and physically. Thus incorporation of psychological help in the action plan is essential. These effects maybe psychological or physiological depending on the individually and they may be partly affected by the victim experiencing the same disaster repeatedly. Individuals respond emotionally differently even if it is the same disaster thus care should be taken when handling them. It is possible also for rescuers to be mentally affected by the disastrous events and therefore should not be sidelined when assessing individuals suffering from emotional disorders. As seen from the above discussions the value of community is essential in creating a secure environment to live and work in. Showing desire to learn more and more both in a classroom setting and outside the class are quite beneficial in the long run. Treating others fairly and responsibly will make all of us coexist peaceful. Listening attentively to various emergency response instructions will help maintain life safety and possible prevent huge losses of property. Every individual needs to develop a virtue of always making his society much better than he found it and be in service of the society. Following all these traits we can actually create the so inexistent “perfectly safe environment.” References Goetsch, D. (2010). The Basics of Occupational Safety. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson-Prentice Hall. University of Saint Leo (2013, September). Code of Conduct. Retrieved from Saint Leo University: http://www.saintleo.edu/media/432276/codeofconduct.pdf Vivacqua, A. a. (2012). Taking advantage of collective knowledge in emergency response systems. Journal of Network and Computer Applications , 35, 189-198. Read More