Disaster & Recovery Planning - Research Paper Example

Emergency Plan Executive Summary This report will develop an emergency plan for Richard Facility Management. Major purpose behind the development ofthis emergency plan is to provide various significant responses to several calamities and hazards. This plan identifies individuals responsible in a particular emergency period within the facility. This specific emergency plan will also provide an emergency response procedure for a particular type of emergency that will cover under this specific emergency plan. All staffs, managers, tenants, director and long term guest of the Richard Facility Management need to be familiar with key elements of this developed plan. Emergency Management Elements Emergency management process helps an organization or a society to reduce or mitigate the effect of disaster or an emergency. Emergency management includes training, planning, inspecting, conducting drills and testing equipment. Facility co-ordination and community wide activities are other major components of emergency management processes. Emergency management consideration describes several major operational functions. These functions can be considered as emergency management elements. These are direction and control, communications, property protection, life safety, recovery and restoration, community outreach, and administration and logistics. This report will describe all the emergency management elements in terms of Richard Facility Management. Direction and Control Resource management, information analysis and decision making system in an emergency is referred as direction and control. The configuration of a specific direction and control system is contingent upon several factors. Richard Facility management has own emergency medical technicians, fire team and expert hazardous material team. The emergency management group of this facility management organization is responsible for the broad picture. This group manages and controls all the incident related activities. On the other hand, the incident commander monitors technical aspects of the desired responses. This emergency management group supports the incident commander through effective resource allocation process. The emergence management group of Richard facility Management organization is controlled by the emergency director. The emergency director of this organization holds the post of facility manager. The facility manager controls and commands all the aspects of several disasters or emergencies, such as fire, flood, tornado, workplace hazards and several critical accidents. Senior managers within the organization have the authority to determine both long-term and short-term effect of an emergency. Moreover, the senior managers can order the evacuation process. They have the authority to issue press release and interface with several media houses and outside organizations. The organization developed incident command system for the fire service. However, the principles of this system can be applied in all of the emergency cases. This incident command system offers coordinated response and clear command and self operation chain. Incident commander within the organization is responsible for each and every front-line management incident. They implement strategic planning and tactical execution process to enhance the emergency operation. Any single employee can hold the post of incident commander, but he cannot take any kind of decision regarding the operational activities. The incident commander has the authority and capability to assess the situation, assume the command, implement effective emergency management plan, determine several key response strategies, order a necessary evacuation, and activate resources. Emergency operation center is a key component of direction and control process. The emergency operation center of Richard Facility Management organization serves as the centralized management center for several emergency or disaster operations. Emergency management group of this facility management organization made the decisions based on the information and facts that are provided by the incident commander and several important management personnel. However, it is necessary for the organization to locate their emergency operation center in the specific area of the facility (Gustin, 2010). The facility management organization should determine the basic needs and requirements of these operation centers in case of future activities. The emergency operation center needs to be equipped with reference materials, communication equipments, activity logs and several necessary tools in order to respond appropriately and quickly to a particular emergency or a disaster. The resources of this center should include several key elements, such as blueprints, status boards, maps, communication tools, copy of emergency management plan and procedure. Lastly, co-ordination of outside responses is quite necessary for direction and control process. Richard facility management organization follows several laws, codes, and agreements to overcome and reduce the effect of disaster or emergency. The incident commander within the organization keeps track of on-site organizations and their coordinated responses. Communications Effective communication process is quite important for any kind of business operation. The staffs and incident commanders of Richard facility management organization report to the facility managers immediately about any kind of disaster or emergency to minimize the effect of the incidents. Contingency planning, family communications, emergency communications, warming and notification are major components of the communication process regarding an emergency or disaster. Life Safety Life safety is one of the major emergency management elements. It is important for the Richard Facility Management organization to protect the safety and health aspect of an individual within the facility during an emergency or a disaster operation. Effective evacuation planning is highly required before implementing the process. It will help the organization to reduce the number of casualties. The facility management organization should effectively develop evacuation and exit routs. It is the manor responsibility of the facility managers to provide effective training program to all the involved members. In addition, effective family preparedness process will help the Richard Facility Management organization to execute the evacuation process quite effectively. Property Protection Property protection is another major emergency management element that needs to be taken care of by the organization. Equipment, facility and key record protection is quite essential to restore the necessary operation after a disaster or emergency. It is the responsibility of facility management to undertake facility shutdown and record preservation process to mitigate the risk. In addition, the incident commander within the facility management organization need to assess the aspects associated with the emergency. This assessment will help them to assist facility manager. This strategic process will enhance the decision making process. Community Outreach Richard facility management organization should focus on effective community outreach. It is important for the organization to develop a strong relationship with the community. It will influence the ability of facility management group to protect proper and the health of several individuals. Moreover, this process s will help the organization to return to the basic and normal operation. The facility management organization needs to develop mutual agreements with several outside organizations and media houses. The facility manager should try to develop effective relation with several leading media houses. The organization should involve the community in order to enhance the operation. This collaboration process will help the organization to mitigate the risk. Recovery and Restoration Business restoration and recovery or resumption is considered as the bottom line of a facility management group. It is highly essential for the organization to employ new applicants after several types of disasters or emergencies, such as earthquake, fire, flood, workplace hazard and other calamities. The facility management should try to insure the workplace including machineries, infrastructures and employees of the organization. It will ease the operation process of the organization. Employee support is one of the necessary aspects of organizational process. Compensation distribution process after the emergency should be taken care of by the organization. It will help them to carry on their management process. Administration and Logistics It is important for the Richard Facility management organization maintain accurate and complete records. Effective maintenance of records needs expert and efficient administrative teams. This strategy will enhance effective recovery and response process. On the other hand, it is quite essential for the organization to maintain certain records that can be required by insurance or regulation carriers. This process will help the organization to provide legal proves after the disaster or emergency. Response Procedures It is clear from above discussion that, several calamities and disasters can cause workplace hazard. This part of the report will provide a response procedure plan in case of earthquake. First of all, it is important for the incident commander to identify key actions in order to mitigate the risk. First of all, the situation needs to be assessed effectively. The strength and effectiveness of the earthquake need to be assumed and understood by the incident commander. Then the facility management needs to implement effective decision making process based on the assessment of incident commander. It is important for the organization, to provide effective health and safety training to all the employees in terms of any kind of calamity or disaster. It will help the organization to protect employees, customers, equipments, visitors and several vital records. In addition, the organization should develop an effective contingency plan, so that they can get effective business back up. It is important for each and every individual to understand own role and responsibility during the incident. This can be achieved through effective training and development process. However, this collaborative operation process, effective contingency plan and appropriate risk management decision making process will help the organization to mitigate the possibilities of critical casualties. References Gustin, F.J. (2010). Disaster & Recovery Planning. Lilburn: The Fairmont Press. Read More