How Emergency Drills Create a Safe Workplace
When it comes to safety in the workplace, emergency drills are often overlooked, leaving employees underprepared for real-life emergencies. Just like other day-to-day workplace safety precautions, emergency drills are an essential part of a regular routine. At Bit Service, we take care to ensure we are up to date on all safety drills – preparing for physical harm (flooding and fires) to corporate emergencies (cybersecurity or power outages). Safety is of the utmost importance to us, and it should be for you, too.
Come up with a plan
Every good drill starts with a good plan. Try to figure out what emergencies your workplace might be susceptible to. For example, do you rely on computers to store important data for clients? It may be important to have a plan in place for a cybersecurity attack. Do you live in an area that experiences natural disasters, like tornados or earthquakes? It might be pertinent to decide what to do if a natural disaster happens during working hours. Putting a plan down on paper and distributing it to employees are necessary steps, making sure everybody is prepared for the most likely emergencies.
Run drills
While planning is an excellent first step, actually acting out scenarios allows everyone to experience the plan in real-time. Developing scenarios that are pre-planned and ones that are a surprise to employees helps everyone prepare for a real emergency. It is also valuable for those in charge of emergency planning to see where the holes in the plan are and adjust appropriately. If one route out of the building takes too long, what is the best alternative? Did anything get confused during the drill? These are questions that can be answered and addressed during and after a drill. Running drills also makes it possible for those responsible for certain parts of the plan, like first aid or keeping track of employees as they safely exit a building, to experience their responsibilities. Practice makes perfect, so creating a regular schedule throughout the year to practice these drills is key to being prepared.
Ensure employees are safe
One of our key concerns at Bit Service is making sure all our employees are safe. That includes being accountable for their whereabouts during an emergency. Part of coming up with a plan for all emergencies includes knowing how to properly account for everyone. We need to know which employees are scheduled to work and have ‘muster points’ where employees can meet up in case of an emergency. Taking attendance upon exiting the building is important to make sure everyone is safe. If someone does happen to be missing, the team can alert the proper authorities that an employee is still inside the building or in danger.
It might not happen every day, but regularly running drills is an investment in a safe workplace. At the end of the drills, it will be obvious what needs to be improved or changed. You can never be too prepared for an emergency, as it is never possible to predict when something will go wrong. Workplace safety plans and drills give employees a chance to contribute to their safety and the overall safety of the workplace. This is endlessly beneficial and makes for a happier, more productive work environment.