Business Continuity Planning - Part 7 - Evacuation Planning

Creating a Thorough Evacuation Plan

When faced with a disaster, one of the hardest decisions your team will have to make is whether to stay onsite or vacate the premises. Unfortunately, some disasters are so catastrophic they require that everyone leaves the facility immediately. It is no secret that a business who plans for an emergency and devises an exit strategy performs better than those who don’t.

Here are a few tips for developing a sound evacuation plan:

• Devise a system that lets you know exactly who is on the premises during the time of a disaster. This way, both employees and customers can be accounted for. It may also help rescue services to account and/or search for individuals.
• Determine who has the authority to initiate an evacuation. It is a good idea to develop a chain of command that enables others to give the order if the designated individual is not available.
• Specify who will be responsible for shutting down critical operations and locking up the facility during an evacuation. This is another instance where you should train additional staff in case the designated individual is unavailable.
• Devise a special strategy for employees and customers who may require assistance in getting out during an emergency.
• Make copies of building maps with clear markings of all the important utility areas and emergency routes. These maps should be made easily accessible to all employees and management as well as first responders and emergency personnel.
• Consider emergency lighting such as flashlights to use in the event of a power outage.
• Designate an assembly site that everyone knows to meet at. Stress the importance of people letting the designated management know if they are unable to reach the site.
• Take a headcount as everyone arrives at the meeting site. Make sure you know who and when someone leaves the site to ensure that everyone is accounted for.
• Decide who will be responsible for letting the team know when conditions are clear to return back to work.
• If your business functions are run out of multiple buildings or in another location, be sure to create evacuation procedures specific to each individual facility.
• If your business shares or leases space with other companies, ensure that those organizations along with the building owner is dedicated to collectively practicing evacuation procedures.

There is a good chance that the authorities will not arrive in time to orchestrate an evacuation. By implementing your own strategy into the continuity plan, you can better assure that everyone makes it out and quickly get back on the road to recovery.