EHS 101 OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY

Unit7

Yavuz Cabbar

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 EMERGENCY PLANS

Emergency situations cause loss of life and property in businesses every year.
However, these losses can be prevented. If businesses are prepared for emergencies,
loss of life and property or damage can be prevented or reduced, and businesses can
return to their normal working lives more quickly after an emergency. Regardless of
the type of business, its status, whether operating in a multi-storey building, industrial
complex, property owner or tenant, businesses must be prepared for emergencies,
regardless of the size of the business.

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Emergency planning includes a series of plans, division of labor and
exercises aimed at keeping individuals in the workplace prepared against
possible risks that may occur in companies.

In order to understand the effects of an emergency that may occur and to

define the support needed to eliminate these effects, it is necessary to know
what the critical resources and situations are.

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Regularly meet with public and private institutions and voluntary
organizations to be informed that you are preparing an emergency plan.

In this section, what are the emergencies and the stages to be followed
for the preparation and execution of emergency planning against
emergencies are discussed. This section also includes information that
can be applied to public institutions, industrial organizations,
workshops, retailers (dealers), suppliers or any type of organization.

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Emergency situations and its place in the legislation

Emergency Situations

Unplanned events that occur in the workplace or in the field, cause serious injuries, loss of
life, stop the production of the enterprise partially or completely, damage the enterprise or
the natural environment, threaten the financial structure of the enterprise or its image in the
society are called emergency. Emergency situations are caused by enterprise error, human
error, natural events, vehicle crash, sabotage, etc. Examples of emergencies: Fire, flood /
flood, earthquake, landslide, storm, mass food poisoning, work accident, computer system
crash, anarchic events, etc. can be given.

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Place of Emergency Situations in Legislation

The most up-to-date legislation regarding emergency response is the

Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331, published in the Official
Gazette on June 30, 2012. In the Emergency plans, firefighting and first aid
section of the Law. In addition, the Regulation on Emergencies in
Workplaces was published by the Ministry on 18 June 2013.

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In Article 11 of the Law, the employer shall;

Assess the foreseeable emergency situations which could arise and identify those that
might possibly and potentially affect workers and work environment taking into account
the work environment, substances used, equipment and environmental conditions
present in the workplace and take measures to prevent and limit adverse effects of
emergency situations.

Conduct measurement and assessments to afford protection against adverse effects of

emergency situations and prepare emergency plans.

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Designate a sufficient amount of persons adequately equipped in prevention, protection,
evacuation, fire fighting, first aid and other related issues taking into account the size and
specific hazards of the undertaking, nature of the activities, number of employees and other
persons present in the enterprise. The number of such workers, their training and equipment
available to them shall be adequate and the employer shall arrange emergency drills and
trainings and make sure that the rescue teams are always available to respond.

Aarrange any necessary contacts with external services, particularly as regards first aid,
emergency medical care, rescue work and fire-fighting

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Emergency planning

Explaining and planning the chain of precautions to be taken by individuals in the

workplace in cases such as natural disasters, fire, explosion of chemical or pressurized
containers, sabotage, and terrorist attacks, and making relevant exercises is called
"Emergency Plan".

Preparation of emergency plans takes place in 4 stages. These stages are forming the
planning team, evaluating the structure of the current situation, making a risk
assessment and preparing an emergency plan. The details of these stages are as follows.

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Establishment of Emergency Planning Team

There must be a person or team in charge to prepare the emergency plan. The following stages
can be used to carry out these operations.

Team Structure: The size of the team depends on the structure of the business, size, needs
and resources. It is generally best to assign a group to this task. This is because:

• It encourages multiple participation and gets the support of more employees.

• It is to enable the participants to increase their contribution.
• It makes the planning process visible.
• It broadens the perspective on the subject.

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It should be determined who is an active member and who is an alternate
member. In many cases, the most important part of the job is done by one
or two people.

It should be ensured that the staff members will be assigned in writing from
the top management to carry out these studies. Emergency planning team
assign emergency personnel to respond to emergencies.

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Management Support and Authorization: The planning team should be
empowered to make the decisions necessary to prepare the plan, in order to
demonstrate the support of the management and create a mutual environment.
The boundaries of authority between the members of the team and the team
leader should be clearly defined.

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Determination of Emergency Management Policy: Senior management of the
company should set out the emergency management policy.

This policy:

Should define the purpose of the plan and emphasize the overall commitment
within the scope of this plan. Should also define the planning team structure and
competencies.

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Deadline Plan and Budgeting; A deadline plan should be prepared for
emergency planning, critical stages of the work should be determined and
the budget of the work should be made. The deadline plan should be
revised as priorities become clear. Budgeting should cover all expenses
that may be required during the planning phase such as initial research,
document preparation, seminars, and consultancy services.

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Determination of Current Situation and Risk Assessment

This stage is a study aimed at collecting information about current risks, possible damages and
emergencies and then determining the current response capability of the enterprise to these
emergencies.

Determination of Current Situation

The procedures to be done in this section will be as follows: Documents such as existing plans,
procedures, instructions should be reviewed, legal bases and justifications should be determined, critical
resources, situations should be determined, internal resources, external resources and opportunities
should be identified.

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Review of existing documents: Existing plan, procedure, instruction, etc. documents should be
reviewed. Some documents to look for:
• Occupational health and safety procedure
• Emergency procedure
• Risk assessment procedure
• Emergency plan
• Evacuation plan
• Fire protection plan
• Environmental procedures
• Insurance related procedures
• Financing and purchasing procedures
• Job descriptions
• Harmful substances plan
• Master development plan
• Mutual aid and cooperation agreements
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Determination of Legal Basis and Reasons: We need to review the legislation that is the
basis of the emergency plan and define the applications to be carried out, and determine our
reasons. Some of the legislation that can be reviewed:

• Occupational Health and Safety Law No. 6331

• Occupational Health and Safety Services Regulation
• Occupational Health and Safety Risk Assessment Regulation
• Environment Law No. 2872 and related legislation
• The Law on Mobilization and Warfare No. 2941 and related legislation
• Regulation on Protection Against Sabotage No 88/13543
• Regulation on Emergency Situations at Workplaces

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Determination of Critical Resources and Situations: In order to understand the effects of
an emergency that may occur and to define the support that will be needed to eliminate
these effects, it is necessary to know what the critical resources and situations are. For this
purpose, the following points should be reviewed:

• The production of the company and the services, material, work force and equipment
needs for this production.
• Raw materials, materials and services provided from suppliers, especially those
provided by only one supplier.
• Energy, water, gas, sewage, communication, transportation and transportation services
that are vital for the facility.
• Necessary personnel, equipment and necessary interventions for the operation of the
facility.
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Identifying Internal Resources and Opportunities

Resources and facilities that may be needed in an emergency operation may be:

Teams and Personnel: For emergencies, the following teams should be formed in a
coordinated manner and their duties should be defined:

Company crisis desk

Company emergency management team
Damage assessment teams
Rescue teams
Fire and evacuation teams (extinguishing, rescue, protection)
First aid team
Outreach team
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Duties of Emergency Management Team: Preventing panic. To calm the
environment and to manage the emergency with very fast evaluations, to
activate the emergency plan.

The management team is chaired by the company manager. The company

manager works at the crisis desk and provides coordination from the crisis
desk. In an emergency,

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Company Damage Assessment Teams: A certain number of teams are formed.
Team leaders and assistants are defined. Composed of 10-12 peope from differant
departments of the company who know the maintenance and critical points.

Rescue Teams: These team members consist of specially trained people. When an
emergency occurs, these people immediately go to the crisis center.

Fire and Evacuation Teams: Fire fighting and rescue teams consist of at least 3
people, and protection and first aid teams consist of at least 2 people. In case of fire,
earthquake and flood, 110 emergency fire hotline and 112 emergency first aid line
should be called.

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Extinguishing Team: To extinguish the fire in the building by intervening immediately and
/ or to prevent its expansion.
Rescue Team: Carrying out life and property rescue work in case of fire.
Protection Team: To protect the goods and documents rescued by the rescue team, to
prevent panic and chaos that may arise due to fire.
First Aid Team: Providing first aid to people injured or sick due to fire.
• It consists of a doctor and a health officer.
• Whether the emergency occurs during working hours or not, contacts the crisis desk
without waiting for a call, and comes to the workplace according to the information to
be received.

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Material and Equipment: The teams that will respond to emergencies should be
equipped with the appropriate materials and equipment. Materials and equipment that
emergency response teams will need are as follows:

• Fire protection (firefighter clothes, fire blanket, etc.) and extinguishing materials
(gas, water and foam-based extinguishing materials and equipment)
• Communication (wireless and telephone) devices
• First aid and rescue supplies
• Audible and illuminated alarm and announcement systems
• Emergency energy sources (mobile generator)
• Industrial cleaning supplies

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Identifying External Resources

In emergency situations, various external resources may be required. The institutions

that can be :

• Local Crisis Committee

• Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency (AFAD)
• Fire Department
• Hospitals
• Local security units (Police / Gendarmerie)
• Suppliers
• Nearby industrial companies/organizations
• Insurance company

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Risk Assesment

At this stage, the weak points of the company, the situations that may arise from
these and their possible effects should be determined. A Risk Assessment Form,
which includes a scoring system that includes determination of probabilities,
estimation of the impact and use of resources, should be used while performing
these procedures. Risk assessment should be done by following the steps below.

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Establishing a risk assessment team: First of all, a team should be
formed. The team structure is as follows according to the Risk Assessment
Regulation published in the Official Gazette dated 29 December 2012:

• Employer or employer representative.

• Occupational safety experts who carry out health and safety services in
the workplace
• Workplace physicians.
• Employee representatives in the workplace.
• Support staff at work.
• Employees who represent all units in the workplace and have knowledge
of the work carried out in the workplace, current or potential sources of
danger and risks.

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List of possible emergencies: Definitions should cover all emergencies that may arise from
both the business and the environment. Many events can be interpreted as an emergency.

• Fire
• Earthquake, flood, heavy snowfall, storm, landslide
• Mass food poisoning,
• Chemical accidents, flammable and explosive material accidents, radiation accidents
• terror
• Communication system crash, computer system crash
• Loss of key customers or suppliers, major production breakdowns
• Energy failure, sabotage
• Accidents at work
• Traffic accident
• Epidemic disease
• Mobilization

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In addition to these, it is useful to consider the following points:

• Past records
• Geo location
• Technological situation
• Human error
• Physical conditions

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Identification of hazards: At least the following information is collected

• Workplace buildings
• Activities carried out in the workplace and work and transactions.
• Production processes and techniques.
• Work equipment.
• The substances used.
• Waste manegement.
• Organization and hierarchical structure, duties, authorities and responsibilities.
• Employees' experiences and opinions.
• Work permit documents to be obtained in accordance with the relevant legislation
before starting work.
• Employees' education, age, gender and similar characteristics and health
surveillance records.

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• Occupational disease records.
• Work accident records.
• Records of incidents that occurred in the workplace but caused damage to
the workplace or work equipment even though they did not cause injury or
death.
• Near-miss incident records.
• Material safety data sheets.
• Environmental and personal exposure level measurement results.
• Previous risk assessment studies, if any.
• Emergency plans.
• Documents that need to be prepared at specific workplaces, such as a
health and safety plan and explosion protection document.

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While collecting information on hazards, occupational accidents and occupational diseases that
occur in similar workplaces producing with the same production, methods and techniques can also
be evaluated.

If there is no previous control, measurement, examination and research work in the workplace
regarding the dangers caused by physical, chemical, biological, psychosocial, ergonomic and
similar hazard sources in the work environment, all necessary controls, measurements,
examinations and investigations are carried out to determine the quality and nature of these
hazards and the exposure levels of the employees in order to use in risk assessment studies;

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Determination and Analysis of Risks

By considering each of the identified hazards separately, it is determined how often the risks that may
arise from these hazards may occur, and who, what, how and at what severity may be harmed by
these risks. While making this determination, the effect of existing control measures is also taken into
consideration. The risks identified in the light of the information and data collected; It is analyzed by
using one or more of the methods selected on the basis of the characteristics of the business, the
nature of the hazards or risks in the workplace and the constraints of the workplace or national or
international standards.

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If there are departments where different works are carried out in the workplace,
above mentioned points are repeated for each department.

If the analysis is made for separate sections, it is handled and concluded as a

whole by considering the interactions of the departments.

Analyzed risks are listed starting from the one with the highest risk level
according to the magnitude and significance of their effects in order to decide on
control measures and they are put into writing.

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Risk control steps: The following steps are applied in controlling the risks;

Planning: A planning is made in order to control the risks that are analyzed and
sorted according to the size and importance of their effects.

Deciding on risk control measures: The following steps are applied to eliminate
the risk completely, if this is not possible, to reduce the risk to an acceptable
level:

• Elimination of danger or sources of danger.

• Replacement of dangerous by non-dangerous or less dangerous one.
• Struggle with risks at source.

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Implementation of risk control measures: Plans are prepared that
include the business and transaction steps of the agreed measures,, the
person in charge or the department of the workplace, start and end date
and similar information. These plans are put into practice by the
employer.

Monitoring the implementation: The implementation steps of the

prepared plans are regularly monitored, audited, and the necessary
corrective and preventive actions are completed by determining the
defective aspects.

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While implementing risk control steps, priority is given to collective
protection measures, and it is ensured that the measures to be implemented
do not cause new risks. After the control measures are implemented for the
determined risk, the risk level is determined again. If the new level is above
the acceptable risk level, the steps described here are repeated.

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Documentation: The risk assessment document covers at least the following:

• Title of the workplace, address and employer's name

• The names and titles of the persons who performed it
• Execution date and validity date
• If the risk assessment is made separately for different departments in the
workplace, the name of each
• Hazards with identified sources of danger
• Identified risks
• The method or methods used in risk analysis
• Analysis results, including the importance and priority of the Identified risks
• Corrective and preventive control measures, date of realization and risk level
determined after

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The pages of the risk assessment document are numbered and each page is
initialed and the last page is signed by the people who perform it and
stored at the workplace.

As a result of the risk assessment study, starting from the most critical risk,
the measures to be taken and improvement activities should be planned.

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PREPARATION OF THE EMERGENCY PLAN

Parts of the Plan

The plan should include the following basic parts:

Administrative Definitions and Summary: The administrative definitions and

summary part define the purpose of the plan, officials, possible emergencies and where
these emergencies will be handled.

Emergency Management Elements: This part of the plan defines the basic practices
that the enterprise should have in emergency operation. These:

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• Management and administration
• Communication
• life safety
• Facility security
• Social assistance.
• Maintenance and repair
• Logistic support

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Emergency Response Procedures: These procedures define how the business will respond to
emergencies. Wherever possible, these procedures should be prepared as a set of checklists that
are easily accessible to emergency managers, emergency response teams and employees.

These procedures determine the necessary measures to be taken for the following situations:

• Due diligence
• Protection of employees, visitors, subcontractors employees working at the workplace,
equipment and vital records. Especially the records of the first 3 days after the emergence of
the emergency are very critical. In any case, pay attention to keeping and preserving these
records.
• The workplace restarts its production activities and continues its activities.

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In addition to bomb alerts and severe storms, additional procedures may be
required for the following situations.

• Informing and alerting employees and customers of an emergency

• Communication with personnel and official teams that respond to the
emergency
• Calculation of the evacuation of every personnel in the facility
• Management of emergency operations
• Establishment and operation of the emergency management center
• Fighting fires
• Plant shutdown operations (planned and emergency stop)
• Protection of vital records
• Repair operations

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Documents Needed in Emergency Situations

Documents that may be needed during an emergency response are:

Emergency call list: These lists, if possible, should contain the names, addresses
and phones of all personnel working in the teams that will fit into the wallet.
Material Resque Form: Indicates the materials that have to be evacuated and their
evacuation priority.
Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS): Form about transportation, storage,
processing and disposal methods and the possible hazards and eliminating the
hazard of existing chemicals in the workplace

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Notification Form: It is a form drawn up to record the emergency notification to be made to
official and private institutions.
Building and Facility General Layout Plan: The following information should be written
on this plan: main and auxiliary shut-off valves, hydrants / fire valves / fire cabinets, main
water valves, water pipeline, gas line main shut-off valve, gas pipeline, electrical switches,
transformers, water drainage channels, independent channels (passing near or under the
facility), name of each building, building floor plans, alarm and announcement systems, fire
extinguishers, fire extinguishing systems, exits, stairs, designated escape routes, prohibited
(dangerous) zones, harmful substances (including cleaning agents and chemicals), high
value materials.
Resources List: Resources that may be needed in an emergency

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WRITING THE EMERGENCY PLAN
A method you can follow during the writing of the plan will be explained below.
The main purpose and priority activities should be defined: The main purpose and important issues
are determined. The things to do, who will do them and when are listed. It is decided how to show
deficiencies and problematic parts revealed in risk assessments.
Writing the plan: Each member of the planning team should be assigned to write a part of the plan.
The most appropriate format should be determined for each section and a deadline plan with specific
goals should be made. Sufficient time should be defined for the work to be completed, but care should
be taken that the time allowed is not long enough to cause complacency. Schedule should be
determined for the following objectives in the deadline plan:

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• First draft
• Review
• Second draft
• General evaluation
• Final draft
• Printing
• Distribution
Preparation of the training plan: A staff member or a department should be assigned to plan
the trainings programs.
Cooperation with organizations outside the company: Regularly official and Private
institutions and voluntary organizations should be brought together and official agencies should
be informed that you are preparing an emergency plan. Those from the public institutions that
do not have the task of approving the plan will easily examine and provide valuable
information.

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Keeping in constant contact with other units of the company: It is
necessary to be in constant contact with other units of the company in order to
receive regular information on the following issues:

• Their emergency notification needs

• Mutual cooperation will be required
• How units will support each other in an emergency
• Name, address and telephone numbers of key personnel
• It will be useful to have this information in the plans and procedures.

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Reviewing, evaluating and correcting the plan: After distributing the first
draft of the plan to the planning team for evaluation, corrections should be
made after the evaluation if necessary.

For a second correction, the personnel and operations managers who have
key responsibilities in the execution of the emergency operation should
discuss the plan. Based on the results of this discussion, the parts that are
confused or in line with the plan during the operation should be determined
and the plan should be changed accordingly.

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Final approval: Written approval should be obtained by presenting the final version of the plan by
organizing a briefing to senior managers.
Distribution of the plan: Each page of the final plan should be numbered and printed as needed and
distributed to the relevant staff.
The following units should be considered in the distribution of the plan:
• Top managers
• Key personnel playing an active role in the company's emergency response operation
• Headquarters of the company
• Emergency response units of the enterprise (those deemed appropriate)
It is necessary to inform the workers about the existence of the plan and the trainings to be held for
this purpose.

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IMPLEMENTATION OF THE EMERGENCY PLAN

Plan implementation basically means more than implementing the plan in the
event of an emergency. To put it into effect, to act in accordance with the
determinations made during risk analysis and to take the necessary measures, to
ensure the integrity of the plan with the company activities, to train the
employees and to evaluate the plan.
A "duty and responsibility form" showing the responsibilities of the staff and
units in the implementation of the plan and ongoing activities should be created.

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Ensuring the integrity of the plan with the business activities:
Emergency preparedness should be a part of the business culture.
Opportunities should be created for employees to be informed, trained,
practices, and to show that all management levels, all departments and
employees take part in the planning phase, and which personnel will do in
the context of emergency management on a daily basis.

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Training, Exercises and Practices: The training of company and subcontreactor’s
employees working in the workplace and visitors should be informed about the risks.
Trainings to be given to workers may include periodic evaluation meetings attended by
employees to review procedures, use of technical equipment to be used in emergency
response, evacuation exercises and general exercises. Visitors, on the other hand, should
be informed about the practices on how to act in an emergency. This can be done on the
back of visitor badges or by giving a separate information card and taking it back when
leaving the facility.

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Actions to be Taken After an Emergency

The causes of the event are investigated and necessary measures are
determined to prevent similar events. The work to be done during
emergency planning is compared with the work done. Those who showed
great effort in the events and those who were not seen are determined.
Necessary rewards and punishments are made, the results obtained from
the experiences are discussed and implemented.

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