What Should be Included in an Emergency Plan?

The last thing your organization wants to happen is to face an emergency with no plan of action. This is why it’s critical that you do proactively form a plan, which we call an Emergency Operations Plan (EOP). An EOP is what houses the documents that outline action steps for performing critical business functions during a disaster or emergency and much more. Keep reading as we break down everything that should be included in your EOP so that you can be as prepared as possible for any threat or hazard thrown your way.

What’s Included in Your Emergency Operations Plan?

Creating your EOP is the second step in creating a culture of preparedness in your organization. Once we’ve assessed your company’s threat landscape and identified all of its most likely risks, that’s when we begin working on your EOP. You can book a consult for an Operational Risk Assessment here, which will get you through the first step of creating a culture of preparedness for your organization. With those results, we can get started with creating your EOP, which will include a multitude of vital documents like:

• Activation, i.e. how you move from normal operations to emergency operations

• Emergency communications, i.e. how you inform staff of what's going on and having them to check in with their safety status

• Critical business functions, i.e. what tasks and activities must be continued no matter what or resumed as soon as possible to sustain the business

• Delegations of authority, i.e. what protocols or approvals shift during an emergency (for example, being able to charge a certain dollar amount above the usual limit)

• Orders of succession, i.e. who will take over an operation if someone is unavailable

• External communications plan, i.e. how the organization will communicate with the public about what has happened, who can speak with the media, etc. 

• Specific annexes that are for unique and significant threats, i.e. how a glass company may react in an earthquake

Why Having an Emergency Operations Plan is So Important

Having an unprepared business during an impactful event is the worst condition for your organization to be in. This plays out in your company after a disaster or emergency in three primary ways.

1. HIGH VISIBILITY ON POOR LEADERSHIP

Without an EOP, leaders are faced with an impossible task: making enough sense of chaos in their business to see the best possible path forward to keep clients happy and employees paid. In the organized closet scenario, a team would have easy access to playbooks, or pre-assembled outfits, that describe how to handle anything that may come their way– from an organization losing a facility to a fire or active shooter, to a catastrophic regional disaster impacting the majority of employees.

2. UNTRAINED EMPLOYEES

Employees who are untrained on how to stay safe during an emergency are a major liability to your organization. If they aren’t trained to evacuate from your unique facility or if they aren’t trained in Run, Hide, Fight, there can be major negative consequences. The loss of an employee’s life during a disaster is a real possibility that any organization could face and, although it’s a tough situation to think about, should be prepared for.

3. LITTLE RESILIENCY

When you lack an EOP, your ability to get back on track is greatly hindered. Without a plan to get back to normal, there is a lot of time and effort put into determining how to move forward instead of spending time after your team has experienced an emergency to recover and continue operations.

Let’s Create Your Emergency Operations Plan

Developing an EOP is no small task, especially for an organization’s leadership to take up amongst themselves. Instead, choose to work with a team that gives experience and empathy a unique blend and ensures your organization is heard and given the space to process the emotional high stakes of disaster preparedness. After working with organizations like The Pentagon Reservation, American Red Cross, and FEMA, Golden Hour Preparedness can assure you with the utmost confidence that your Emergency Management has never been in better hands. Reach out to book a consult today right here.