Corporates have a primary ethical and moral obligation to protect employee health and safety during occupation as well as emergencies. An emergency situation has to be anticipated, and the corporate management has to ensure there is an emergency evacuation plan in place, and all employees are trained to adopt safe emergency exit procedures. Emergency preparedness is not a stand-alone objective, and corporates have to adopt a safety-first culture to minimize human as well as property losses. Thus, management commitment, appropriate corporate culture and environment, employee training and participation, are all essential for proper emergency evacuation.
Regulations Governing Emergency Evacuation
Emergency is an unforeseen event that leads to property or life damage, and might lead to shut down of operations. Emergencies can arise due to natural or manmade disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, fire and explosion, toxic gas release, chemical spill, radiation leak or civil unrest (OSHA, 2001). All corporates have to be prepared for such situations requiring evacuation, and follow an emergency evacuation plan in order to comply with regulations (OSHA, 2001). Occupation Safety and Health Administration’s (OSHA) Standard 29 CFR 1910, covers most aspects of emergency including means of egress, employee emergency plans and fire prevention plans, safety requirements for handling hazardous material, use of personal protective equipment, permit requirements for hazardous jobs such as confined space entry, hazard communication such as alarms, etc. (OSHA, 2001). OSHA further recommends that an emergency evacuation plan should be developed based on the need for evacuation, include a chain of command, identify a designated warden, exit routes, provide assistance for people with disabilities, identify critical operations that should continue, as well as account for personnel after evacuation (OSHA, 2001). Thus, ethical corporates have to develop a proper emergency evacuation plan, to safeguard their employees, as well as their reputation.
Attributes of Safety-First Corporate Culture
Though there exists a regulatory framework for emergency preparedness, incorporating it into the corporate work culture is a challenge. Safety professionals cannot establish a safe work environment by themselves (Erickson, 2000). Company’s culture and management’s support are essential parameters that decide how much importance is given to safety. Emergency handling will be better in workplaces with a safety-first culture, and good management commitment. In a responsible corporate environment with a positive culture, there will be less injuries and accidents, safety professionals will be recognized and included in major decisions, employees will be treated as valuable resources, there will be effective communication and employee involvement (Erickson, 2000). In a safety-first corporate culture, management expresses its ethical concern and moral responsibility towards employee safety, and the employees respond to it through increased performance, co-operation, trust and respect for the management (Erickson, 2000). Thus, when employees completely involve in management’s plans, emergency situations can be handled better, and evacuations are easier.
Sadiq (2010) analyzed data from 227 organizations in Memphis, Tennessee, to find out what are the determinants for disaster preparedness in organizations. From the study Sadiq (2010) concludes that larger organizations are more prepared compared to smaller ones, due to availability of more investment resources. Further, education and health sector organizations are more prepared because they deal with vulnerable population i.e. children and aged, and government regulations for this sector are also stringent. Finally, organizations that are concerned over the impacts of the disaster are more prepared. So, those companies that invest in loss prediction through computer models can handle disasters better. Thus progressive corporates will effectively use safety professionals and tools to adopt a safety integrated work culture.
Importance of Being Emergency Prepared – Case Studies
During the 9/11 World Trade Center (WTC) disaster in 2001, there were several successful evacuation stories reported. Morgan Stanley, the center’s largest tenant with 3700 employees, had a proper emergency evacuation plan that helped all employees but 6 of them safely get out of the building through several flights of stairs (Larson and Fowler, 2009). This was possible only because of several mock drills, and previous experience gained from the 1993 WTC bombing (Larson and Fowler, 2009). According to Larson and Fowler (2009) in many corporates top and middle level managers perceive that the organization is emergency prepared, whereas the lower level employees don’t. So, during an actual disaster evacuation might not happen up to the management’s expectation. Thus communication at all levels is the key to safe evacuation. In case of Morgan and Stanley, the security officers kept the evacuation going, in spite of misinformation from the public address system asking employees to return to their offices (Larson and Fowler, 2009). Following 9/11 incident several corporates understood the need to revise their emergency plans or develop new ones.
Burtles (2014) reports the case of HALR Inc., a multinational financial company headquartered in London. The company’s key operations are based from the 18-floor facility at London, and the company has smaller branches in 14 other countries. The company had developed an emergency evacuation plan based on a software program designed for the headquarters. This was followed without any change in all the smaller branches, including a single storied facility in the dense woods of Germany too (Burtles, 2014). One morning in 2010, due to rains, the facility was flooded, and there was a blast from the underground transformer room that supplied power to the facility. HALR’s emergency plan had designated the transformer room as an emergency assembly location, but this was flooded, and alternative location had not been spotted. Employees did whatever they considered safe, and 40 of them escaped with injuries (Burtles, 2014). Thus, emergency evacuation plans cannot be the same across locations, and HALR Inc.’s case is a typical example of unethical management behavior.
Conclusion
An ethical corporate does not sacrifice its profit goals, but follows standard code of conduct, rules and regulations, and strives for good reputation. Safety-first corporates can minimize losses, improve their reputation, earn employee trust, and remain sustainable. With disasters such as terrorist attacks, and unprecedented climatic change impacts threatening the future of corporates, emergency preparedness and evacuation procedures grounded on ethical principles become inevitable attributes of an good work culture.
References
Burtles, J. (2014). Emergency evacuation planning for your workplace: From chaos to life saving solutions. Brookfield, CT: Rothstein Associates. Retrieved May 16, 2016,
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0ahUKEwjM6tOTpt7MAhVKro8KHY6IAMgQ6AEITzAJ#v=onepage&q=management commitment and emergency evacuation&f=false.
Erickson, J. A. (2000, March 29). Corporate Culture: The Key to Safety Performance.
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Larson, M. D., & Fowler, K. (2009). Anticipation is in the Eye of the Beholder: Top-Level
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OSHA. (2001). How to Plan for Workplace Emergencies and Evacuations. Retrieved May
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Sadiq, A. (2010). Digging through Disaster Rubble in Search of the Determinants of
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