Facility Management Tips: Emergency and Disaster Management Assisted by Software

1. Facility Management Tips: Emergency and Disaster Management Assisted by Software Disaster management is something that every facility manager needs to be prepared for. Facility managers need to be prepared for everything from floods to terrorist attacks and labour strikes. Moreover, since the 9/11 attacks, efforts towards disaster management and emergency preparedness has increased significantly. Disaster management or emergency preparedness is typically a group of documented procedures that state how facilities teams need to respond depending on the emergency or disaster. Typically, a plan generally comes with a checklist for responding to particular disasters and emergencies. And this also involves identifying and determining how facility managers will be determining how to use their resources along with establishing training which involves rehearsing and testing these plans. Prevention and mitigation The first phase in disaster or emergency management is prevention and mitigation. Prevention is generally the action taken to minimize the likelihood of a crisis or an event from occurring. Mitigation refers to the loss of physical asset and life during the course of any event or crisis, particularly the crisis that cannot be prevented. The hazards that the facilities management teams will be looking forward to prevent or mitigate can be more clearly defined by process of risk

2. assessment and hazard identification. Through risk management, facility managers can understand and identify potential threats and the levels of preparedness that are required. There are three key factors that are significant towards the formulation of an emergency response plan. These assessments are conducted with the help of surveys, test phases, research and other methods. You need to evaluate every credible hazard and threat. You need to identify the vulnerabilities and any significant consequence of these hazards. You need to report and document the risk assessment findings and also offer recommendations for all the next steps. After you have been able to identify the potential scenarios during the prevention and mitigation phase, the risk assessment gets evaluated and conducted. In this phase, facility managers are able to develop comprehensive emergency response plans that address the potential risks and hazards. Preparedness Preparedness is the plans that are formulated to minimize the damage caused to physical assets and lives when an emergency occurs. The most essential elements of the preparedness plan is planning and training. These ensure that whenever a disaster occurs, the emergency personnel and facility management teams will be able to offer the best response possible. This stage therefore is meant to test the strategies and protocols so that a facility is always prepared for any potential emergency or disaster. The activities related to preparedness include: Establishing an incident command system that will be aligned to the guidelines set by the incident management systems of a nation. This is required to prepare your organization’s personnel to respond to an emergency situation.

3. Developing all hazard protocols and policies in collaboration with the key stakeholders outside the purview of your organisation like medical services, fire services, public health and the like. Negotiating the contacts that would provide your organization with all the required resource like transportation, food, medical supplies, volunteers and the like. Assigning individuals to manage every function of the incident command system and defining the lines of succession in any emergency plan in regards to who would be the second person responsible to take charge during the event in case the key contact is unavailable. Response This phase refers to the plans that are put in place so that the emergency is safely responded to. Emergency response plans need to be a collaborative approach rather than being developed by a single person or a single group. You need to put together a team of subject matter experts from different departments who would help in determining the overall course of the plan. Always remember that clear communication is extremely important in an emergency situation and this will help those at the top of the management chain of command to communicate with everyone in the facility about the emergency situation and the appropriate action plan that is needed to be followed. Also, the review plan needs to be

4. reviewed on an annual basis and the facility management team would be responsible to provide information to all the building users about what they need to expect. And when we talk of clear communication, we mean we need quick access to everything about and related to the facility from floor plans to shut offs and emergency procedures to As-Built. A facility management software can help you to access all of this information from one single platform. All the information is up to date and available through a facility management app on your mobile device or tablet. These apps use the latest technologies in machine learning and artificial intelligence which enables them to extract information from building drawings. The entire chain of events that follow an emergency preparedness or disaster management plan is based on clear communication and the use of an app makes communication and accessing information simple, easy and convenient. Right from routine issues to large crises, unexpected event can occur any time. Therefore, in the event of an emergency, having access to update information that is readily available is key to the successful management of the situation.