Disaster planning

Disaster Planning. Plant managers should recogni2e the possibiHty of natural and industrial emergencies and should oversee formulation of a plan of action in case of disaster. The plan should be weU documented and be made known to all personnel critical to its implementation. Practice fire and explosion drills should be carried out to make sure that all personnel, ie, employees, visitors, constmction workers, contractors, vendors, etc, are accounted for, and that the participants know what to do in a major emergency. 

Both emergeney and aeute, nonemergeney medieal treatment should be available at the worksite. The plan should be integrated with the overall site plan and the surrounding eommunity emergeney and disaster plan. In addition, input from and review by the oeeupational medieine physi-eian and health and safety personnel is invaluable for developing the medieal and emergeney preparedness portions of the plan. 

San Francisco. Corporate Disaster Planning Guide." American Red Cross, San Francisco, Jaiuuiry 1986. 

In many locations around the world dams are essential for agriculture and urban water supply. While the benefits of these structures are obvious, the risk of damage or loss of life due to unexpected failure of the dam can be overlooked by the general populace. A systematic assessment of the hazards posed by possible dam failures is useful for disaster planning, emergency response, and flood warnings. 

The protocols and software developed in this study will give the Pacific Disaster Center tools that will enable it-and other agencies such as the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources and the U.S. National Weather Service-to conduct dam breach hazard assessments more easily. Results of these assessments are expected to be of value for disaster planning, emergency response, and flood warning. 

Healy, R. J. 1969. Emergency and disaster planning. New York Wiley. 

The frequency of nafural disasfers, fhe individuals affected by them, and the economic costs associated with loss have been steadily increasing over recent years. While disasters are often unexpected, sound disaster planning can anticipate com mon problems and mitigate the consequences of the event. 

Effective disaster plans are based on knowledge of how people behave. Key components and common tasks must be included in any disaster preparedness plan. The actual process of planning is more important than the resultant written plan because those who participate in planning are more likely to accept preparedness plans in general. 

Disaster planning must overcome apathy and complacency. 

Describe two principles of disaster planning, including the agent-specific and the all-hazards approach, and the basic components of a disaster plan. 

Discuss the five areas of focus in emergency and disaster planning preparedness, mitigation, response, recovery, and evaluation. 

The principles of disaster planning, the common tasks consistent across all disaster responses, and the key components of a disaster preparedness plan are introduced in this chapter. Definitions of the different types of disasters are provided, along with a classification system for disasters based on their common and unique features onset, duration, and effect (immediate aftermath) and reactive period. The concept of the disaster time line as an organizational framework for strategic planning is introduced. The five areas of focus in... 

This chapter introduces the reader to the principles of disaster planning, the common tasks consistent across all disaster responses, and the key components of a disaster preparedness plan. 

Preparedness refers to the proactive planning efforts designed to structure the disaster response prior to its occurrence. Disaster planning encompasses evaluating potential vulnerabilities (assessment of risk) and the... 

Evaluation is the phase of disaster planning and response that often receives the least attention. After a disaster, it is essential that evaluations be conducted to determine what worked, what did not work, and what specific problems, issues, and challenges were identified. Future disaster planning needs to be based on empirical evidence derived from previous disasters. 

Effective disaster planning addresses the problems posed by various potential events, ranging in scale from mass casualty incidents, such as motor vehicle collisions with multiple victims, to extensive flooding or earthquake damage, to armed conflicts and acts of terrorism... 

The two major types of disaster plans are those that take the agent-specific approach and those that use the... 

A comprehensive disaster plan will account for the effective triage of patients (prioritization for care and transport of patients) and distribution of patients to hospitals (a coordinated, even distribution of patients to several hospitals as opposed to delivering most of the patients to the closest hospital). Review of previous disaster response efforts reveals that patients are frequently... 

Disaster planning must include a community mutual aid plan in the event that the hospital (s), nursing home(s), or other residential health care facility needs to be evacuated. Plans for evacuation of health care facilities must be realistic and achievable, and contain sufficient specific detail as to where patients will be relocated to and who will be there to care for them. Patient evacuation was a major challenge to disaster response efforts following Hurricane Katrina, and was hampered by the destruction of all major transportation routes in and out of the city. Pre-planning for the possibility of the need to evacuate entire health care facilities must address alternative modes of transportation and include adequate security measures (see Figure 1.4). 

Risk assessment is an essential feature of disaster planning and is in essence a calculation or model of risk, in which a comprehensive inventory is created including all existing and potential dangers, the population most likely to be affected by each danger, and a prediction of the health consequences. Risk analysis uses the elements of hazard analysis and vulnerability... 

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