Formulating an Emergency
Management Plan

Is preparedness the first ingredient to ensure most lives will be saved in the event of an emergency? Most would answer yes, but the experts know that it all begins before this.

There are five steps to a sound Emergency Management Plan:

1. Risk Assessment - Anticipate the unexpected
   
   First of all identify the sources of risk that your organization may be exposed to including fire, tornado, hurricane, flooding, power cuts, medical epidemics, riots, etc. Involve more than one person in the risk assessment phase to give you a wider perspective and help identify more hazards. Professional Risk Managers use probability modeling tools to identify and evaluate risks and may be very helpful in this phase and subsequent phases. List the risks in order of the probability that they could affect your organization.
   
   Take an unbiased look at all facets of your organization, the communication system within your organization, the access to your facility and your onsite facilities and map out the current internal protocol for dealing with the list of potential risks identified. Once you have identified the possible risks and established your existing protocols you can start to identify where your current limitations lie.
   
   
2. Mitigation – Take action to eliminate or reduce the effects of a risk on your organization
   
   Having identified where each of your current limitations lie the next step is to mitigate the impact each risk would have upon your organization. The probability and severity of a particular risk will help prioritize how high up the mitigation list or schedule a hazard needs to be placed. i.e.: building a domed shaped shelter in Central New York to protect against the odd tornado, may not be in the budget anytime soon; but a stack of cat carriers blocking the only emergency exit will provide an evacuation hazard for several different types of catastrophes, regardless of geographical location and must be mitigated immediately.
   
   Mitigation will be done over time and may involve both structural measures (i.e.: building a low-profile, domed-shaped shelter to withstand 200 mile/hour winds) and non-structural measures (i.e.: insurance).
   
   
   
3. Preparedness - Implement an Emergency Action Plan
   
   The implementation of an Emergency Action Plan specific to your organization is of primary importance in the effort to save as many lives as possible.
   
   
• Create an organizational Emergency Action Plan
• Communicate the Emergency Action Plan to all members of staff and volunteers
• Keep the plan up to date and update in the event of changes within the organization
• Implement an easy early warning system with information scheduled to go to all the relevant emergency response teams including Police, Firefighters, Veterinarians, Volunteers and Animal Care Professionals
• Ensure that all members of staff and volunteers are aware of the evacuation procedures and priorities
• Encourage microchipping within your community. Microchipping is the most efficient way of identification for pets and aids the search and rescue phase, ensuring the animal is reunited to their owner.
• Ensure that all members of staff and volunteers are aware of emergency medical care procedures
• Designate an off-site location for evacuation scenarios and as an emergency meeting place
• Keep a laptop computer on-hand to ensure that you can recommence work through PetPoint in your new off-site location without delay
• Ensure that you have adequate supplies on hand, in the event of an emergency requiring evacuation Staples will provide PetPoint users even deeper discounts than are currently offered through the Staples PetPoint Partnership
  
  
4. Response - Mobilize and Assist
   
   A well-rehearsed Emergency Action Plan is key to ensuring the right triage (Police, Firefighters, Veterinarians, Volunteers and Animal Care Professionals) after disaster strikes. All participants should be well briefed and ready to fulfill their role in the post-disaster management of the situation. Spontaneous volunteers can mean well, but actually hinder the response phase unless they are properly assessed and qualified for the tasks they are assigned.
   
   
5. Recovery - Picking up the Pieces
   
   Recovery involves a series of decisions that are made only after the immediate requirements to sustain life have been addressed. Re-building, re-pairing, fund-raising are some of the issues addressed. Restoring the affected area/facility to its previous state is the focus of the recovery state. This concept is also know as indemnity and is often used in the assessment of property insurance claims. However, the key to a successful recovery phase is to go beyond returning the affected area or facility to its previous state but rather employee mitigation through the project ensuring risks have been properly assessed and if possible eliminated.

As the second hurricane season now approaches animal welfare professionals are counting on a lot more than just luck to make sure their facility, animals and staff are protected. But don’t forget that fire is the most common disaster in North America. Therefore, you don’t need to be in Florida to start your emergency action planning now.

The Pethealth Family