Emergency preparedness and response for ISO 14001:2015

Emergency management involves a cyclical process of four phases:

·         Prevention: regulatory and physical measures to prevent emergencies or mitigate their impact

·         Preparedness: arrangements to mobilize and deploy all necessary resources and services

·         Response: actions taken during and immediately after an emergency to minimize the impact  and

·         Recovery: arrangements to restore the facility to normal as quickly and efficiently as possible and to assist the community to recover from the crisis

Emergency planning plays a key role in this cycle of emergency management focusing on preparedness and response.

Hazard mitigation planning can be defined as a coordinated series of structural and nonstructural actions and processes designed to reduce the likelihood of future damages to property, while minimizing the health and safety-related impacts associated with natural hazards and disasters. Plans rely on a mix of mitigation strategies that fall into four principal categories: 1) public information (e.g. hazard disclosure, mapping of hazards, education and outreach initiatives), 2) structural property protection (e.g. building and infrastructure hardening, elevation of flood-prone property, levees, seawalls), 3) natural resource protection (e.g. beach, dune and wetlands preservation, riparian buffers) and 4) hazard avoidance (e.g. limiting future development in hazard zones, relocating existing development from hazard zones).

Selecting a hazard mitigation strategy should involve both the process of identifying a coordinated set of actions or “projects” targeting buildings and infrastructure that are currently at risk as well as the application of land use techniques, policies and processes focused on pre-event hazards avoidance. Examples of land use planning tools that can be used for this purpose include zoning, subdivision regulations, building codes, and the public financing of capital improvements. The benefit of taking a land use planning approach, broadly defined, limits the level of exposure to hazards before an event occurs in addition to tackling problematic decisions made in the past.

 It is the responsibility of each organization to be prepared and to respond to emergency situations in a manner appropriate to its particular needs. For information on determining emergency situations.

When planning its emergency preparedness and response process(es), the organization should consider:

a) the most appropriate method(s) for responding to an emergency situation;

b) internal and external communication process(es);

c) the action(s) required to prevent or mitigate environmental impacts;

d) mitigation and response action(s) to be taken for different types of emergency situations;

e) the need for post-emergency evaluation to determine and implement corrective actions;

f) periodic testing of planned emergency response actions;

g) training of emergency response personnel;

h) a list of key personnel and aid agencies, including contact details (e.g. fire department, spillage clean-up services);

i) evacuation routes and assembly points;

j) the possibility of mutual assistance from neighbouring organizations.