Category: Business Contingency Planning

Spotting Suspicious Activities is Your Best Protection

(Part three of a three-part series)

As we conclude this series of commentaries, it’s important to clarify the definition of terrorism: violent acts that create terror in victims and non-victims.

The tendency is to think of terrorism as something that exists on the political level. But, while incidents like the Colorado movie theater, Tucson and Sandy Hook shootings, more recent racially-motivated shootings as well as the many workplace incidents may not qualify for a formal definition of terrorism, the dangers are real. We suggest you include these incidents in your self-defense thinking.

There are five identifiable levels of awareness commonly used by most authorities . . .

1. Tuned Out

How often have you walked or driven down a street and not been aware of your surroundings because your mind was elsewhere? This distraction from your present situation makes you vulnerable. Blaring radios, cell phones, over-tiredness and other distractions put you at risk of terrorist activities — and from all sorts of otherwise benign occurrences.

2. Relaxed Awareness

Comparable to defensive driving, this level of awareness allows you to switch from relaxed to cautionary mode as you observe things that are out of the ordinary, but not necessarily threatening. This is the least taxing level of awareness that you can practice for long periods of time without inducing fatigue. And, you can readily “ratchet up” to level three or four as appropriate.

 3. Focused Awareness

A lot like driving in a heavy rainstorm or other hazardous road condition, focused awareness requires a heightened level of attention. Because it requires greater energy, this level of awareness is also accompanied by added fatigue over extended periods of time.

4. High Alert

Here is where you experience that adrenaline rush that accompanies the threat that puts your survival at risk. On the edge of panic, this is a scary place to be, but you are still able to function, albeit for a limited period. Coming down off of this level of alert can be distracting as you readjust to your “normal” level of awareness.

5. Comatose

This is one level of awareness that you don’t want to experience in an emergency. It’s what happens when a situation is so threatening that you freeze. You may even pass out to avoid the reality you are confronted with. This level of awareness is comparable to being asleep with your eyes wide open.

Practice awareness!

Staying aware of your surroundings is more of a mindset than a skill . . . you may want to practice relaxed awareness on a regular basis. Not that terrorist threats are all around you. They aren’t. That’s why they will stand out.

But if you don’t practice situational awareness, you may not be conscious of what is ordinary and the out-of-the-ordinary activities that might be an actual threat.

(A side benefit of regularly flexing your mind muscle by practicing situational awareness activity might just be your hedge against Alzheimer’s Disease. :))

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

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High pressure lines are closely monitored by a number of agencies.  Your local utility or city will be the most familiar with the state of high pressure lines in your area, and with the monitoring guidelines and records.

Gas fire erupting through LA street after Northridge earthquake. (photo by M. Rymer)

No matter how carefully lines are monitored, however, leaks and breaks can happen.  Most often, they happen when construction equipment accidentally punctures a line.  They can result from a natural event like a storm, earthquake, tornado, or ice storm.  Sometimes an over-loaded, aged infrastructure is to blame.

Leaks could happen at any time.

How do your local gas lines stack up?

An online search using the National Pipeline Mapping system is a good place to start. Dig deep on that site to find the names of the various operators of the different lines in your area. Contact them to get more details about the age and condition of their lines, their monitoring and safety policies and plans, etc.

If you think you have an emergency…

If you see or hear any of these near a pipeline right-of-way, it could signal a leak:

• A hissing, roaring sound
• Dirt or dust blowing
• Water bubbling or spraying
• Dead or brown vegetation
• Flames coming from the ground
• “Rotten egg” smell

(Typically the “rotten egg” smell is added only to smaller distribution lines. It won’t appear in major transmission lines.)

What’s the right response to a potential gas leak?

Get out! But do it intelligently.

• Turn off any machinery or motors.
• Don’t turn on or use any electrical equipment that could create a spark. This includes turning lights on or off, making a cell phone call, closing a garage door, or using a battery-operated radio!
• Do not allow any open flames, including matches, cigarette lighters, welding equipment, etc.
• Evacuate the immediate area. If exiting a building, leave the doors open.
• Keep bystanders away.
• Do not try to find the source of the leak.
• Do not operate any valves or other shut-offs.
• Do not attempt any repairs.
• Do not attempt to put out any fires.
• From a safe distance, call 911.

Emergency Preparedness Training

Action Items: Train your Emergency Response Team to recognize this hazard and to respond accordingly. Invite an expert as guest speaker to one of your neighborhood meetings. Prepare a flyer (taken from this Advisory?) and include it in your “Welcome Wagon” handouts for new neighbors.

We consider gas line leaks and the potential for fire resulting from them as the number one threat to our neighborhood! Where do they fit in your list of top threats?

One of the possible risks you face, whether at home or at work, is from a pipeline leak. A good emergency preparedness plan reminds you to find out where pipelines are located, what they carry, and how to respond if there is an emergency.

Step One: Look for nearby pipelines.

Have you seen this sign?

Find local pipelines by watching for pipeline signs as you go about your daily business! They are typically posted at major intersections, railroad and water crossings, and at property boundaries. The sign shown here is only a sample; a real sign would give more information about the kind of material being carried by the pipeline – for example, “petroleum,” “high pressure gas,” “natural gas,” “oil,” “jet fuel” — and include the operator’s emergency phone number.

Action Item: Get all members of your team, or workplace colleagues, to watch for signs as they come and go from home and work. They can bring in photos and locations. Build your own map of where they are located, and of your vulnerabilities.

Step Two: Find a detailed gas pipeline map.

The National Pipeline Mapping System provides an online service where you can search for pipelines by state and county. The maps are layered, showing transmission lines, liquid natural gas plants and breakout tanks. Smaller lines (distribution and gathering systems) are not included in NPMS. You can print the maps, but you are not able to download the underlying data.

You don’t need a password to get into the site, but it does take a while to get through all the different layers. You will be able to see a map by county and then, by entering a specific address, you’ll see major carrier lines, the pipeline operators for the area, what is carried and whether it is “hazardous,” whether the line is in service or abandoned. You can also use a tool to measure how far you are from the pipeline.

Access the National Pipeline Mapping System here.

Action Item: As part of your Risk Assessment process, research your local geographic area using the National Pipeline Mapping System.

Step Three: Know how to respond to a pipeline leak or break.

Watch for the continuation of this article in an upcoming Advisory here at Emergency Plan Guide. Sign up below to be sure you get ALL the Advisories about Gas Line Leaks.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

We get used to using the jargon of preparedness, and sometimes forget that not everybody thinks about this stuff on a daily basis! Here is some basic emergency preparedness vocabulary you can share with your neighbors and co-workers, particularly if they are new to the concept or if their English language skills aren’t well developed.

Nobody likes to feel left out or stupid. We have found that offering the vocabulary words “as a refresher” is a good way to develop a new level of engagement and confidence. This approach works for everybody!

Incident

This is the official word for the emergency itself – whether it is a fire, an earthquake, aftermath of a hurricane, or a train wreck. An incident can be local, or it can be widespread. We often think of something that is “incidental” as being not very important. In the world of emergency response, an incident is the most important thing! The Incident Commander is the person who takes charge of the response. (Interestingly enough, the very first person who arrives at the scene may become the first Incident Commander, but when someone more qualified arrives, that person may take over!)

Search and Rescue

This is pretty straight forward. It refers to searching for, finding and helping people in immediate danger. Professionals often divide this up into specialty sub-fields that require special training and/or equipment, such as mountain rescue, swift water rescue, etc.

Search and rescue activities are stopped if it is clear there are no more living victims, or if the situation becomes too dangerous for the rescuers. Eventually, search and rescue changes over to “recovery.”

Cribbing

When rescuers are searching through collapsed structures, they may want to lift pieces of debris to reach people trapped beneath. To do this safely, they lift piece by piece and create a support structure to hold each layer safely before moving on to the next. The process is called “cribbing.” It usually involves using pry bars to lift debris, then building a support underneath using wooden beams laid across one another in the form of a box.

Triage (“tree-ahzh”)

In a real emergency, one of the hardest jobs for a volunteer is to not stop to help the first injured person they come to! Instead, they go through a process to sort injured people into groups based on their need for medical treatment. Triage is that sorting process. Its purpose is to serve the most people when resources are limited. Typically, injured people are briefly assessed and then labeled as “minor” (a minor injury), “immediate,” “delayed,” or “deceased.” A fully equipped CERT team will have colored labels (see illustration to left) to attach to victims; this helps trained first responders know where to go when they arrive.

CERT (“sirt”)

The Community Emergency Response Team concept was started in Los Angeles in the 1980s and is now in every state of the union. Professional First Responders had seen the role that committed, ordinary citizens can play in large-scale disasters, when resources are delayed or spread thin. So they created training to give citizens a way to act more safely and more effectively. CERT training usually consists of 20-24 hours of classroom study and hands-on practice. In an emergency, CERT graduates are able to act first as individuals and later as teams to assess damage, extinguish fires, perform light search and recue and render first aid. When professional First Responders arrive, CERT teams serve as support if required.

Logistics (“lo-jis-tiks”)

This is the science of getting supplies to where they are needed. In an emergency, it involves understanding the scope of the incident, knowing what tools, supplies or equipment are available and where they are stored, and making arrangements for getting things delivered to where they are needed. A volunteer totally unfamiliar with the neighborhood or business will not be able to manage this job.

In our neighborhood, we have special teams devoted to each of these special areas. The leaders of these teams call upon other volunteers and direct them, as required.

Action item:  Consider printing out these definitions for all team members, and going over them out loud at a training meeting so everyone knows how they sound.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Like words?  Here are a couple of other “vocabulary” lists for different situations!

• Business emergencies
• Police Jargon

Are we talking Business Continuity or Business Emergency Response?

Organizing an emergency response team for a business is not the same as building a business continuation or business continuity plan…but they do complement one another.

The objective of a Business Continuity Plan is to preserve the mission critical elements of a business to assure that it can operate under a variety of conditions following a disruption.

Don’t be lulled into thinking that a contunity plan focuses on computers and customer transaction data. A good continuity plan is far more comprehensive than that! One place to start in assessing your business’ need for a continuity plan is to join the American Red Cross, Ready Rating™ program on line at: www.redcross.org/prepare/location/workplace. It’s free and includes a 125 question, self-paced analysis.

The primary objective of a Business Emergency Response Team is to save the lives of employees and managers first and preserve the business properties second.

Some Challenges May Be Outside The Business’ Control

The greatest challenges that a business faces in a major catastrophe are the various circumstances that may be outside its controls.

1. The location of the facilities, the surrounding businesses, city’s infrastructure, etc. are one aspect of the problem. Many businesses don’t take potential emergencies or infrastructure risks into consideration when they set up shop.
2. The natural urge of employees and managers to get home and check on the welfare of family and loved ones is the human side of the equation and it is something that has to be addressed in any plan that is expected to work.
3. And that leads us to the third problem: the Corporate Emergency Plan.  We have been exposed to a number of them, and have helped design programs for building Business Continuity Plans. The tendency in business is to build these plans by the “bulk” (see photo).  More often than not, this renders them unworkable. It’s much like a battle plan. It looks great on paper, but is usually superseded once the action begins.
   

   Business Continuity Plan — How useful?

Some of the issues that these plans find impossible to address effectively:

— Whether it’s a natural disaster or a major terrorist attack, you can’t predict what the damage is going to be or who will be in a position to respond to the emergency.

— The natural tendency in business is to “appoint” managers to lead Response Teams. Not everyone is physically or mentally equipped to respond effectively in an emergency situation. In many cases, the best leaders in an emergency will not be managers.

— There are legal issues to be considered, often associated with shareholders, financial and reporting requirements, etc. as well as with protecting employee volunteers.

Volunteer status and the Good Samaritan Law

In most states there are laws in place to protect citizens who act in a Good Samaritan capacity. The protection is even greater when people have received CERT, First Aid or other Red Cross training.

Action Item:  As you consider your own business emergency response plan, check to be sure how the Good Samaritan Law works in your state.

Forming a Business Emergency Response Team

The real criteria for forming a Business Emergency Response Team are thus volunteer status and training.

We think that a business has an easier task of forming a CERT-trained Emergency Response Team than another group simply because employees are readily available, and their interests in saving the business are aligned with management’s interests.

For small businesses in a multi-tenant building, it may be beneficial to join forces in building a CERT group for the building or a logical section of the building.

Which is more important, Business or Neighborhood preparation?

In all our posts, we look at getting organized and getting training, whether at the workplace or at the neighborhood level.  In many cases, these overlap.  In all cases, more is better.  This is what inspires us to keep working!

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Why don’t people want to be part of an emergency response team?

In our years of dealing with emergency planning, at the local or regional level, people tell us — or don’t tell, but reveal — these reasons for not wanting to participate:

• For the most part it’s that they are busy . . . too busy they think to find the time to participate in one more activity.
• Some people are hard wired against joining any group or engaging in any kind of preparation.
• Some people just have a mental block against thinking about “negative” things. (Insurance agents encounter this type of person on a regular basis.)
• Another less lethal version of this attitude is the person who lives in denial.
• Then there is the hard-core procrastinator (this type is our absolute favorite).

How to overcome these obstacles?  The question technique…

While there is no magic bullet for any of these folks, we’ve found that – rather than trying to “sell them” on participating – giving them a list of questions like the following can have a sobering effect on most people with an IQ over 75.

When is a convenient time?

Question #1:  What day and time would be best for you and the safety of your family to schedule a major earthquake? What time would be the least inconvenient?

Question #2:  If you are away from home when an earthquake or other major disaster hits and your house is damaged, who do you expect will check to see if anyone needs rescuing and/or who will turn off the natural gas to prevent fire?

Question #3: If you are trapped underneath a bookcase or under the rubble of your (now former) house and impassable roads are preventing any official help, would you like to have trained CERT neighbors try to rescue you?

(If not, what color body bag would you prefer? They come in white, blue or black and heavy duty models are available for people over 240 lbs.)

Question #4: In the event of a real catastrophic event that lays waste to much of your community, which would you prefer:

a. A bunch of well-meaning neighbors running around in panic mode trying to figure out what to do,       or

b. Trained and organized Community Emergency Response Team Members springing into action according to well-rehearsed tasks for which they have volunteered?

Question #5: Following a widespread disaster, you’re busy at work, trying to save the business that provides you and your family with a livelihood, but you have children at school and an aging parent, one cat, a dog and one Gerbil at home. Can you save the business without knowing your neighbors are looking after the home front until you get there?

Obviously, we could come up with more questions. But the best questions will come from you and the people in your neighborhood who know the actual circumstances.

The point is simply to get people thinking about the consequences of not taking action.

Next, we’ll discuss the first steps in building a neighborhood or workplace CERT group.

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S.  Action Item:  If you liked the questions, use them!  Pass them out at work, or share one-by-one via email.  Use them however you want to get the conversation started!

If you are an employer looking for more guidance regarding workplace preparedness, and are ready to delve into the regulations surrounding this area, OSHA – Occupational Safety and Health Administration — has published a number of informational factsheets on workplace emergencies and workplace preparedness.

Among them:

Planning and Responding to Workplace Emergencies

This two-page overview lists requirements for companies with more than 10 employees. Sections of the report include:

o Planning
o Chain of Command
o Emergency Response Teams
o Response Activities
o Employee Training
o Personal Protection
o Medical Assistance

How to Plan for Workplace Emergencies and Evacuations (OSHA 3088)

A far more comprehensive document, this 25-page report is written for the employer, to make sure the employer is following all required and recommended procedures to protect the business. This document covers all the items listed in the fact sheet above, with particular attention to fires and evacuations. A comprehensive flowchart on page 11 determines just who is required to have a written Emergency Action Plan.

Both OSHA reports are available at www.osha.gov.

Step-by-step to workplace preparedness

Simple Plans for Small Businesses

If you own or work in a small business, you may still require a plan.  In the absense of more formal arrangements, download the Emergency Plan Guide’s Seven Steps to Workplace Preparedness.  It will give you a place to start.

Follow up with other Advisories that deal with finding workplace leaders and assembling your workplace emergency response team.

In our last post we talked about the importance of making sure employees have an out-of-region emergency contact person so they can find out what is happening to other family members.  When employees know family members are safe, they can turn their attention to the business.

Naturally, having a plan will help employees take action promptly and effectively.

Basic planning can save lives and save your job.

Seven Steps to Workplace Preparedness

Even if you are not the employer, you can take the responsibility to organize your workplace. This action can save lives as well as save the business – and your income.

We have developed a one-page poster to help you get started. It is designed to raise awareness and start conversations about workplace survival. Share it with your co-workers, hang it in the break room or bathroom. Make copies — and get started on a plan.

Action Item:  Download “Seven Steps to Workplace Preparedness” now.

Since we live in California, we are always thinking about earthquakes.  But the recent heat wave in the middle and eastern part of the US. reminds us that there are other emergencies, too – and they can be just as deadly.

Heat waves and storms go together.

Big differences between temperatures and air pressure create climate “events” that bring down electric power lines.  That stops electricity to refrigerators, to air conditioners, to fans. That’s what happened last week and that’s what killed some people.

Could they have done things differently?

Some of them could probably have found safer places to ride out the storm.  But most had no defense against the ultimate killer – the heat!

At night, no electricity means no light.  Unless you have flashlights or lanterns.  You can’t read, watch TV, cook, or repair things.  You are pretty much stuck where you are, not moving.

During the day, no electricity means no air conditioning. . . for day after day after day, and at night, too.

• At home, you simply swelter.  Meanwhile, all your food goes bad because your freezer and your refrigerator are off.
• Freezers and refrigerators at local stores are off, too, so they run out of supplies very quickly.
• And roads, the lifeline for supplies, may be blocked by downed trees and power lines.

What would YOU have done?

Whether it’s high winds or heavy rain that took out the electric service doesn’t matter.  What does matter is whether people had water.

Water saves people two ways.

1. When it’s hot, you need to drink.  Steadily, and a lot.  You can tell if you’re getting enough if you have to pee often, too.
2. When it’s hot, you can spray or sprinkle yourself (your children and your pets) with water and let evaporation help keep skin temperatures down.

A couple of the people who died were hit by debris from the storm, or crashed because of rain.  But most of the casualties simply succumbed to too much heat and too little water.

Don’t let this happen to you!  Make sure you have water supplies at home and at work and enough to save someone else besides yourself. It’s the simplest preparation of all!