Emergency procedures – flowcharts
Joseph McHugh and Sandesh Sheth describe how to construct an emergency procedure flowchart.
Introduction: Emergency procedures are the foundation of any crisis management plan. The objective of the emergency procedures is to be able to protect lives and minimize damage to assets and to try to ‘nip the incident in the bud’ before it escalates into a disaster. The authors developed the following emergency procedures flowchart during the implementation of a business continuity management system. The process flows depicted by the flowcharts enable easy understanding and also provide a quick reference guide for all concerned.
Caveat: Please adapt them based on your organization’s uniqueness.
List of incidents covered: emergency response procedures are used to address incidents that may occur during routine operations. Below is a list of some of the incidents that would trigger the initiation of emergency response procedures:
Emergency Response Procedures Fire Explosive Devices Civil Disturbance Power Outage Water
Incident Severe Wind S no w
We will address each of the emergencies in detail in the following flowcharts.
Need: The need is to create flowcharts that convey the first actions to be carried out and the escalations and process flows based on the emerging scenario.
Before the construction of the flow charts the following need to be defined: • Primary contacts
• Emergency response team members • Crisis management team members • Floor Marshals
• Roll call / head count lists • First aid trained personnel
• Emergency service providers contact numbers • Emergency contact numbers for all employees • Vendor contact numbers
• Call trees for employees, contractors and vendors • Floor plans with detailed information
Fire Fire Incident Auto Alarm activated Alarm monitoring service provider contacts organization Yes Employees manually activates alarm No Primary contact confirms fire incident Service Provider contacts Fire Department Yes Employee informs primary contact Primary contact contacts Fire Department No Primary contact informs Emergency Response Team Activate evacuation Activate evacuation Fire Engines arrives Evacuees report to Gathering Point / Safe Area
Roll call taken by team leads
Floor Marshals brief Crisis Management Team using floor
plans Emergency Response Team informs Crisis Management Team Crisis Management Team Leader briefs Battalion Chief Fire Department becomes Incident Commander Fire Department gives All-Clear signal Crisis Management Team directs future actions The following additional details need to be defined
Alarm monitoring service provider details- contact number, disabling procedure, testing procedure.
Bomb threat Employee receives a threat Type of Threat Collect additional information and inform Primary Contact Inform Primary Contact Verbal W ritten Contact 911 Activate Alarm Activate Evacuation Evacuees report to Gathering Point / Safe Area
Roll Call taken by Team Leads Bomb squad arrives Crisis Management Team briefs Bomb Squad Representative Inform Emergency Response Team Inform Emergency Response Team Inform Crisis Management Team Crisis Management Team is briefed Bomb Squad Leader becomes Incident Commander Bomb Squad gives All-Clear signal Crisis Management Team directs future actions
The following additional details need to be defined
Procedure to handle bomb threat calls – bomb threat checklist and agencies to be notified.
Civil disturbance Civil Disturbance Observed Location of Unrest Inform Primary Contact Inform Primary Contact Internal External Contact 911 Activate Alarm Shelter-in-Place Police arrives Inform Emergency Response Team Inform Emergency Response Team Inform Crisis Management Team Crisis Management Team is briefed Police Team Leader becomes Incident Commander Police gives All-Clear signal Crisis Management Team directs future actions Crisis Management Team briefs Police Team Leader
The following additional details need to be defined
- Shelter-in-place procedure - Flooding within premises.
Water related incident Water Related Incident Primary Contact informs Emergency Response Team Employees in Data
Center will activate the Incident Procedure Emergency Response Team informs Crisis Management Team Crisis Management Team directs JIS actions Employee contacts the Primary Contact Location of affected area
Data Center Office Area
Employees in Office area will activate the
Incident Procedure
Emergency Response Team contacts
Vendors
The following additional details need to be defined
Flooding incident procedure – mapping of vital records locations to danger areas, location of shielding material, contact numbers of restoration vendors.
Power outage Power Outage Incident Data Center runs on UPS
Primary Contact informs Emergency Response
Team
Primary Contact informs Fuel Service Company to refill after every X hours of continuous operations Emergency Response
Team checks with service provider for
status report
Emergency Response Team informs Crisis
Management Team Crisis Management Team directs JIS actions Primary Contact informs Emergency Response Team Backup Generator starts Yes No Emergency Response Team informs Crisis
Management Team
Crisis Management Team authorize
Soft-Shutdown
Crisis Response Team contacts Backup Generator
Vendor
The following additional details need to be defined
- Soft shutdown procedures
Medical Medical Incident Employee notices the injured
Primary Contact informs Crisis Response Team
Emergency Response Team contacts First-Aid
trained personnel First-Aid trained personnel provide medical services Emergency Response Team informs Crisis Management Team First-Aid trained people update Crisis Management Team Employee informs Primary Contact Primary Contact calls 911 EMT arrives
First -Aid trained people transfer the patient to EMT EMT assumes control and takes actions Crisis Management Team directs JIS
actions Injured is alive Yes Employee informs Primary Contact No Primary Contact calls 911 EMT and Police arrives EMT and Police verifies cause of death Natural Police seals area for investigation Suspicious
Severe windstorm / hurricane Severe Wind Incident Watch Alert issued Crisis Management Team directs future actions Warning Alert issued Emergency Response Team is on alert Emergency Response Team prepares for any mobilization Emergency Response informs Crisis Management Team Emergency Response Team verifies alert Emergency Response Team verifies alert
The following additional details need to be defined:
- Equipment for keeping alert
Snow storms Snow Storm Incident People onsite Lights Out Procedure Crisis Management Team verifies alert Employee informs Emergency Response Team Emergency Response Team is put on alert Emergency Response Team informs Crisis Management Team Snow Storm occurrence Impending Crisis Management Team declares Lights Out Crisis Management Team directs future actions Skeleton Crew Procedure Skeleton Crew Emergency Response Team prepares for mobilization Snow Storm occurrence
The following additional details need to be defined
- Lights out procedures
- Skeleton crew operations procedures - Mobilization resources and procedure.
Conclusion
This article highlights the process to develop flow charts for emergency procedures. Each flow chart has to be complemented by the required details. The flow charts in themselves are only able to summarize what needs to be done and should be used during top-level designs, trainings and awareness campaigns.
About the authors
Joseph McHugh is the Executive Deputy Director Operations for Judiciary Information
Systems (JIS) of the State of Maryland Judiciary, US. With more than 30 years of IT experience, he is responsible for providing mission supportive facilities and
infrastructure, ensuring security and optimizing operations at JIS. He is the project champion for Business Continuity Management System implementation project at JIS. Joe can be reached on joe.mchugh@mdcourts.gov
Sandesh Sheth is a business continuity consultant, developing and implementing
business continuity management systems for organizations worldwide. He represents the Enterprise Risk Management Consulting Group of Satyam Computer Services Limited. Sandesh can be reached on sandesh.sheth@yahoo.com.
