Workplace Emergency Response Plan: Industrial Warehouse Project

This project details the development of an emergency response plan (ERP) for an industrial warehouse, addressing potential hazards like natural disasters, human-caused incidents, and chemical spills. It outlines the formation of an emergency planning organization with designated roles, including a warehouse operation manager, an emergency management team, and a response group. The plan identifies hazards associated with warehouse activities such as storage, transportation, and goods receipt, and proposes objectives for protecting assets, ensuring operational continuity, and safeguarding worker health and safety. Key components of the ERP include establishing a Fire Safety Committee, defining alarm signals, implementing emergency lockdown procedures, and providing guidelines for fire and medical emergencies. The plan emphasizes communication, evacuation protocols, and the importance of training and resource allocation to enhance the warehouse's overall emergency preparedness and response capabilities.

Name of Student
Name of Professor
Institution Affiliation
City/ State
Year/ Month/ Year

Executive Summary
The Emergency Plan simply describe how to respond to human or naturally caused emergencies
occurring in numerous workplaces but to be specific, industrial warehouse. The plan is needed in most
workplaces and it shows the procedure to be taken when conducting emergency operations, the process
for offering emergency services, mutual aid. This particular plan also goes ahead and describe examples
of hazard available in the workplace and how to mitigate those hazards as well preparedness and recovery
from disasters. The employed in the industrial warehouse are the people who primarily benefit from this
emergency response plan since they will be able to render first aid operation in case of emergencies.

INTRODUCTION
An oil and petroleum Company have an industrial warehouse located not far away from town and
the warehouse serves a number of activities such as receiving stock, processing incoming stock and
storing the items until the time they will be needed by the company for use. This type of a warehouse is a
large building where several workers from different regions are employed. As a result of working in the
warehouse, there are certain hazards which may affect the workers for example; Natural hazards such as
earthquake, human-caused hazard such as fire and chemical spill. There are certain dangerous chemicals
used in producing Oil and Petroleum products, for example, Sulphur dioxide which causes lung cancer
and cardiopulmonary mortality if inhaled, benzene which also causes cancer.The warehouse floor plan is
shown below;
Description of selected work premise
As a newly appointed Operation Manager in the industrial warehouse, I felt that there is need of
developing an emergency response plan so that in case we are faced by this type of problems then we
know where to commence with an aim of eliminating injuries faced by workers resulting to death. I
decided to come up with an emergency planning team and allocating them roles and responsibilities to
assist in preventing deaths that may arise from the workplace. The emergency response team will be
organized and assigned each of the team responsibilities so that they can be offer assistance in case there
is an emergency.
This particular warehouse is involved in various activities namely;
o Storage of goods
o Transportation of goods
o Goods receipt

Emergency planning Organization
The emergency planning organization will comprise of a designated group of people responsible for
various aspects of the emergency operation. This organization will provide guidelines that address the
effects of emergency circumstances affecting the warehouse. It will also provide documentation and
recovery procedure that will be needed following emergency situations. Emergency planning organization
will comprise of;
Warehouse operation manager
The warehouse manager will be primarily responsible for approving the comprehensive emergency
management plan and formulating policy with regard to the overall operation of the emergency planning
organization including;
 Defining areas of responsibilities
 Determining the emergency management team
 Formulating public information policy.
 Creating financial structure and organization support for EPO
Emergency Management Team
The team will consist ten workers from the warehouse, and the team is responsible for;
 Participating in preparation and training.
 Dissemination of information to various warehouse department.
 Conducting various threats assessment
 Reviewing Emergency response plan
Response Group
The other selected workers will be responsible the ERP implementation and initiating the recovery
phase. They will perform the following;
 Coordinating the operational implementation of ERP.
 Establishing an Emergency Operation Centre as needed to respond to the situation
 Designating a coordinator for the Recovery Group.
\

Potential Hazards and Impacts
Among the following warehouse activities, they were hazards involved in the following activities and
the have effects on workers working in the warehouse. There were variously associated with storing and
transportation of goods in the warehouse and they had effects on the workers at large.
Warehouse activities Hazard associated Effect
Storage of goods Falls from the height, hazardous
substances, theft, spillage of
goods causing slip's and trips and
poor storage causing manual
handling risk
They affect workers health
and may lead to death or
injury.
Transportation of goods Environmental hazards such as
rain which may cause damage to
the goods transport and accidents
This leads to the destruction
of goods
Goods receipt Slow goods receipt process,
manual counting of items, large
quantities items.
Difficulty in monitoring the
operations.
Warehouse Response Planning
1. OBJECTIVES
1.1. Purpose
The reason for developing Emergency Response Plan is to come up with processes, policies and also
organizational hierarchy for response to emergencies occurring in the industrial warehouse. The
warehouse Emergency Response Plan appends the preceding plans and excludes the employee actions,
not in accord with the intent of this plan or emergency organizations created by it (Beach, 2010, p. 312).
Mission
The mission of this particular warehouse is to provide excellent services to the industry. To
accomplish this mission, a healthy environment is required to the people working in the warehouse and
also the people around. This plans mission defines and pronounces actions to be taken by the workers to
efficiently alleviate, formulate, respond to and recuperate from an emergency that may affect the property
and lives (Curtis, 2011, p. 456).
Goals
The goals of this plan are;
 To protects the assets in the warehouse.
 To protect the warehouse ability to operate.
 To ensure a well-timed recovery from a crisis event.
 To protect the health and safety of the workers

1.2. Fire Safety Committee
The Fire Safety Committee will be formed in order to achieve the objectives mentioned above. The
committee will represent all the workers operating in the warehouse and it will include the following
appointments (Adwera, 2008, p. 234);
 Chief Security Officer
 Fire Wardens
 Assistant Fire Wardens
1.3. A signal for fire alarm
The alarm signal is a continuous ringing bell resounding from an electrically operated border in the
warehouse. The alarm can be raised by automatic sprinkler system, automatic heat, and smoke detector
system and break glass alarm system (Ben, 2013, p. 34).
2. ACTIONS TO BE TAKEN IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY
The warehouse siren will be activated in case an emergency is detected. Upon activation of the siren,
all the warehouse occupants should (Jiang, 2017, p. 129);
 Increase awareness of the surrounding immediately and alert the workers.
 If indoors, get ready to enhance evacuation, shelter in place or emergency lockdown procedure.
 Stimulation of personal communication devices to organize for receipts of emergency
information messages (Fagel, 2013, p. 90).
The Buc Alert Messaging System
 After warning of an emergency which offers a potential threat to warehouse population, the
system will be activated by the designated user of the Buc Alert messaging system and send a
combination of email and voice messages to the contact information entered into the warehouse
emergency notification database (Kahn, 2011, p. 65).
 This message will entail an essential data concerning the emergency and specific response
directions.
 Based on the condition of the crisis and instant hazards presented, notification will be sent to
numerous people, certain groups or the entire information contained in the database.
Emergency Lockdown
There is a certain circumstance in which evacuation of the workplace is not advisable for example the
release of hazardous material, attack by the terrorist. The personnel will be advised in initiating the
emergency lockdown (Bissell, 2013, p. 123).
Overall Emergency Lockdown Procedures
 Communication whereby the emergency lockdown will be announced to the workers by the use
of an emergency messaging system, person to person or verbally.
 The security available around should be contacted in case the situation need the emergency
lockdown (Kelly, 2007, p. 330).

 People facing this similar situation should be notified.
 The evacuation alarm should not be sounded.
Lockdown procedure
 All the windows and doors should be closed
 Silent communication devices should be kept silent
 All the lights should be turned off.
 All the open areas or hallways should not be entered
Elevator Failure concerning the issue in case the emergency alarm is heard. The security provided
should consist of the following information (Gustin, 2010, p. 122);
 The buildings name
 The location you are inside the building
 The place where the elevator car is still.
 If medical attention is needed.
 If elevators have mechanical safety brakes which enables them to operate in case, there is a
failure in electricity.
The emergency action that could be taken in case of elevator failure are,
 To stay calm
 All the occupants must be kept calm
 The alarm found inside the elevator car door or emergency telephone should be used to alert or
notify other people in case of an emergency.
1.1. Fire Emergency
In the event of a fire alarm
 The structure should be left immediately using stairwells and not elevators.
 On no occasion assume that fire alarm is a false alarm, action should be taken immediately the
fire alarm is sounded (Haddow, 2010, p. 78).
 After reaching a safety area, the security of the warehouse should be notified concerning the
alarm and the information to be provided based on the current situation.
 No person will be permitted to re-enter the erection deprived of the permission of the security or
Fire Department (Gallant, 2008, p. 123).
 You should render assistance to an immediate person who is in danger so long as it can be done
without risking yourself.
 The building fire alarm system should be activated. This will activate the visual and audible
warning system to evacuate the building and will automatically notify the Fire Department and
the warehouse security.
 The nearby extinguisher can be used to extinguish the fire in case the fire is small.
 Do not contest the fire if these conditions exist;
o If the fire is out of control or too large
o If the atmosphere is toxic
 If you do not succeed in putting off the fire, then you should evacuate the building immediately.

 As the last person leaves the area or room, the doors and windows should be closed if possible.
 If in case you can access a telephone, use it to call the emergency dispatcher telling them where
you are in specific. This should be done even if you are seeing the Fire Department personnel
through the window (Goodwin, 2007, p. 344).
 You should stay in a position where you can be seen by the rescue team and if possible wave a
light-colored item to attract their attention.
 You can open the window at the bottom and top if possible and be ready to shut them quickly if
the smoke rushes in.
 You should be patient since rescuing a person in a large building will take time.
 No occupant will be allowed to re-enter the building without Fire Department or warehouse
security permission (Young, 2008, p. 87).
Medical Emergency
To acquire a prompt medical treatment from a professional, you should dial the warehouse number
and give specific location you are in. In case you are asking for the ambulance then stay ready to offer the
following information;
 Your designation and mobile number
 The emergency exact location
 The extent of the occurrence, illness or injury
 A place to meet the ambulance then directed to the patient.
 Give the patient details, for example, sex, age, known medical condition and if the patient is still
breathing (Wapling, 2016, p. 178).
The person placing the call should halt on the phone with the dispatcher, answer many questions as
possible concerning the condition of the injured person to facilitate forwarding of the information to the
responding emergency personnel (Wood, 2009, p. 344).
 Call the warehouse security using the warehouse phone or using the emergency call box to
acquire emergency treatment for injury or medical illness,
 The security officers at the warehouse are trained and certified to use AED.
 In case you are providing first aid then reflect the following;
o Is the immediate action needed in order to save a life?
o Will I place myself in jeopardy or harm?
o Do not jeopardize the health of the patient or your health.
1.2. Hazardous Material Release or Spills
For the spills or incidents which require the special procedure, training or equipment beyond the
capability of the existing personnel then the following steps should be taken;
 The affected people should be notified and evacuate the spill region.
 Dial the warehouse emergency number to report the incident and be ready to provide the
following information;
o Your name, location, and telephone
o The type and time of the incident
o If it is known, provide the name and quantity of the material.
o The extent of damage or injury

 The main person on site must vacate the contaminated region immediately and seal it off until the
emergency personnel arrives and this is done to prevent further contamination of others.
 Avoid contact with other people in case you are contaminated by the spill. Remain within the
locality and present your name to the emergency staff. Any first aid required should take place
immediately and also wash off the contamination (Robert, 2010, p. 193).
 You should not clean up the spills unless trained to do so.
 Follow the procedures for evacuating the building in case the evacuation alarm sounds.
 The communication devices must be ensured that they are functioning since you can receive Buc
Alert mails that may be directed anytime (Perry, 2005, p. 512).
 You should not re-enter the building unless permitted by the emergency personnel.
Violence.
1.3. Earthquake
The procedure for dealing with earthquake is different from the others since the magnitude of the
earthquake is difficult to predetermine. The best instruction for the earthquake is to take relevant
precautions before the earthquake, for example, removing or securing the items on top of you that could
drop in case of the earthquake (Ledlow, 2006, p. 448).
During earthquake
 Stay calm and do not react but act.
 If you are in the building, seek refuge under the tables or desk but move away from the windows.
 Cover yourself near an interior wall if no cover is available.
 Shield your face and head.
After Earthquake
 There may be falling debris so do not rush out
 Do not use the elevators
 Prepare to receive any message alert by ensuring the personal communication devices are
activated.
 Evacuate if direct to so by the emergency personnel or if alarm sounds.
 Do not use the open flames or the cigarettes since gas linkage could be present caused by the
earthquake.
After the activation of EOC, the assigned personnel will be notified and assemble the personnel who
were assigned. Based on the crisis nature, I will create the EOC in a static setting or ways of
communication such as conference calls or emails that are finest suited for a retort to the emergency.
There are certain incidents that may warrant the Emergency Operation Centre implementation namely;
 Serious environmental threats to health and safety for example fire, hazardous materials, bomb
threat and communicable diseases.
 Incidents of potential or actual harm to individuals like violent crime
After the formation of the emergency team, they will be provided with resources such as

 Equipment, for example, fire detection burglary alarm, alarm system, a communication
system such as telephone, landline and email, fire guard and destruction systems such as
fire pumps, fire sprinklers, fire extinguishers and water supplies. An emergency power
supply such as generators will also be needed (Magnone, 2014, p. 43).
 Facilities will also be needed for example rooms such as Emergency Operation Centre.
Premise Tier-Level and Response Strategy
The warehouse will be operating at 1 tier level and it performs the following duty;
 Receiving goods from the manufacturer
 Storage of goods in the facility
 Distribution of goods to various companies.
The warehouse is divided into three departments and that is;
 Transport management department
 Inventory management department
 Order management department.
Classification
of the premise
MINIMUM
TRAINING
PPE MITIGATION FIRST
AID
COMMUNICATION BASIC
TASKING
Receiving of
goods such as
flammable
goods
Cert in Fire
Emergency
( 3 days)
Apparatus
for
breathing.
Goggles
Rubber
gloves
Rubber
boots
Firefighting
hoses
Flammable
containers
should be
sealed.
The premise
should have a
fire
extinguisher
Fordable
stretcher
Using warehouse
telephone
Prevent the
leaking of
flammable
goods.
Implement
In-place
protection
Conduct
mass
evacuation
Storage of
goods such as
high risk and
flammable
goods
WSQ Store
management
incidents (1
week)
Firefighting
hose.
Fork lift
Breathing
apparatus
Fire
extinguisher
First
Aid kit
Using telephone Assist
emergency
responders
Implement
in-place
protection

Transportation
of goods of
high risk and
flammable
Cert First
Aider
Course (2
days)
Breathing
apparatus.
Fire
extinguisher
Fire
extinguisher
First
Aid kit
Using telephone Perform
first aid
Mitigate
incipient
stages of
the
incidents
Response Team Competency
Every individual within the response team will be given a role to play;
Incident management team
The incident management team will have the following responsibilities
 Activate extra response contractors and local resources
 Confirm safety aspects at the site
 Communicate and give briefings to the company superiors
 Direct response and cleanup operations
 Evaluation of safety concerns, response equipment and potential impacts based on the first-hand
information given from the seen
In place protection team
The duties and roles of in place protection team will be;
 Control entree to the event scene and the nearby.
 Demand health support if possible
 Confirm the release substance and offer protection data sheets.
 Recognize and separate basis to reduce the loss of products
 Initiate primary response action
Evacuation warden team
The duties and responsibilities of evacuation warden team will be;
 Offer assistance to the workers in case of an emergency.
 Assist in preventing emergencies by ensuring appropriate measures are put in order.
 To lead in real evacuation procedures and drilling
 To ensure all the workers are accounted for during evacuation.
 To educate workers on how to respond in an emergency.
 Assist in emergency procedures enactment and humanizing effectiveness
 To raise awareness with other staffs concerning the hazard in the workplace

Formulation of Emergency Response Plan
The meeting was held in order to formulate the Emergency Response Plan and during the meeting the
following was discussed;
 The risk and hazards in the area
 The staff and resources available to meet the demands of an emergency incident.
 Expenditure during an emergency or incident
 Decontamination procedures to be carried out.
 Financial management process and fund allocation protocol.
During the meeting, evacuation procedure was also developed to be followed in case of an emergency in
the work place;
 The buildings will be evacuated once the alarm is heard or after being notified by the emergency
personnel.
 Activate the fire alarm in case you are told do so by a designated emergency official.
 During an emergency evacuation, one should not use elevators but only the emergency official
can use elevators after reviewing of circumstances.
 One should walk quickly to the nearest marked building in case the fire alarm is sounded by the
designated official.
 Assistance should be rendered to those with disabilities and the disable should know locations for
exit doors.
 If in case you are disabled and you can slow down evacuation process, then you have to stay calm
and if possible dial an emergency call for help.
 If one must move, it is recommended that; you have to move to an enclosed stairwell, wait for
emergency personnel after moving to the staircase and request the person moving out to alert the
designated emergency official for help.
 You must make sure about activation of communication devices and be ready to receive any
message alert from the officials.
There are also challenges that were experienced during the formulation, they included
 The employees who are the most important resources in an organization are not willing to
adapt to the new way of working as prescribed in the ERP.
 The implementation of ERP projects are not rarely finalized within the planned timeframe
because of undefined issues which arise during implementation.
 During implementation unexpected issues arise thus increasing the budget
Conclusion
The Emergency Response Plan is necessary is necessary for every workplace. Every workplace needs
to develop their work plan to enable the workers to protect themselves and the properties in case of an
emergency such as fire, earthquake and various which can cause harm to the workers and the properties at
large.

References
Adwera, P. (2008). Emergency Response Planning for Corporate and Municipal Managers. Auckland:
Weka.
Alexander, D. (2014). The principal of Emergency Planning and Management. Birmingham: Random
House.

Beach, M. (2010). Disaster Management. Boston: Random House.
Ben, K. (2013). Emergency Preparedness & Response Plan. Leeds: Adventure Works Press.
Bissell, R. (2013). Preparedness and Response to Catastrophic Disasters. Sydney: Thomson-Reuters.
Curtis, P. (2011). Maintaining Mission Critical System in 24/7 Environment. Gold Coast: Grupo Planeta.
Fagel, M. (2013). Crisis Management and Emergency Planning. Lyon: Hauffe Gruppe.
Gallant, B. (2008). Essentials in Emergency Management. Chicago: McGraw-Hill Education.
Goodwin, T. (2007). Safety, Health, and Emergency Response Plan. Mumbai: Pearson.
Goss, K. (2007). Guide for All-Hazard Emergency Operations Planning. San Francisco: Wolters Kluwer.
Gustin, J. (2010). Emergency Response Planning Guidelines. Hamilton: Informa.
Haddow, G. (2010). Public Schools Emergency Preparedness and Crisis Management Plan. Paris: Weka.
Jackson, B. (2008). The problem of measuring emergency preparedness. Minna: Houghton Mifflin
Harcourt.
Jennings, B. (2016). Emergency Response to Domestic Terrorism. New Delhi: Hachette Livre.
Jiang, H. (2017). Proceedings of The 20th Pacific Basin Nuclear Conference. Florence: China Publishing
Company.
Kahn, M. (2011). Disaster Response and Planning. Beijing: Cambridge University Press.
Kelly, R. (2007). Industrial Emergency Preparedness. Cairo: Wolters Kluwer.
Kumar, S. (2008). Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan in Major Cyanide Handling. Waterloo:
Wiley.

Ledlow, G. (2006). Community Preparedness and Response to Terrorism. Marseille: Sanoma.
Magnone, A. (2014). Creating a Disaster Preparedness. Calgary: Ridders Digest.
Perry, R. (2005). Municipal Environmental Accidents and Emergency Response Planning. Washington DC:
Reed Elsevier.
Robert, J. (2010). Oil and Hazardous Materials Emergency Response Plan. Boston: Media Participation.
Sadiq, N. (2012). Confined Space Entry and Emergency Response. Yokohama: Gakken.
Serluco, P. (2010). Emergency Preparedness and Response in Transport. Livverpool: Informa.
Smith, J. (2010). Hazardous Materials and Hazardous Waste Management. Brisbane: Wiley.
Wapling, A. (2016). Health Emergency Preparedness and Response. Sydney: Sanoma.
Wood, T. (2009). Emergency Preparedness Planning. Minna: OLMA Media Group.
Young, L. (2008). Public Health Management of Disaster. Shangai: Scholastic.

QUESTION 2
a). Discuss if Nancy’s mother can bring an action for recovery for psychiatric injury
The Nancy mother developed psychiatric shock as a result of the information she received via
phone by one of the Nancy classmate known as Balu. She became ill as a result of mental illness because
of the shock to his nervous system. According to Singapore law, a person can receive compensation for
psychiatric injury in case the incident threatened its own safety or involved witnessing exceptional
distressing injuries. But there is no law in Singapore that allows a person to be compensated as a result
of communication received from the third party. In any claim, there are proximity elements inherent in
any claims for example; proximity of relationship and it is agreed that in this particular claim, there were
a close family ties because it involves a mother and a daughter and it is said the closer the tie the greater
the claim for consideration while in less close relationships must be scrutinized very carefully. Proximity
in time and place is another proximity element and the law says that one from close proximity comes
very soon the scene should not be excluded. A strict test of proximity by sight test of proximity by
hearing or sight are applied in the Singapore laws hence there is no need of Nancy mother to bring an
action for recovery for the psychiatric injury.
b). Examine if Kelvin or Dave School must be liable in negligence to any party
When referring to the Singapore law based on negligence. Both Kelvin and Dave school should be
charged as a result of the breach of duty. Though there is one of the classmates who failed to render
help when the boat was capsizing. Kelvin who is a teacher is involved among those who breach the duty
since as a teacher he should know that before the student bordered a boat during training, they were
supposed to be given life protective jackets before bordering the boat. Teacher Kelvin was also
supposed to offer guidance to the students since the students were still needing the help of a qualified
person so it means that they were supposed to border each and every boat with the selected students
as the students demonstrate their skills in the presence of their teacher.
The Dave School is also liable for the negligence of duty since they are responsible for a school to
offer the students a reasonable number of teachers to accompany the students during their training
session. And this accident could not have happened in case each boat the students were bordering was
having a qualified teacher. The school also breach their duty by simply failing to look at the measures to

be met before bordering, for example, making sure that each student was putting on a life jacket to
protect him or her in case of the occurrence of the accident.