What are the steps involved in preparing emergency response guidelines?

From the perspective of front-line operations, a usable and effective emergency response guide is compiled with a logical core covering the four core dimensions of risk assessment, process implementation, closed-loop replacement, and dynamic iteration. There is no need to be pretentious, and every step must be based on the actual scenario.

Last year, our team worked on a special emergency response guide for hazardous chemicals leaks in a suburban chemical park. Someone mentioned at the beginning that the risk assessment only needs to cover the major risk points required by law, which saves time and does not step on compliance red lines. However, we still stayed in the park for a whole week, following the warehouse keeper through the entire process of unloading, storage, and collection, including the pipe interface capacity. Small hidden dangers that are easy to loosen, fire escapes are occasionally blocked by turnover boxes, and the waste oil temporarily piled up in the loading and unloading area is not regularly checked. These small hidden dangers were noted down one by one. We also held three symposiums with front-line operators, safety officers, and grid workers from surrounding communities. After all, when something goes wrong, the first to respond is always the front-line employees, not the managers sitting in the office. A factory in the neighborhood next door had gone through this pit before. The emergency guide only wrote about the disposal procedures for large-scale leaks in storage tanks. It did not mention the disposal methods for small leaks of waste oil in the loading and unloading area. When a problem really occurred, everyone followed the procedures for large leaks and evacuated. Instead, the prime time for initial disposal was missed. The leaked oil flowed into the municipal pipe network and caused considerable pollution.

After all the potential risk scenarios have been explored, the next thing to do is to implement the handling actions for each scenario. Don't make empty talk like "relevant personnel handle it in a timely manner". There are actually different voices here. Many colleagues think that writing the process in too detailed terms will limit the flexibility of frontline personnel and lead to problems easily. However, we ran three simulation drills and found that it is easy for people's minds to go blank when encountering emergencies. The more specific action guidance, the more it can help people calm down quickly. At that time, we wrote the disposal items for a small amount of leakage, and it was directly clear that "the warehouse keeper on duty will press the nearest alarm column within 1 minute of discovering a leak, cover the overflow area with linoleum-absorbing felt placed on site within 2 minutes, and synchronize the location and type of leakage to the safety officer and supervisor on duty through the work group within 3 minutes." Even the template for calling the police was attached at the back, just in case someone panicked and couldn't tell the specific location.

Many people tend to compile emergency guides and stop when the disposal is completed. In fact, subsequent closed-loop replenishment is also an essential part. When we first wrote the first draft, we omitted the notification process for surrounding merchants. During the first full-process drill, the owner of the fruit shop next to the park thought there was a real leak and ran away with the goods in the store, which caused a minor mistake. Later, we quickly added the scope of the accident warning, the notification subjects of surrounding merchants and residents, and the comfort and docking process. Even the easily overlooked details such as on-site residual detection, hidden danger review, and psychological counseling of the personnel involved were clearly identified one by one.

It doesn’t mean that everything will be fine once the book is written and printed and thrown in the filing cabinet. Dynamic iteration is a step that is easily overlooked. For example, when several new lithium battery manufacturers were introduced to the park, the storage types and risk points of hazardous chemicals changed, or the fire exits were relocated, or the last drill found that a certain disposal action was too time-consuming to execute, we would adjust the content of the guide at any time. We would update the content almost every quarter following the safety review of the park, and make a full revision every six months. We can’t wait until something goes wrong to discover that the guide is still the old version from three years ago.

To put it bluntly, the emergency guide is like the fire escape map posted on the back of the door at home. The thicker it is and the more terms it has, the more professional it is. It must be easy to understand when you actually use it, and it will be effective if you follow it, so it is not made up in vain.