What are the steps involved in preparing emergency response guidelines?

From the perspective of front-line operations, compiling a set of emergency response guidelines that are truly usable and implementable must go through the core steps of risk assessment, disposal logic anchoring, scenario detail filling, and multiple rounds of verification and optimization. Other requirements such as format and typesetting are the icing on the cake. Without a solid guide for these steps, there is a high probability that it will be a ledger arrangement for inspections.

Don’t call me alarmist. When I was working on a fire emergency guide for an industrial park, some colleagues who were new to the industry used a general template at the beginning, starting with “report the accident to the leadership group as soon as possible and initiate an emergency response.” As a result, we dragged the park security and fire specialists to the site for three days to check for risks before we discovered that the northwest corner of the park There are three liquid ammonia storage tanks hidden in the cold chain storage area, and there are usually third-party logistics turnover pallets piled next to the fire escape all year round. If the liquid ammonia leaks and catches fire, until you report it to the leader for dispatch, the fire trucks will not be able to drive, let alone deal with it. Later, we listed this risk point separately and listed the pre-processing requirements, which can be regarded as a solid foundation for the guide.

Don’t think that you’re done once you’ve figured out the bottom line. The next thing that’s most likely to cause disagreement is the setting of disposal logic. There have actually been two different ideas in the industry for so many years: one school advocates that the hierarchical reporting process must be strictly followed, and all disposal actions must wait for the approval of the person in charge before they can be started, to avoid improper disposal and expansion of losses.； The other group insists on empowering first-line witnesses. Those who meet the triggering conditions can directly initiate disposal without waiting for reports. After all, the golden disposal window in many emergency scenarios is only a few minutes. When we were working on the emergency guide for stampede accidents for large supermarkets in the city center, we repeatedly weighed and chose the latter. After all, during holiday sales, the fresh food area on the first floor can be so crowded that you can't walk. If someone falls and you report it to the store manager, a second stampede may have occurred. So we simply gave clear instructions to all security guards and shopping guides on duty. As soon as someone falls or there is a disturbance in the crowd, blow the whistle as soon as possible and pull up the isolation belt nearby, which is more effective than anything else.

It is not enough to have a general logic. In order to implement it in practice, you have to dig out the details of each scene. Many people write guides and like to use empty words such as "quickly handle" and "do a good job in evacuating people." What does speed mean? What is good? You have to write it clearly: For example, if an office building encounters an earthquake, people on the 10th floor or above will hide under sturdy desks and wait for 30 seconds. After the main earthquake is over, they will evacuate along the fire escape. There are emergency medical kits and bright flashlights in the fire cabinets at the corners of each floor. If the passage is blocked, they will retreat to the refuge room by the window and wait for rescue. If these details are written clearly, people on the front line will know what they should do only after getting the guide. Otherwise, it is all correct nonsense.

Once the draft is written, it must not be printed directly. All relevant front-line personnel have to be drawn in for several rounds. When we made a food poisoning emergency guide for public elementary schools in the jurisdiction, after writing the first draft, we conducted a simulation with the school doctor, logistics director, and head teacher, and found that everyone missed a key link: they did not leave a connection line with the local children's hospital in advance. There really must be dozens of them. The child showed symptoms of poisoning at the same time, and now there is no way to call 120. Later, we not only added the connection link of the dedicated line, but also made a tear-off contact card and attached it to the last page of the guide. Last year, there were more than ten children in this elementary school who ate unclean recess meals. Just by following this process, the green channel of the hospital was connected in 15 minutes, without any serious consequences.

After all, the emergency guideline is never meant to be finalized once and for all. Every year, the layout of the site changes, the risk list is updated, and the core contact personnel are changed. It must be revised accordingly. After all, the ultimate purpose of its existence is never to cope with inspections from superiors. It is to provide support and save lives when something goes wrong.