Emergency Procedures

There are many types of emergencies that can occur during what started out as a 'normal day' in retail. As a manager, you are responsible for ensuring that when an emergency occurs, the proper procedures are in place to deal with the situation. Not planning for these events now could result in someone being injured later.

An emergency is an unplanned critical event that could cause serious injury, illness, death and property damage. A good OHS management system includes contingency plans for emergency situations.

Workplace emergencies include:

fires
bomb scares
medical casualties from accidents etc
chemical spills
explosions
external events (ie a toxic gas leak from next door).

Due to the speed that emergencies usually take over an environment and/or the potential risks of injury or death, it is important that you respond appropriately. To assist you to do this your company should have emergency response procedures based on their OHS policies.

Fire Prevention and Control

All organisations should have a fire prevention and control strategy plus and an evacuation procedure. Even with the best control methods in place, fire may still occur.
It is the store's responsibility to:

have emergency evacuation procedures.
have procedures in place for reporting a fire
make sure that all staff know how to use extinguishers
have all extinguishers regularly maintained by an expert
make sure that all extinguishers are properly mounted and labelled
have extinguishers recharged after they have been used

Evacuation Procedures

Most companies have evacuation procedures as part of their emergency management strategy. All staff must be made aware of the evacuation procedures at their induction and at regular intervals as a reminder. It is also important to hold regular fire drills so the evacuation procedure can be practised and fine tuned if possible. It's too late to change it when there is an emergency if it doesn't work. Practice helps everyone become familiar with their role in an emergency. Then, should a genuine emergency occur it should proceed smoothly and without panic.

Emergency evacuation plan