EMERGENCY PROCEDURE DRILL POLICY

FACULTY OF MEDICINE & HEALTH SCIENCE
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
EH316 HEALTH POLICY

EMERGENCY PROCEDURE DRILL POLICY
Introduction:
Emergencies and critical incidents can occur in any organizations and can affect people physically and psychologically, and affect program continuity of the organization. Divine Word University is a private run institution in Papua New Guinea. Like any other institutions it has policies which guides its rules and regulations. The new policy which is circulating for comments and approval is the emergency procedure drill policy for staff and students of Divine Word University.

Definitions:
Emergency procedure - is a plan of actions to be conducted in a certain order or manner, in response to an emergency event.
Accident - An event that happens by chance or that is without apparent or deliberate cause.
Safety - the condition of being protected from or unlikely to cause danger, risk, or injury.
Robbery - the action of robbing a person or place.
Fire- Is any form of flame caused by electrical faults of any form of heat and flame generation which results in flames




POLICY DETAIL
Divine Word University will identify, prevent and manage emergency situations within its sphere of responsibility and influence, until the arrival of appropriate emergency services. A range of emergency situations may occur on the premises with the potential to impact on the safety of staff, Board members, volunteers, students, visitors and consumers, including:
Fires
Robbery, hostage or terrorist situation
RISK ASSESSMENT
DWU will be able to use risk assessment processes to identify and control barriers to effective emergency management. Staff, Board members, students, volunteers and consumers are expected to behave in a way which minimises the risk of emergencies occurring.
PREPAREDNESS
The Emergency Situation Checklist supports the organisation to prepare for potential disaster and emergency situations, and will be reviewed on a yearly basis. Disaster and emergency management plans will be reviewed on a yearly basis.
All staff, Board members, students and volunteers familiarise themselves with emergency evacuation procedures, including their responsibilities and the emergency evacuation assembly point.
All fire safety activities undertaken by the organisation are recorded and reviewed to identify gaps in training, knowledge, equipment or processes. Fire activities include, but are not limited to, fire safety training, drills and exercises, records of maintenance and inventories of equipment kept.
RESPONSES
When a disaster or emergency situation arises, the primary aim of the response is to ensure the safety of all people on the premises, preserve life and protect property. DWU initiates recovery and aims to restore operations as quickly as possible.
EVACUATION
In the event of an alert to evacuate - either verbal, automatic alarm or manual alarm and the threat is not immediate, all consumers, staff, Board members, students, volunteers and visitors:
Proceed along designated routes to the designated assembly area(s)
Ensure assistance is provided to people with disabilities and/or special needs
Check attendance at assembly area against the attendance registers.



FIRE
In the event of a fire:
Trigger the fire alarm
Contact fire emergency services.
Alert the nominated fire warden and/or a senior staff member
Evacuate people from the immediate area of the fire behind a rated fire door or outside the building
Fight the fire with existing equipment if safe to do so

POLICY PURPOSE & SCOPE
This policy is drafted and circulated because of the recent incidents that have happened in the institution. There have been two recent robberies in the school which happened and there was no alarm sounded to alarm the staff and students of what had happened. According to one of the staff he said, "They did not know what to do and where the alarm button was so they could sound off the alarm". Due to confusion, the burglars escaped but fortunately they did not harm anyone even though they were armed. Another incident happened inside the Divine Word university library where there was a fire due to a fault in the ceiling fan. This incident however, resulted in panic and confusion as students ran here and there bumping into each other trying to run out of the building. There were no smoke detectors activated and no alarm being sounded.
The emergency procedure drill for staff and students will help make awareness of the emergency procedure drill in an emergency. During an emergency, for example, like fire in a building, the students should know where the escape routes are and how to walk out in a calm order instead of running into each other causing potential damage to properties and their health. The staff too, should know how to use fire extinguisher or know where alarm switch are located to sound the alarm during emergencies like robbery or electricity faults etc.
Emergency Procedure drill policy for staff and student is now a requirement because this problem or crisis demands immediate attention for it is somehow a life and death situation which caused panic and confusion among the students and staff. This is a problem of national security because of the lives of so many young people and the staff is being jeopardised.
The main interest of this policy is the safety of the students and staff as well as the Institution as a whole in achieving its goal in ensuring a safe environment for its staff and students. The goals of this policy are;
To conduct emergency procedure drills annually so that both new and old staff and students are aware of the procedures and are not confused during an emergency.
How to react when an emergency has occurred
To promoting occupational health and safety conduct within the organization

These goals are in line with the problem that was identified and the institution is hoping that it will have a better outcome with the policy now being implemented. Since this is a private institution, the governing body has approved this policy even though there was another alternative which involved a 24 hour security policy which is expensive and difficult to approve in terms of finance and funding. Thus, the emergency procedure drill policy was seen as been the alternate solution in preventing future emergency issues of robbery and fires.
POLICY IMPLEMENTATION
The responsibilities involved in the implementation of the policy ranges from the management of the university and include the cooperation of all staff and students.

Functions and Delegations:
POSITION

DELEGATIO/TASK

Board of Directors

Develop and Review Emergency and Critical Incident Policy.
Compliance with Emergency and Critical Incident policy.

Management
CEO/Manager



Safety Officer


Fire & emergency department- Madang

Compliance with Emergency and Critical Incident Policy.
Ensures development and implementation of Emergency and Critical Incident Policy.
Ensures potential disaster and emergency situations are identified, and appropriate emergency management plans are in Place.
Lead responsibility for implementation of emergency and critical incident procedures, including identification of potential situations, developing, documenting and communicating response plans, reporting on actual situations, and reviewing policy and procedures following a disaster or emergency Situation.
Coordinate staff training in emergency and critical incident, such as fire response, building evacuation, etc.
Contribute to the development of Emergency and Critical Incident Policy.
Coordinate emergency evacuation drills



All staff and students must ensure to participate in the emergency procedure drills in order to ensure their safety is been guaranteed if emergencies occur in the future. Currently, an Occupational health and Safety Policy is been under review by the management of DWU. However, there are no existing policies in place relating to emergencies. Thus, this policy is now being implemented to serve the best interest of the institution of providing a safe environment for the staff and students




REFERENCES:
Emergency Procedures and guidelines Retrieved on 7th August 2016 from www.safety.uwa.edu.au/...emergency/procedures
Emergency Policies procedures Retrieved on 6th August 2016 from www.safety.uwa.edu.au/...emergency/procedures
Workplace health and well-being policy Retrieved on 8th August 2016 from http://worksafe.tas.gov.au/__data/assets/word_doc/0004/288121/Workplace_health_and_wellbeing_polic


BY: ANGELIC HOSEA & CHRISTINE LERORI
ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH YEAR 3- 2016


By: Angelic Hosea & Christine Lerori EH3 2016Page 1