Saturday | 11 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
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Saturday | 11 January 2025 | Epaper

Emergency action plan in RMGs

Published : Tuesday, 22 August, 2017 at 12:00 AM  Count : 893
Rana Dutta
*** ''Emergencies never come alone with prior information; it does occur in any time and in any place and destroys anything that obstructs its path of marching with its devastating roar. Nevertheless, we can save ourselves if we are aware of our workplace safety issues and if we know it well that safety first and safety must.'' ***

Today's RMGs are haunted by safety issues. Though safety has given the prime emphasis, frequent fire tragedies in this industry make Bangladesh financially loser and damage properties, image and public relations of companies and thus, we are demolishing our previous reputation in the arena of global RMGs sector. Therefore, a strategic emergency action plan is a crying need of the day to have a robust safety management system.Since emergencies will occur, preplanning is mandatory. An urgent need for taking rapid decisions, shortage of time, lack of resources and trained personnel can lead to chaos during an emergency. Here, it is greatly urged to have a proper time management initiative and otherwise, the stress of the situation can lead to poor judgment resulting in severe losses.
In the simplistic term, an emergency action plan (EAP) denotes to a written document which includes the action to be taken by all staffs in the event of emergencies such as -- fires, explosions, floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, toxic material releases, radiological and biological accidents, civil disturbances and workplace violence. Therefore, it is a guideline for handling any sudden or unexpected situation with a deft hand.
In addition, EAP is a calculative strategic plan; a set of core philosophies to ensure and enhance the fire safety standard in the working place so that it can ensure hazards free working environment. But, effective safety culture depends on a combination of physical fire precautions and a robust safety management system in an organization.
According to OSHA, drafting an emergency action plan is not well enough until its proper implementation is materialized in practical circumstances to ensure the employees' safety of an organization.
Here, a safety promoter needs to take challenges by making a quick decision in right time in the right place. An EAP will be useful if its content is up-to-date and employees are sufficiently educated and trained before an actual evacuation.
The purpose of an emergency action plan is to facilitate and organize employers and employees actions during the workplace emergencies. Well-developed emergency plans and proper employees training will be the key factors in reducing workplace casualty and structural damage. Otherwise, it will lead to a disorganized evacuation or emergency response resulting in confusion, injury, and property damage.
An emergency action plan can be worthy in a wide range of emergencies, if it is properly materialized in the safety purpose. It consists of some unique components such as: means of reporting fires and other emergencies, evacuation procedure, escape routes, floor plan, names of key personnel, policy for workers and visitors with disabilities, policy for updating and maintaining the EAP, training for new staffs and rescue procedures.    
Violation of compliance issues, lack of safety awareness, insufficient training, illiteracy, electrical short circuit and inadequate emergency action plan are the leading cause of fire disaster in Bangladesh and so, an effective safety management must be developed, documented and thoroughly rehearsed because of having an authentic guideline during an emergency. Moreover, it helps us not only discover unrecognized hazardous conditions but also eliminate them.
But, lack of potential resources such as equipment, trained personnel and supplies have weakened our safety procedure and so, these issues must be rectified before an emergency occurs. The best way to protect ourselves, our workers, and our industry is to expect the unexpected and develop a well-planned emergency action plan to guide ourselves when immediate action is necessary.
Knowing where to go and how to get there in the event of an emergency has become a significant part of a quick response. If we have a unique plan, time will denote then what to do or not. But, everything absolutely depends on the size, design of the capability and the type of emergency.
Workplace leanings from previous mistakes need to be demonstrated and then, it can be a catalyst to have a comprehensive emergency action plan. Moreover, we can share our knowledge and experience to our employees how they will respond to various emergencies, taking into account their specific worksite layout, structural features, and emergency systems. Therefore, management commitment to safety and the workers involvement in safety procedure are the precondition of safety management.
Emergencies never come alone with prior information; it does occur in any time and in any place and destroys anything that obstructs its path of marching with its devastating roar. Nevertheless, we can save ourselves if we are aware of our workplace safety issues and if we know it well that safety first and safety must.
To make an emergency action plan more effective, we can also demonstrate a brief description of the alarm system which can notify employees (including disabled employees) to evacuate and also to take other actions.
The alarms used for different actions should be distinctive and might include horn blasts, sirens and even public address systems. Moreover, an alternative communication centre needs to be used in the event of a fire or explosion.
In fact, an effective fire safety management is a crying need to our RMGs sector; it is a systematic approach to manage an organization's safety, accountabilities, policies and procedures. Therefore, "no more fire" should be our slogan of the day.

The writer is Assistant Deputy Secretary, BKMEA, and can be reached at ranaduttabkmea@gmail.com


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