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Potential Terrorism: A Good Reason to Update Your Emergency Action Plan

03/07/07

“Recent events in the United States,” says OSHA administrator John Henshaw, “have underscored the critical importance of workplace evacuation planning.”

Henshaw’s not talking about tornadoes here; he’s talking about terrorism.

OSHA Rolls Out a New System
To help businesses figure out the extent to which they need to plan for the possibility of a terrorist attack, OSHA has created a new, color-coded system to help you assess the risks. First, take a look at these risk factors. Does your organization:

  • Use, handle, store, or transport hazardous materials?
  • Provide an essential service like electricity, fuel, food processing, or Internet access?
  • Have a great deal of pedestrian traffic like a retail store, sports facility or school?
  • Have a limited number of exit routes from the workplace, as does a high-rise building?
  • Process a large number of incoming materials—like a package-handling facility or import/export firm?
  • Maintain or administer a high-profile site like a military base, dam, or landmark?
  • Offer airline, train, trucking, cruise ship, or rental vehicle services?
If any of these factors apply to your industry or work site, says OSHA, you may face greater vulnerability to a terrorist incident or what it calls a “terrorist release”—the release of a chemical, biological, radiological, or nuclear material with an intent to harm people.

Where the Colors Come In
According to OSHA, you’re in the Green Zone if your work site has limited vulnerability, limited threat from others, and limited potential for significant impact. An example might be a furniture-making operation that uses no dangerous chemicals, has little or no walk-in traffic, and is hidden away in a nondescript building out in the country.

You’re in the Yellow Zone if your site is highly vulnerable, if it is an attractive target for terrorists, or if an attack on it could have a significant impact (but no more than one of these). Let’s say the furniture maker warehouses a hundred barrels of toxic paint-stripping compounds. Due to the impact an attack on these chemicals would have on the local population, it’s in the yellow zone.

You’re in the Red Zone if you’re at least two for three in terms of vulnerability, threat, or impact. For example, if the furniture maker’s barrels were visible from the sidewalk of a busy city street, it’s in the Red Zone. It’s a tempting target, so the threat is high; the visibility and location makes the site vulnerable; and the danger of a chemical release among large numbers of people make the impact of an attack potentially enormous.

Your Next Moves
While you can probably do a pretty good job assessing your own risk based on these guidelines, OSHA recommends you get in touch with local law-enforcement officials, the FBI, or a local emergency planning committee. Besides classifying the risk, they may have ideas to help you reduce the threat, limit the vulnerability, or decrease the impact an incident might have. Your goal: Move from the Red Zone to Yellow or Green, or from the Yellow Zone to Green.

The possibility of terrorism makes it wise to take a fresh look at your emergency action plan no matter the size of your business or what zone you’re in.

At the heart of any emergency action plan are evacuation procedures and exit routes. Things you need to consider include:
  • Situations in which evacuation may be necessary;
  • Who can authorize evacuation;
  • Specific exit routes from the building to safety;
  • Procedures for helping visitors or the disabled leave the site.
None of this is rocket science, and careful planning may save a life. G.Neil makes your job of planning for the unthinkable much easier with its new Exit Route Compliance Bundle and Emergency Exit and Evacuation Kit.