Steps to prepare emergency response guidelines

First, understand your true risk profile, then set up a disposal framework with clear rights and responsibilities, then transform the content for front-line adaptation, and finally go through the closed loop of simulation verification. Don’t trust the general templates on the Internet. 90% of the emergency guides just sit in the filing cabinet and collect dust after they are written. The core problem is that they do not follow your own actual situation.

There are two mainstream ideas for making emergency guides in the industry, and there is no absolute right or wrong: one is compliance-oriented, which first lists the items according to the requirements of local emergency management departments and industry supervisory units. The advantage is that it is highly efficient and does not cause problems with formats and required fields. It is suitable for small and micro enterprises with few inherent risks and whose main need is compliance reporting.； The other school is pragmatically oriented. It first conducts a risk assessment of the entire scenario and then builds the content. The disadvantage is that it takes a long time in the early stage and may require subsequent adjustments to the content to adapt to regulatory requirements. It is suitable for parks, factories, and commercial entities with dense personnel and complex risks. I have been consulting on corporate emergency systems for 6 years, and I generally recommend taking both sides into consideration, first exploring risks and then setting up a compliance framework, without delaying either end.

Don't sit in the office and pat your head if you are taking risks. When we made a guide for the live-streaming e-commerce industrial park in Yuhang last year, they copied the template of the manufacturing park next door. There was a large section on hazardous chemical leakage and fall disposal, but there was not even a production workshop in their park. The most common accidents were trivial things such as power overload tripping during major promotions, courier tricycles hitting people in the park, noise in the live-streaming studio disturbing people and being visited by urban management, and cold storage power outages and frozen products being scrapped. The correct approach is to work three-day shifts with security, administration, and front-line operations staff, list all the emergencies that have occurred in the past three years, and then include accidents that have occurred in similar venues in the surrounding areas. You should also talk to the front-line cleaning, security, and front desk staff. The problems they encountered are truly high-frequency problems. During that survey, we also uncovered a risk point that no one had mentioned before: a merchant who sells imported fresh food rented a cold storage on the underground floor. If the power outage lasted for more than 8 hours, all the more than 300,000 Wagyu beef inside would be useless. There was not even a word mentioned in the previous template.

Don’t rush to write the content after you’ve dealt with the risks. Clarify your rights and responsibilities first. There are also two different methods here: one is centralized processing. All matters must be reported to the emergency squad first, and the special squad will issue instructions and dispatch. It is suitable for chemical parks and production plants with a large number of people and high risk levels to avoid front-line employees' random handling and secondary accidents. ； The other is the smallest unit disposal, which delegates power to front-line employees. For example, if the glass is broken, you will first put warning posts to surround it. If a person is trapped in an elevator, he will shout a few words of comfort to the car without waiting for approval from the leader. It is suitable for small companies and commercial entities where there are many small accidents and there is a need for time to deal with them. Don’t engage in that nonsense process of reporting at all levels. I once encountered a company’s guideline that states that if a circuit breaker breaks, you must first report it to the administrative supervisor, then report it to the property manager, and then send an electrician to repair it. If the process goes through, the live broadcast room will stop broadcasting for 15 minutes, and the merchant will lose hundreds of thousands in pit fees. The most core things in the framework are actually two things: who is the first person in charge in what scenario, and what resources he can call at the first time. The rest are all imaginary.

After the framework is set up, it’s time to write the specific content. Don’t write it like an academic paper, but leave a way for people who can read it to survive. For example, instead of writing "The trapped people's emotions should be properly appeased", write "Use the loudspeaker to the elevator entrance to inform the trapped people that maintenance is on the way and is expected to arrive in 15 minutes. Water has been handed in through the crack in the door. Call anytime if needed.」 ； Instead of saying "protection against heavy rainstorms should be taken", write "After the red rainstorm warning is issued, the security guards will first install the water shield at the entrance of the underground garage, and then call the merchants on the underground floor one by one to remind them to move their goods." There are still two versions to be made, a complete version, the format and entries will be in accordance with regulatory requirements, and the files will be saved for review. ； The other is a pocket version. A4 paper is folded into three folds. It is full of flow charts and contact numbers. The characters should be large enough that a security guard in his 50s can see clearly even if he wears reading glasses. It is best to print a QR code and scan it to see a 1-minute video of the solution. It is more effective than reading 100 words.

Just because the content is written doesn’t mean it’s over. No matter how clear you think it is, it may be full of pitfalls when you actually use it. Last time we finished writing a guide for that e-commerce park, we asked people to act out a tripping scene, only to find that the key to the emergency power generation room was in the safe in the administrative office. The administration got off work at six o'clock. If the circuit breaker really tripped in the early morning, no one would be able to open the door. For verification, there is no need to engage in all-person drills that waste time and money. For high-risk scenarios such as fires and trapped people in elevators, just take half an hour to practice once a quarter. For low-risk scenarios such as water outages and network failures, it is enough to go through the process every six months. There is also controversy here. Some experts require all scenarios to be rehearsed at least twice a year. To be honest, it is not necessary. Most companies are already busy. If they do too many rehearses, everyone will treat them as acting, but no one will take them seriously. It is enough to practice high-frequency and high-risk scenarios thoroughly.

I often tell clients who come to me for guides that this thing is to provide support for ordinary people. When you write it, put yourself in my shoes. If you encounter this problem yourself on duty in the early morning, can you immediately know who to look for and what to do with this guide? If you find it too complicated to understand, then this guide will be written in vain and it will be a waste of printing paper.