DISASTER PLAN FOR CITY EMPLOYEES

DISASTER PLAN FOR CITY EMPLOYEES

If a major fire, terrorist bomb explosion, or large-scale natural disaster struck your city, would it be able to function in an organized manner? Or would your emergency resources have to care for the city workers as well as the general public? Implementing a coordinated emergency municipal command system is a valuable service to the community.

After the Whittier-Narrows earthquake in October 1987, the city of Los Angeles initiated a widespread public education program to prepare citizens for a major earthquake that geologists say will occur within the next 30 years. (See Fire Engineering, April 1990, “Citizens to the Rescue “)

After completing 17.5 hours of basic disaster training, city employees were organized into multifunctional Emergency Response Teams (ERTs) capable of handling immediate problems in their buildings or at their facilities. Under the plan, the ERT would interact with the city floor warden and the Damage Assessment Teams. The question arose as to who would coordinate and control the activities of our newly trained ERTs.

Employees on the ERTs came from various city departments including police (civilian employees), personnel, and building and safety. They were grouped by building.

The original Los Angeles City emergency plan made each department general manager responsible for his or her respective employees during an emergency. Many departments had employees spread out not only on the 51 floors of the five civic center buildings but also in outlying office buildings and maintenance yards. And while telephone communication can be interrupted during a major disaster such as an earthquake, Los Angeles does not have a radio system that emcompasses all municipal departments and buildings.

We clearly needed a new plan for coordinating emergency activities. As we worked with other city departments to find a solution, we realized that principles that operate on the fireground —unity of command, span of control, modular form of dynamic management—are not always used in the nonemergency departments of city government. Since these principles apply to all disasters, the Los Angeles City Fire Department took a leadership role in forging a workable emergency plan for city employees. Most emergency-preparation activities are in addition to daily job requirements.

BUILDING EMERGENCY COORDINATOR

Since a major disaster usually overtaxes emergency resources, we devised a plan whereby city employees respond to emergencies in their buildings or facilities. A building emergency coordinator (BEC) was appointed to oversee the program. The BEC’s responsibilities fall into four broad categories:

  • Overseeing the preparation and maintenance of the building’s disaster plan.
  • Coordinating the disaster-training program tor employees in the building.
  • Coordinating the command of the building during the disaster, including supervising the ERTs, floor wardens, and Damage Assessment Teams.
  • Evaluating and revising the building’s plan tor the period following the disaster.

To ensure an optimal safety environment for city employees, a BEC is assigned for every facility housing 10 or more employees.

Because the duties of the BEC easily could, at least initially, be a full-time job, the BEC should designate an alternate and an assistant BEC. The alternate BEC assumes the duties of the BEC in the latter’s absence. A sufficient number of individuals should be assigned to assume the duties of the BEC and the alternate BEC should they be away from the facility at the same time, in which case the assistant BEC will coordinate the training activities of the employees in the building.

During an emergency, the BEC reports to the city’s Department of General Services. Here information concerning the overall status of the city’s employees and buildings can be collected and forwarded to the Emergency Operations Center, where a cohesive and comprehensive emergency and reconstruction plan can be formulated.

Choosing the BEC can be a problem; “turf” wars could arise due to an individual’s power to cut across department lines. Thus we developed the following standards:

  • In large, complex city buildings housing multiple city departments and hundreds of employees on more than 10 floors, the mayor, with input from the Emergency Operations Board, chooses the BEC.
  • In facilities housing multiple departments (other than those described above), the general manager of the department employing the greatest number of city employees— after conferring with the other affected departments—designates the BEC.
  • In facilities housing a single department-such as a street maintenance yard or leased office space— the general manager of the department designates the BEC.

SUPPORT STAFF

The BEC coordinates the activities of the following.

Floor wardens. They form the core of the emergency preparedness program. The floor warden ensures the safety of the people within an assigned area—usually a floor or portion of a floor in a building and a quadrant or other specified area in a yard. When selecting wardens, consider department supervisors, since employees tend to look to them in an emergency.

Following an earthquake or during a fire, the floor warden sees that the assigned area is evacuated in an orderly manner—if the BEC considers this action appropriate. Should communications between the warden and the BEC break down, the floor warden should have the training and authority to order building occupants to evacuate to a predesignated site.

Floor wardens can be assisted by the following:

  • Elevator monitor—who ensures that the elevators are not used during the emergency.
  • Stairwell monitor—who is stationed at the appropriate stairwell to count the people going out, to ensure that evacuation is orderly, and to direct people to another flight of stairs if necessary.
  • Guide —who leads the entire group from the floor to the designated safe area; during a fire in a high-rise building where total evacuation is inappropriate, this area might be five floors below the fire. In the Southern California post-earthquake scenario, this evacuation site probably would be a location outside and away from the building.
  • Handicapped monitor —who keeps current lists of individuals in need of assistance during an evacuation; they should know the individuals’ locations and the special equipment needed to evacuate them.
  • Sweep team—whose members are the last to leave the area. They check each office, closet, restroom, and work area to ensure that everyone knows to evacuate.

Preliminary damage assessors. They perform a critical function during an emergency: assessing every portion of the building or facility. Assessors should note on preprinted report forms the outline of the floor of origin, the number of injured or dead, whether a fire is burning or has been extinguished, whether the toilets flush (indicating that the building’s plumbing systems are intact), and whether the sprinklers have discharged. The forms should be specifically tailored to each facility. The data are sent to the BEC.

Professional and in-depth damage assessment of a building’s structural integrity, delegated to the Department of Building and Safety, should take place within the first 12 hours following a major disaster, since important economic and civic decisions concerning evacuation, rehousing, and development of long-term alternate work locations hinge on these results. Predesignated teams of structural engineers begin their inspections on a building-priority basis as soon as they are available.

Runners. They transfer the preliminary information to the BEC in a timely manner. Radio or a “ring down” phone line is preferable, although expensive. A viable alternative is the old pony express method of communication. Designate a group of runners who are familiar with the building to carry the messages.

EMS and fire extinguisher personnel. Depending on the scope of the training program, each floor should have several individuals who have received basic first-aid, CPR, and fire extinguisher training for small-scale emergencies.

Emergency Response Teams. ERTs are trained according to the needs of their respective facilities, as well as in volunteer management, fire suppression, search and rescue, and disaster medical operations. They mobilize at a predesignated, centrally located staging area and await direction from the BEC. If en route to the staging area they encounter individuals who need their assistance, they are directed to go to work immediately and to send a runner to the staging location to inform the team leader. This group differs from the one under the floor warden in that it can leave its designated floor or area for the location with the greatest need.

Security staff and building engineers work in the same building as the BEC but do not work directly for him. Our city-owned buildings share security and engineering staff.

In the private sector, security and building-operation personnel are not assigned to ERTs, since their everyday functions are even more crucial during an emergency. To split their allegiance and time between EMS and security during a crisis would reduce their effectiveness in both areas.

This new program will be phased in over the next 12 months. Training, development, and testing undoubtedly will uncover areas that need modification. Nevertheless, developing a basic framework on which we can build a workable program was a positive step forward.

Suppressing fires, delivering emergency medical services, neutralizing hazardous materials—all have become accepted roles for the fire service. The Los Angeles City Fire Department has found a nontraditional role to play within our city—devising a workable emergency plan. We believe this project will greatly enhance the services provided to our citizens during a natural disaster.

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