 An emergency such as a fire, a bomb threat, a flood or a tornado can occur at any time. If an emergency happened in or near your tower facility, would you know what to do? Would your coworkers know? Do you have a plan for handling emergencies? In this program, we'll talk about the written plans and procedures that you should have in place at your facility. These plans, required by OSHA, tell you what to do to get out of a tower in the event of an emergency, when to do it, and who is responsible for what. This is your workplace, but you must treat it similar to the conditions of your home. We're going to focus on what to do to develop an occupant emergency plan or how to bring your present plan up to date. You'll need to identify who to call and to specify how to get out of your tower and where to go once you're outside. Your plan should also cover actions during an emergency, what to do, when to call appropriate personnel, and how to check and report on the safety of your people after they have evacuated the tower. After an emergency, you'll need to evaluate the effectiveness of your plan. It's important to determine how well the plan worked and whether you need to make any changes to it. If smoking is permitted anywhere in your tower facility, your emergency plan should include procedures for regular inspection and cleanup of these areas. Be sure to designate someone to be responsible for these procedures. Work out a maintenance schedule. Your plan must cover electrical hazards and what to do about such things as faulty or poorly maintained electrical wiring and equipment, exposed wires, dangerous quick fixes or installations, and crowded or unprotected wiring. Electrical hazards also include improperly wired or installed systems and appliances. Your plan should also address general housekeeping practices. Carelessness in this area may make an emergency more dangerous if people can't get through exit passageways. Include procedures for proper storage of any flammable products and for keeping traffic and fire equipment areas clear of obstructions at all times. You'll have no control over some other disaster situations that may require evacuation of your tower, things like storms and severe weather, explosions, bomb threats or suspicious mail packages, or actions of terrorist or political groups. But your Occupant Emergency Plan must also cover what to do in these kinds of emergencies. So a plan is an idea of what to do, how to do it and when to do it, thought out ahead of time. These ideas are then written down as procedures or guidelines for action. An Occupant Emergency Plan or OEP is designed to protect two things, people and property. It covers how to evacuate a facility in a fire or other emergency and how to safeguard the equipment and the building. OEPs include bomb and incendiary device threat plans, which tell you how to handle telephone threats or delivered packages that may be suspicious. And disaster plans, which cover what to do in a natural disaster or hazardous materials emergency. Now let's see what's really involved in developing an Occupant Emergency Plan. The first step is to analyze two critical elements, the structure, which is your tower and its occupants, your personnel. Let's begin with the tower. You should be very familiar with your particular facility, both inside and outside. Know the floor plan and the locations of all doors, stairways and exits. Know where all installed fire protection equipment is, the type of extinguishers available and who has been trained in their use. You should also know what kind of furnishings and equipment are inside your tower. Note potential problem areas. Blocked exits can cause dangerous delays in an emergency. An exit blocked from the inside prevents people from getting out of the tower safely. An exit blocked from the outside prevents people from getting clear of the tower building and dispersing safely once outside. Remember that air traffic control towers are unique in their design. They typically have only one way in and out at ground level. Additional exits may discharge to a room for balcony. So it's very important to keep these areas always accessible and clear of obstructions at all times. Make sure that all exits are clearly marked. The second critical element in emergency procedures planning concerns the personnel who work in a tower. A major objective of your Occupant Emergency Plan is to provide instructions to your people on how to exit the tower in an emergency and where to assemble safely for check-in and reporting. You should know who works in your tower, the kind of work they do and what they're capable of doing in an emergency. Now you're ready to develop your Occupant Emergency Plan. There are five required components. Specify a procedure for reporting any emergency. This may involve sounding an automatic alarm or activating an emergency organization and command center team. Either way, the goal is the same. Notify the appropriate personnel to set response actions in motion as quickly as possible. Specify the escape procedures your people are to follow to exit the tower. These should be written in the plan as step-by-step actions to take when the alarm sounds. This part of the plan should also identify the safe area outside the tower where people are to assemble when they exit. Refer to the sample procedures in your handbook for developing procedures for your particular tower. Develop appropriate procedures for critical operations shutdown. Because air traffic control is a critical operation, you'll need to specify how to notify and transfer control to another tower in an emergency situation. Next, develop a procedure to account for all personnel who may be in the tower on any given day. In an emergency, you must know who was working and who was visiting the tower that day. Everyone must be accounted for. Finally, identify all responsible persons. Designate an official with overall responsibility who will take charge in an emergency. This person will also supervise the development of the emergency procedures plan. Other designated positions may include an occupant emergency coordinator, a floor team coordinator, exit monitors, and a damage control team. If your occupant emergency plan contains all of these elements and you train your people to follow it, you'll meet the requirements for emergency preparedness. Be sure to use the information in your handbook to develop your plan. It contains helpful checklists and sample procedures you can use as guides. Although fire is the most common, your OEP can be applied in any emergency situation. Keep the plan posted in your tower so it will be available to everyone at all times. Be sure that people can quickly find the telephone numbers of the designated responsible persons and the local fire and rescue department. It's important to evaluate your emergency plan regularly and to update it as needed. Review it after every fire drill to assess how well your evacuation procedures worked. If you find any deficiencies, make changes promptly. Remember, a good plan answers the questions, who do I call? When do I call? How do I get out? What do I do? Where do I go? If you've got all those bases covered, you're in good shape. Once you've collected your information and developed procedures, keeping your plan current is easy. You may never have an emergency in your tower, but with this plan in place, you know you'll be well prepared.