This week I had the pleasure of conducting an Incident Command course and in my 1-Day IC Basics course I like to challenge the students to put themselves into scenarios and to think through what needs to be done, who will be doing it, if they have been trained, if they have adequate back-up’s, etc. One question that always comes up in this training course is “who actually calls 911?”
It may sound like a very simple question, but so many facilities struggle with the answer. It usually turns into a debate amongst personnel.
I have seen it done many different ways and of course there are pro’s and con’s to all the methods. But let’s take a look at the set-up where a facility has 24-hour security coverage. A lot of times the facility will have an internal emergency phone number that workers and contractors are trained to call to report an emergency. The guard takes these calls and essentially becomes the emergency communication center (ECC) during the emergency. BUT PLEASE DO NOT FORGET to TRAIN your security guards in how to capture the critical information from the in-plant caller, as well as to how to relay the critical information to the 911 dispatcher. I always kept a laminated one-page checklist with a grease pencil for the guard to use to guide them in their collection of necessary information from the caller, so that when they called 911 they could provide the necessary information for the 911 dispatcher to determine what type of emergency personnel need to respond to the emergency. Keeping mind that this training may be repeated quite often, as all of the guard services I had at my plants had a very high turnover rate. This training MUST BE part of their new employee orientation, which is often overlooked; however, if the security personnel play a role in your EAP or ERP then they MUST BE trained in their role(s)!
TIME is CRITICAL and any delays in the simple matter of getting emergency crews started your way is ABSOLUTELY UNACCEPTABLE! My 7 and 9 year olds are trained in what to tell the dispatcher when they call 911 so I do not think it is unreasonable to have an adult have this capability. Guards NEED to have a layout of the facility with all entrances/exits identified by name or number. If these gates are normally locked closed and unoccupied, the guard needs to have the capability of getting to it in a timely manner, ALL THE WHILE NOT LOOSING communications with the personnel engaged in the emergency or the ability to respond to any return calls from the 911 dispatcher. Also make sure that ANY KEYS are readily available that may need to unlock gate keys.
If you have an ECC system like I described above, you may want to listen to this 911 call from an incident in this week’s Incident Alerts that claimed the life of a 28-year old worker when he was crushed between a forklift and truck. I do not know more than what the press reported and what I can garner from this 911 tape, but I can tell you this…if it were my son or daughter lying their dying and this kind of crap occurred in just trying to get an ambulance to the plant I would be FURIOUS!
Let me state something that may not be obvious to many…the reason why the 911 dispatcher needed more information than “send an ambulance – someone is dead” is he/she is not going to send responders into an unknown situation! Did they die from a gunshot, chemical exposure, explosion, etc.? 911 dispatchers have been trained to get as much info as possible so that the responders are not going into the incident 100% guessing; they are already entering a dangerous situation so they do not need anymore risk than absolutely necessary. You will notice in the 911tape that she did start an ambulance that way, explaining to the responders that she is not sure what is exactly going on. Had the ambulance arrived at the gate before the dispatcher could get the information needed, the ambulance would NOT have entered the plant site until law enforcement cleared the scene and this could cause an unnecessary delay.
So something as simple as to who calls 911 may not have simple answers. It would be a good question at your next staff meeting. Lastly imagine what it would be like if you did not have an internal emergency number and anyone could call 911, including contractors, truck drivers, visitors, etc.
We should have our management teams listen to the chaos of what happens when three different people call 911! One person actually stated the deceased only had a broken arm and the others were reporting he was dead. A solid Incident Command and emergency response or action plan is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL to limit the confusion and chaos during an emergency, especially one that involves a fatality where emotions are running very high.