How Reliable Could Your Staff Be In An Emergency?

As most bosses will try to think positively about the people they hire and train (at least, we hope so), you probably assume your team would rise to the occasion if something serious happened at work. This could be true, but the reality is that most people freeze up or panic when faced with genuine emergencies they’ve never encountered before. It’s easy to imagine yourself staying calm and taking charge (who hasn’t fantasized about saving the day or running back into a building to save someone?) but without proper training and experience, good intentions can cause more problems than they solve.

Now, the question isn’t whether your employees are capable people – they obviously are, or you wouldn’t have hired them. The issue is whether they have the specific knowledge and practiced responses needed to handle crisis situations as they could pertain to your firm. Emergencies don’t book in advance and let you know of their arrival. You could have one tomorrow. Moreover, someone might be brilliant at their job but completely lost when a colleague collapses or when they need to evacuate everyone safely during a fire alarm that turns out to be real.

Thankfully, this doesn’t have to be a vague topic. Your staff either know how to respond appropriately, or they don’t. Even more fortunately, emergency preparedness is something you can very much improve through training and preparation.

So how reliable could your team actually be if you invested in it? In this post, we intend to help you answer that query:

Basic Life Support Training

Having employees trained in Basic Life Support gives you the peace of mind that comes with knowing someone on your team can handle medical emergencies, which of course (and unfortunately) can happen to anyone, no matter what level of the organization they work in. BLS training covers CPR, using external defibrillators, and recognizing when someone needs immediate medical attention, which could save a colleague’s life during a heart attack or other serious medical incident.

What you’ll find is that BLS-trained employees stay much calmer during medical emergencies even if they just have to report one quickly. Moreover, online CPR classes have made this training more accessible than it has been, allowing your staff to complete the coursework on their own schedule while still getting the hands-on practice they need to feel, so you can train entire teams on this through a staggered approach if you so wish. This process also teaches people to assess situations and prioritize the most critical care first, which is a skill that applies to many other workplace challenges too.

Fire Safety & Evacuation Procedures

Fire drills can seem like a chore when you’re busy, but they give your team the muscle memory they need to evacuate safely if smoke is filling the building and visibility is poor. Knowing where all the exits are and having practiced moving through them quickly can mean the difference between everyone getting out safely, and people getting trapped because they panicked and couldn’t remember the evacuation route, or perhaps a disabled staff member being unable to be helped down the stairs. Also remember that poor tracking of individuals could potentially have a brave firefighter put their own life at risk looking for someone inside who isn’t there.

Put simply, you want your staff to be able to help others during evacuations, but also know their responsibility, which means they need to know their roles and responsibilities before an emergency happens. Fire safety training teaches people how to use extinguishers appropriately, when to fight a small fire versus when to evacuate immediately, and how to account for everyone once they’re outside the building. Having employees who can take charge during evacuations will also give you the opportunity to focus on informing emergency responders. At the very least, staff will be disciplined at signing out or into the building for the very reason we’ve explained.

First Aid & Medical Response

First aid training, if done correctly, will ensure your staff are happy to help injured colleagues, and won’t feel limited to just calling for help and waiting around hoping someone else knows what to do. Basic first aid skills like controlling bleeding, treating burns, and knowing signs of shock, heatstroke and more can either help to limit minor injuries, or immediately know when to call for more assistance.

Depending on where your business is located, it’s usually common for regulations to requite at least one first aid trained staff member within a certain number of employees. If you don’t meet that number, it’s important to invest in training. Though having most of your staff with this vital skill could be vital. Remember, it could be your life they save.

Communication During Crisis

You wouldn’t expect communication to be the number one skill to develop in the face of emergency situations, but really, nothing else can function without it. You can’t apply first aid if the communication about someone needing help is lacking, for example. At its best, it’ll prevent confusion and panic from making dangerous situations even worse. As such, your staff need to be trained on who to call, what information to provide, and how to report with emergency responders without getting in their way or giving any conflicting information.

Moreover, crisis communication training should give your team the ability to escalate to the correct level, quickly and calmly, which helps your management staff understand, and emergency responders understand the situation before they arrive on scene. What apps will you use, or how do you report, or where are the alarm buttons and who gives the tannoy announcement? All of this matters.

Workplace Violence Response

Workplace violence is thankfully rare, but unfortunately, it has and does happen. That’s why having a plan gives your employees options if they ever find themselves in a dangerous situation with an aggressive individual, within the firm or as part of the public. Certain training, such as those geared toward conflict management, should cover when to try de-escalation techniques, when to evacuate, and when to shelter in place until law enforcement can handle the situation.

The training should also give people permission to trust their instincts about dangerous situations and know what they’re supposed to do. For instance, shop employees are rarely told to apprehend shoplifters just in case of personal harm.

With this advice, you’ll be certain to train your staff responsibly in preparation of the emergency that hopefully never comes.