This month we released the ninth edition of Incidents, Accidents, and Near Misses in Laboratory Research. This yearly publication includes real-life examples of safety incidents, procedural deviations, and unexpected adverse consequences of laboratory activities. By understanding the gaps that led to these issues and how they were resolved, you may gain insight into effective strategies that can help improve safety practices for your own teams.
The activities and events described in this year’s edition highlight the critical importance of training on emergency response procedures. These stories also emphasize the importance of refresher training to reinforce policies and procedures.
In several of these accounts, employers learned the hard way that just doing an initial training is inadequate and that reminders, updates, and continuous learning is needed to ensure comprehension and compliance. One of the stories involves an employee who was servicing heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC) equipment at a laboratory facility when they suffered a severe hand laceration. An important lesson learned as a result of the injury is that steps must be taken to prevent these types of incidents from happening again. In this case, the lab manager realized they had to reevaluate the training process and assess how information presented in the training can be reinforced.
Another story describes employees at a nanotechnology core facility not following proper medical emergency response procedures when a colleague fell unconscious. The take-home lesson from this incident is that it’s crucial for lab staff to know how to respond properly in an emergency situation. Since the employees who initially responded did not do so in accordance with the procedures reviewed in safety training, it was determined that periodic reinforcement of laboratory policies and emergency response procedures needed to be implemented.
What Does the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Require?
In the OSHA standard on Emergency Action Plans [29 CFR 1910.38], initial emergency response training is required on the details of the Plan including those listed here.
- Procedures for reporting a fire or other emergency
- Information on emergency evacuation including the type of evacuation (e.g., high-rise buildings), exit route assignments, and accounting for employees afterward
- Policies applicable to employees who remain to address critical operations before exiting the facility
- Actions required by employees performing rescue or medical duties
- Contact information for employees who need more information about the Plan or an explanation of their duties under the Plan
Retraining must be conducted when employees’ responsibilities under the Plan change (e.g., a new Emergency Coordinator), or when the Plan itself is updated (e.g., when a different rally point is assigned). Although not specifically required by OSHA, annual refresher training is considered best practice to reinforce policies and procedures, even if there are no changes to the Emergency Action Plan.
How Should Training be Provided?
As part of emergency response training, we recommend that drills be held for the various emergency situations that could arise at your facility. Fire drills should be conducted at least annually. In addition, holding mock spill training is an effective way to reinforce proper spill response procedures. Training should also include discussions on the steps employees should take in an emergency medical situation. It’s nearly impossible to predict how individuals will respond in a true emergency, so providing an opportunity to practice is key to helping ensure a successful response to an actual emergency.
As emphasized by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) on their Employee Training website, conducting training exercises is essential to ensure that everyone knows what to do when there is an emergency. They state that post-incident analyses often confirm that experience gained during exercises is the best way to prepare employees to respond effectively in an emergency situation. Training exercises can take many forms including:
- Walkthroughs, workshops, or orientation seminars to familiarize employees with emergency response procedures, business continuity and crisis communication plans, as well as their roles and responsibilities.
- Tabletop exercises are discussion-based sessions where employees meet in an informal, classroom setting to discuss their roles during an emergency and how they should respond to different emergency scenarios.
- Functional exercises to allow personnel to validate response plans, resources, and readiness by performing their emergency duties for a specific hazard scenario or critical business function failure.
- Full-scale exercises are as close to a real emergency as possible. They involve using, to the extent feasible, the equipment and personnel that would be called upon in a real event. They are often conducted in coordination with public agencies such as local fire departments.
Conducting these types of training exercises has been found to be very effective in improving many aspects of emergency response as they allow for the program to be evaluated and improved as described below.
- Identify procedural deficiencies
- Test and validate changes in procedures or plans
- Clarify roles and responsibilities
- Obtain participant feedback and recommendations for program improvement
- Enhance coordination between internal and external emergency response teams
For more ideas on planning for and providing emergency response training at your facility, please contact us! Remember to check out our latest edition of Incidents, Accidents, and Near Misses in Laboratory Research to read about actual events that demonstrate the critical role this training plays in responding effectively to emergencies. As was stated in one story, training in emergency response procedures isn’t just about checking off the box; employees are learning skills that can potentially save someone’s life.
This blog was written by Beth Graham, Safety Partners’ Director of Quality, Research, and Training.
