It can happen to you

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By Russ Kratowicz

PlantServices.com

Planning for the unthinkable makes nothing but good sense.

Every year, there are hundreds of instances of things going wrong in a big way. Mother Nature flings her tornadoes, hurricanes, water and lightning before her. In many cases, wind and flood damage and firestorms occur in sparsely populated areas, where the direct economic loss is tolerable. However, when those forces of nature get a little too close to civilization and its more densely populated areas, they can result in serious economic loss, not only for residents, but for mines, mills and factories, as well.

Now, we've come to realize that Ol' Lady Nature is strictly bush league when it comes to mankind, who has clearly demonstrated the effects of training the destructive power of unbridled kinetic energy on one of the most densely populated zip codes in the entire country.

A word to the wise should be sufficient. At the risk of being redundant, here are several more words you might want to keep.

Getting started

Before we go off talking about disasters and recovery, we should probably get an understanding of the jargon and terminology that applies to this dismal topic. The Corporate Response Group Inc. in Arlington, Va., has a site that might fill the bill. Go to http://www.crgdc.com/Home/prehome.htm and click on "Library." This will give you access to a bibliography (23 books), glossary (11 pages), collection of articles (eight) and three presentations on the topic.

Crisis communications plan

Something bad happens at a perfectly good manufacturing plant. In a matter of hours, it's already big network news. Next thing you know, they're on the tube and you hear them on the radio. Who? The spokesperson, that's who. These folks are stressed, and we should cut them some slack. But, in too many cases, one gets the distinct impression this high-profile person is hiding something or, in some other way, not playing it straight.

Nevertheless, someone must go up there in front of the world and tell us a story. If that someone turns out to be you, dear reader, you might be interested in learning just a bit about handling the press and the millions of inquiring minds out in the hinterlands. Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, IL, posts something called the Crisis Communication Plan: A Blue Print for Crisis Communication, by Sandra K. Clawson Freeo. The document contains eleven pages and explains how to plan the response. It gives solid advice about avoiding a leap into a public quagmire from which there's no honorable escape. Go over to http://www.niu.edu/newsplace/crisis.html and learn how to be convincing when you're trying to really play it straight for the camera.

First aid and CPR

You can always replace lost or damaged things. Not so with lost or damaged people. When bad things happen, everyone will be better off if a substantial portion of the people in the immediate vicinity have some technical competency in taking care of the immediate, life-threatening reality.

The philosophy behind this monthly column has always been the presentation of sites that offer non-commercial, genuine content that is free of charge and doesn't force you to register your identity to access it. Then again, you get what you pay for. Lifesaving skills should probably not be gained via the Web. I don't know how you feel about it, but it would be comforting to know that the person administering CPR or first aid to my prone, bloody carcass had some one-on-one training so they'd truly know what they were doing.

So, instead of offering free info of potentially dubious quality in an area this important, I'm going to point you to a couple of sites that allow you to locate a qualified commercial first aid/CPR trainer in your area. I sincerely hope you will never need the training you pay for. But if your plant does need it, my second hope is that the person on the floor is the one who successfully argued that it's too costly to train everyone at the plant.

CPR Directory claims to be a nationwide directory of first aid and CPR courses. Go to http://www.cprdirectory.com/ and enter your county, state and the type of training you seek. There are a lot of counties in this country. I didn't try them all, but it struck me that the underlying database for this site might be a little thinly populated.

CPR+NETWORK claims to provide the best directory of training classes in CPR, emergency first aid, basic life support, automated external defibrillator and more. Open the page at http://www.cprplusnet.com/,  on your state and follow your mouse.

Don't take my word for information sources on this vital aspect of disaster planning. Do your own Web search. If you find something better than what's offered here, let me know about it. In turn, we'll let our other 110,000-plus readers in on your discovery.

Psychological damage

The medics can treat the obvious physical injuries, but that might be only one component of the injury. Don't forget the issue of trauma, including post traumatic stress disorder. This psychological element can be debilitating. You can get a good grounding in the topic by referring to David Baldwin's Trauma Information Pages, which are found at http://www.trauma-pages.com/.

Emergency response plan

Steel mills can be dangerous places for the unwary. Nevertheless, accidents happen and it can be a long, long way from the scene of the event to the nearest hospital. Gallatin Steel's plant is located in a rural area between Louisville, Ky. and Cincinnati, Ohio. The company realized there was a need for emergency planning and they addressed it head on. You can read a two-page synopsis of what measures the plant took at http://www.newsteel.com/2000/NS0006ms.htm, where you will find Building an emergency-response plan by Butch Collins.