What are the steps to prepare emergency response guidelines?

If you really want to make a usable emergency guide, the core is to understand the core issues of "what will happen, who will take care of it, how to do it, and how to fix the mistakes." Don't just use the general templates on the Internet. Many units compile the guides and collect dust in the cabinet. The essence is that they are not combined with their own actual scenarios.

Last year, I helped Chengxi Subdistrict revamp the fire emergency guide for an old community. I first looked through their old version. It didn’t even mention which buildings housed elderly people living alone with limited mobility, or which fire escapes were blocked by residents’ electric vehicles all year round. It would be impossible to use it if something really happened. In fact, the first thing to do is to go to the site and conduct a comprehensive risk assessment. Don’t just copy the general risks listed in the national standards. You have to focus on the specific problems in your own scene. Old communities should focus on high-frequency risks such as elderly people forgetting to turn off electric blankets and flying cable charging. Internet companies have to leak user data and server downtime. These situations should be ranked first. Even offline business districts should consider the possibility of large crowds of passengers during holidays and gas leaks in food courts. All risks should be ranked according to probability and impact. Different levels of risks correspond to different disposal resources. The disposal process of sparks from flying cable charging and the disposal process of the whole building catching fire should not be confused.

After figuring out the risks, the easiest pitfall is unclear rights and responsibilities. Many companies' guidelines say "relevant departments will handle it in a timely manner." If something goes wrong, no one knows who the "relevant departments" are, and they blame each other and delay things. We were working as a guide for the old community and clearly identified the first responder for each scenario: the building manager of each building was the first responder. If there was a fire, he would first knock on the door of the elderly person living alone in the building to ask people to evacuate, and then remove the electric vehicle blocking the door of the unit. The subsequent contact with the fire fighters would be from the community. The matter of the district security director and the resettlement of disaster-resident residents is the job of the civil affairs specialist. Even who is responsible for buying mineral water for the temporary resettlement site and connecting with the temporary hotel is clearly written. Everyone's contact information is printed directly at the footer of each page, so there is no need to flip through the address book in a hurry if something goes wrong.

Once the rights and responsibilities are straightened out, you need to write down specific operations. The most avoidable part is empty words and clichés. Don't write "evacuate the crowd as soon as possible." Instead, write "exit the unit door, turn left and walk through the 5-meter-wide barrier-free passage, and gather in the open space at the north gate of the community. The building manager will hold a small red flag with the building number on it." It should be detailed enough that a completely inexperienced newcomer can get it and follow it without making a big mistake. If it involves professional operations, such as first aid for electric shock, don't enlarge on the theoretical explanation, just provide a simple step-by-step diagram, and add the sentence "If you haven't passed the first aid certificate, don't move the injured at will, first pull the switch and call 120", it will be more effective than any long speech.

Many people think that everything will be fine once the guide is compiled, but this is actually the biggest misunderstanding. A problem arose after the first drill of our version of the guide: There was an elderly man in his 80s in Building 1 who was deaf, and the building manager knocked on the door for three minutes without hearing anything. Later, we installed audible and visual alarm doorbells on the doors of these special elderly households, and also added to the guide the content that "when elderly people living alone in Buildings 1, 3, and 7 get no answer when they knock on the door, they can contact the property management company to get a spare key to open the door." Later, there was a small accident in the community where an electric car was burned due to flying wire charging. After handling the incident, we also added the lessons learned at that time. For example, do not use the fire hydrant in the building to extinguish the electric car fire. Use the dry powder fire extinguisher at the door. Only dynamically updated guidelines are useful. After compilation, the contents in the cabinet will be locked as waste paper.

There is also an inconclusive controversy in the industry: Some people think that the guideline should be as detailed as possible, and it is safe to list all possible situations. Others think that being too detailed will limit the flexibility of on-site disposal. How can we follow the step-by-step process in the event of a major disaster? My own experience is that the basic operating procedures must be written in detail, but there must be a gap that "the highest person in charge on site can make a decision on the spot." During the heavy rain on July 20 in Zhengzhou, the stationmaster of a subway station directly skipped the reporting process and organized the evacuation of passengers first, saving many people. This is the meaning of leaving enough flexibility in the guide.

To put it bluntly, the emergency guide is not for leaders to check. It is a practical manual for ordinary people who hold it in their hands to save lives and stop losses when something goes wrong. When compiling it, ask more people working on the front line, visit the scene several times, and practice twice. It is more effective than copying 100 general templates.