Earthquake Preparedness

Earthquake Preparedness

To continue with the series of Natural disaster preparedness in a job, Earthquakes are not lower than wildfires or Hurricanes. In fact, it is actually very unpredictable to know when an Earthquake is about to occur. Just to light upon the subject, here is a clip from YouTube that talks about, you guessed it, Earthquakes. 

Based from the OSHA official website (1), there are several recommendations that one must make: 

• Pick "safe places". A safe place could be under a sturdy table or desk or against an interior wall away from windows and bookcases, or tall furniture that could fall on you. The shorter the distance to move to safety, the less likely you will be injured. Injury statistics show that people moving as little as 10 feet during an earthquake's shaking are most likely to be injured.
• Wait in your safe place until the shaking stops, then check to see if you are hurt. You will be better able to help others if you take care of yourself first, then check the people around you. Move carefully and watch out for things that have fallen or broken, creating hazards. Be ready for aftershocks.
• If you must leave a building after the shaking stops, use the stairs, not the elevator. Earthquakes can cause fire alarms and fire sprinklers to go off. You will not be certain whether there is a real threat of fire. As a precaution, use the stairs.
• If you're outside in an earthquake, stay outside. Move away from buildings, trees, streetlights, and power lines. Crouch down and cover your head. Many injuries occur within 10 feet of the entrance to buildings. Bricks, roofing, and other materials can fall from buildings, injuring persons nearby. Trees, streetlights, and power lines may also fall, causing damage or injury.
• Inform workers of the plan. Everyone in your workplace should know what to do if an earthquake occurs.
• Discuss earthquakes with workers. Everyone should know what to do. Discussing earthquakes ahead of time helps reduce fear and anxiety and lets everyone know how to respond.

Once an Earthquake occurs, it may be unsafe to return inside the building. So the recommendation is brought once an building inspector inspects the building and is deemed to be safe to use once more. There are other things to keep in mind. For example, there is an Incident Command System where they are responsible for the accountability of the personnel involved. The Safety Officer, is responsible for the following situations (again, take from the OSHA Official Website ( 1):

 

• Overseeing all safety and health aspects of response personnel
• Assuring that optimal safety and injury prevention is practiced
• Investigating and documenting all response team injuries and illnesses
• Ensuring that appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) is used
• Developing and implementing daily health and safety plans which address (1) sanitation, (2) hygiene, (3) PPE, (4) Decontamination, (5) work/rest cycles, (6) acute medical care, etc.
• Interviewing off-going shifts to assess developing hazards
• Training in hazard awareness and use of PPE

So to that end, managers and supervisors must maintain a state of safety, and have safety as their #1 priority. Earthquakes may not occur everywhere, however, there are certain areas in the country and world where earthquakes occur more often than others. So, I'm writing this to you because if one moves from an area where there wasn't any Earthquakes to an area where the Earthquake activity is high, one just be alert of any emergency.