Emergency Response Teams: Why Businesses and Schools Need Them

By Wayne Bennett, President of Survival Skills Company

In a large scale disaster, Emergency Services will be delayed or unavailable. The employees at your site will become "spontaneous responders". When the employees are confronted with the realities of a disaster such as an earthquake, they will be forced to make any decisions very quickly. Emergency Response training will give them the knowledge and the skills to make the right decisions.

The Emergency Response Teams in businesses and schools should receive training in the areas of Light Search and Rescue, Triage, Disaster First Aid, Fire and Utility Control. The early intervention of trained employees will not only save lives but reduce property losses in both large and small scale emergencies.

Light Search and Rescue training will enable the Response Team member to perform an organized search effort to safely remove untrapped and trapped victims without causing harm to themselves or the victim.

Triage and Disaster First Aid techniques will allow the rescuers to manage an overwhelming number of injured victims by evaluating and prioritizing their treatment as the professionals do in mass casualty incidents.

All team members should learn to use a fire extinguisher. All fires start small. With extinguishers already in place a trained employee could be a real solution to a serious problem.The failure to control utilities quickly following a disaster could have a tragic effect on the outcome of your emergency.

The key to success will be having a cross section of your organization equipped and trained to handle and manage the chaos that awaits them. They will be the backbone of the initial rescue effort and begin the process of recovery.