The ReadyCarlsbad Business Alliance made its first-ever award presentation at the State of the City Luncheon, bestowing the Commitment to Emergency Preparedness Award upon Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.
The award recognizes the "accomplishments and contributions to prepare employees, protect and continue business operations and contribute to community recovery in the event of large-scale disasters."
To determine the winner, the alliance asked all of the nominees a series of questions about the type of emergency programs that they have implemented, how their employees are involved and how other companies might be able to recreate their program.
Among the reasons for winning, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has:
• Mandatory employee preparedness training requirements,
• A crisis management plan that includes annual drills with the Carlsbad Fire Department and county hazmat department,
• An emergency action plan that is communicated to all employees,
• An employee emergency line for off-site employees,
• A facility database that includes critical information for all global sites,
• And a very robust emergency preparedness, response and recovery organization.
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. also has shared its comprehensive emergency action plan with others in its industry at conferences, and shares it with local businesses that have used it to create their own plans.
Here are some of the other emergency preparedness steps being taken by the other nominees.
LEGOLAND California Resort
LEGOLAND California Resort has a Security & Safety Team that's responsible for site safety for employees and guests. Security has daily incident reviews and site inspections including complete documentation to ensure frequent reviews and solutions of potential safety and security concern. The resort also has an emergency action plan that outlines emergency procedures and responsibilities and potential external resources for complete incident management. It has a health services clinic staffed with certified individuals and first aid and emergency supplies. It also has a trained management team to help operationally guide the park through emergency situations. LEGOLAND employees are involved at all levels of the organization beginning on day one of employment.
"Our (employees) are well trained and live in surrounding local communities which can help in the case of large scale disasters affecting the community," the nomination stated. "Local guests who choose to visit our park are in good hands should an emergency happen."
Omni La Costa Resort and Spa
Several years ago, the resort updated its entire manual. It consists of 38 sections ranging from bomb threats, power outages, fire, medical emergencies and the resort continues to work on new procedures including wildland fires, active shooter, norovirus outbreak and pandemic preparedness. Every worker takes part in the emergency response. The resort has three main teams: the Crisis Management Team (CMT), the Emergency Response Team (ERT) and the Internal Emergency Contact Team (IECT). Each Team has specific responsibilities during an emergency. It also reminds employees to plan and be ready for disaster at home. Omni La Costa can also offer shelter for those displaced in emergencies or for emergency responders.
Scripps Health
Scripps follows the hospital incident command system (HICS), taking an all-hazards approach, ensuring that their staff is trained to respond to anything. It has an annual hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) to prepare to the hazards that it is most vulnerable to, and implemented an emergency response team and decontamination team.
It holds drills for fire, earthquake, shelter in place, evacuation, bomb threat, mission person and special threats such as a hostage situation. Having the ability to provide emergency services to those injured in a local disaster, while continuing to care for hospitalized patients, is a critical community need. Scripps, together with other first-responder agencies (public and private), will engage in a variety of training, outreach and planning initiatives.
SDG&E
SDG&E's Community Fire Safety Program (CFSP) includes education and outreach programs to agencies and customers, prevention measures that help reduce the risk of fires and outages, and enhanced readiness and response capabilities.
A top priority of SDG&E is the safety of its customers, employees, and the public. It collaborates with first-responder and emergency services agencies throughout the region to improve wildfire prevention and response and to support public safety awareness programs.
A cornerstone of SDG&E's efforts to reduce fire risk is community outreach and education. Each year, SDG&E employees participate in more than 100 organized events, mail nearly 35,000 Emergency Preparedness brochures to residents in the High-Risk Fire Area (HRFA) and distribute more than 10,000 Emergency Preparedness Brochures and 5,000 Emergency Preparedness Z-cards in English and Spanish at community events.
SDG&E maintains a 24/7 Dedicated Emergency Operations Center (EOC) that has been activated more than 78 times in 12 years for events including Red Flag Warnings, Firestorms 2003 and 2007, 2011 Pacific Southwest Outage, special events and system emergencies.
EOC team members regularly drill for emergencies to ensure the team is ready to respond should a disaster occur.
SDG&E maintains three Mobile Command Centers and Satellite Phone Booths to bolster rapid emergency response and communications. The mobile units connect SDG&E and emergency responders with satellite and high-speed wireless communications.
TaylorMade Golf Co.
TaylorMade Golf Co. has implemented Business Emergency Safety Training (BEST involving 50 employees and four buildings. They have plans to roll it out to other buildings in other countries as well.
BEST employees are responsible for training in building evacuation, triage, CPR, fire extinguisher use, workplace violence, and various safety subject matters, including safe use of general office equipment.
The program has been in place for two years and typically meets on a monthly basis.
The program builds awareness for all employees throughout the workplace. So far there has been no need to put the plans into action other than for drill purposes.
In conjunction with the BEST program, the company has an emergency management team, and a crisis team, that are all rolled into a business continuity plan.
In terms of helping the community, in the event of an emergency TaylorMade is hoping to be self-sufficient for a short period of time to maintain the situation until the emergency responders can arrive.
Or in the event of an area-wide disaster, when the first responder's resources are limited, the first responders may be able to respond to a business or community that is less prepared than TaylorMade.
Tri-City Medical Center
Over the last several years Tri-City Medical Center has developed and implemented a variety of comprehensive emergency programs for the hospital to ensure our capability to respond to community wide emergency events.
Tri-City has taken the lead in creating a vision with community partners to support the local business in its district, enhanced overall community preparedness planning, developed the Business Emergency Response Initiative, where it has partnered with agencies to help promote business readiness throughout the North County.
The hospital sponsored a day seminar for local North County businesses, and provided them with the training on emergency response planning and assisted them in the development of their business emergency response programs.
Another way Tri-City Medical Center has supported our community during disaster events was the most recent 2011 power outage where the hospital was able to support local physicians in the community by providing temporary refrigerated storage for their medications and vaccinations.
The award recognizes the "accomplishments and contributions to prepare employees, protect and continue business operations and contribute to community recovery in the event of large-scale disasters."
To determine the winner, the alliance asked all of the nominees a series of questions about the type of emergency programs that they have implemented, how their employees are involved and how other companies might be able to recreate their program.
Among the reasons for winning, Air Products and Chemicals, Inc. has:
• Mandatory employee preparedness training requirements,
• A crisis management plan that includes annual drills with the Carlsbad Fire Department and county hazmat department,
• An emergency action plan that is communicated to all employees,
• An employee emergency line for off-site employees,
• A facility database that includes critical information for all global sites,
• And a very robust emergency preparedness, response and recovery organization.
Air Products & Chemicals Inc. also has shared its comprehensive emergency action plan with others in its industry at conferences, and shares it with local businesses that have used it to create their own plans.
Here are some of the other emergency preparedness steps being taken by the other nominees.
LEGOLAND California Resort
LEGOLAND California Resort has a Security & Safety Team that's responsible for site safety for employees and guests. Security has daily incident reviews and site inspections including complete documentation to ensure frequent reviews and solutions of potential safety and security concern. The resort also has an emergency action plan that outlines emergency procedures and responsibilities and potential external resources for complete incident management. It has a health services clinic staffed with certified individuals and first aid and emergency supplies. It also has a trained management team to help operationally guide the park through emergency situations. LEGOLAND employees are involved at all levels of the organization beginning on day one of employment.
"Our (employees) are well trained and live in surrounding local communities which can help in the case of large scale disasters affecting the community," the nomination stated. "Local guests who choose to visit our park are in good hands should an emergency happen."
Omni La Costa Resort and Spa
Several years ago, the resort updated its entire manual. It consists of 38 sections ranging from bomb threats, power outages, fire, medical emergencies and the resort continues to work on new procedures including wildland fires, active shooter, norovirus outbreak and pandemic preparedness. Every worker takes part in the emergency response. The resort has three main teams: the Crisis Management Team (CMT), the Emergency Response Team (ERT) and the Internal Emergency Contact Team (IECT). Each Team has specific responsibilities during an emergency. It also reminds employees to plan and be ready for disaster at home. Omni La Costa can also offer shelter for those displaced in emergencies or for emergency responders.
Scripps Health
Scripps follows the hospital incident command system (HICS), taking an all-hazards approach, ensuring that their staff is trained to respond to anything. It has an annual hazard vulnerability analysis (HVA) to prepare to the hazards that it is most vulnerable to, and implemented an emergency response team and decontamination team.
It holds drills for fire, earthquake, shelter in place, evacuation, bomb threat, mission person and special threats such as a hostage situation. Having the ability to provide emergency services to those injured in a local disaster, while continuing to care for hospitalized patients, is a critical community need. Scripps, together with other first-responder agencies (public and private), will engage in a variety of training, outreach and planning initiatives.
SDG&E
SDG&E's Community Fire Safety Program (CFSP) includes education and outreach programs to agencies and customers, prevention measures that help reduce the risk of fires and outages, and enhanced readiness and response capabilities.
A top priority of SDG&E is the safety of its customers, employees, and the public. It collaborates with first-responder and emergency services agencies throughout the region to improve wildfire prevention and response and to support public safety awareness programs.
A cornerstone of SDG&E's efforts to reduce fire risk is community outreach and education. Each year, SDG&E employees participate in more than 100 organized events, mail nearly 35,000 Emergency Preparedness brochures to residents in the High-Risk Fire Area (HRFA) and distribute more than 10,000 Emergency Preparedness Brochures and 5,000 Emergency Preparedness Z-cards in English and Spanish at community events.
SDG&E maintains a 24/7 Dedicated Emergency Operations Center (EOC) that has been activated more than 78 times in 12 years for events including Red Flag Warnings, Firestorms 2003 and 2007, 2011 Pacific Southwest Outage, special events and system emergencies.
EOC team members regularly drill for emergencies to ensure the team is ready to respond should a disaster occur.
SDG&E maintains three Mobile Command Centers and Satellite Phone Booths to bolster rapid emergency response and communications. The mobile units connect SDG&E and emergency responders with satellite and high-speed wireless communications.
TaylorMade Golf Co.
TaylorMade Golf Co. has implemented Business Emergency Safety Training (BEST involving 50 employees and four buildings. They have plans to roll it out to other buildings in other countries as well.
BEST employees are responsible for training in building evacuation, triage, CPR, fire extinguisher use, workplace violence, and various safety subject matters, including safe use of general office equipment.
The program has been in place for two years and typically meets on a monthly basis.
The program builds awareness for all employees throughout the workplace. So far there has been no need to put the plans into action other than for drill purposes.
In conjunction with the BEST program, the company has an emergency management team, and a crisis team, that are all rolled into a business continuity plan.
In terms of helping the community, in the event of an emergency TaylorMade is hoping to be self-sufficient for a short period of time to maintain the situation until the emergency responders can arrive.
Or in the event of an area-wide disaster, when the first responder's resources are limited, the first responders may be able to respond to a business or community that is less prepared than TaylorMade.
Tri-City Medical Center
Over the last several years Tri-City Medical Center has developed and implemented a variety of comprehensive emergency programs for the hospital to ensure our capability to respond to community wide emergency events.
Tri-City has taken the lead in creating a vision with community partners to support the local business in its district, enhanced overall community preparedness planning, developed the Business Emergency Response Initiative, where it has partnered with agencies to help promote business readiness throughout the North County.
The hospital sponsored a day seminar for local North County businesses, and provided them with the training on emergency response planning and assisted them in the development of their business emergency response programs.
Another way Tri-City Medical Center has supported our community during disaster events was the most recent 2011 power outage where the hospital was able to support local physicians in the community by providing temporary refrigerated storage for their medications and vaccinations.