What are the steps in preparing emergency response guidelines

There is no absolutely uniform standardized process for compiling emergency response guidelines. The common path in the industry is essentially a full link of "decomposing fuzzy risks into implementable actions." The core should cover the three core sections of risk base calculation, scenario-based response rule construction, and full-dimensional verification and iteration. Without any link, the compiled guide will easily become a paper document for display.

Last year, when we helped a local chain of fresh food supermarkets prepare an emergency guide for the flood season, we didn’t rush to write it at first. We first gathered store managers, warehouse managers, cleaners, and even suppliers who often deliver goods to the stores along the street for a whole week. The risk priorities we figured out were exactly the same as those listed by the headquarters in the early stage. It's different - the headquarters originally thought that the most important thing to prevent was water flooding into the warehouse, but when I actually ran down, I found that the store entrance was 10 centimeters lower than the road. The first problem caused by heavy rains was customers slipping and falling, followed by a short circuit at the shared charging pile at the door, and the probability of water flooding in the warehouse was ranked third. If we hadn't done this field trip in the early stage, no matter how neatly written the guide was, it wouldn't be useful when it rained.

Prioritize all potential risks according to their degree of impact and probability of occurrence before entering the core content building process. It is most taboo to write correct nonsense in this part. Don't make empty words like "evacuate as soon as possible in case of danger". You must map each action to a specific person, time node, and operating standard. For example, directly write "Within 30 seconds after the smoke detector is triggered on the first floor, the security guard at the front door is responsible for opening all fire exits, the announcer repeats three evacuation instructions, and the tally staff in the vegetable and fruit area give priority to guiding elderly customers to the east barrier-free passage." Even a part-time summer worker knows what he should do if he gets it. There are now different opinions on this part of the industry. One group believes that the guide should be written in as detailed a manner as possible. Even the standing posture for holding a fire extinguisher and the information points to be reported when calling the police should be marked with red icons to leave no room for mistakes. The other group believes that being too detailed will limit on-the-spot performance. For example, during public emergencies, unexpected situations will inevitably occur and must be left behind. 10%-20% of the flexible disposal authority prevents everyone from being afraid to act when encountering situations that are not in the guide. In fact, there is no absolute right or wrong between the two ideas. Scenarios with clear rules and few variables such as factory firefighting and rail transit are suitable for detailed writing. Scenarios with many variables such as public health and public opinion emergencies can really relax the flexibility appropriately.

Writing the draft does not mean that the work is finished. Whether you can really handle the task depends on practicing it in the real scene. Or let’s talk about the fresh food supermarket’s flood season guide. After writing the first draft, we led all the staff to conduct two live simulations. After the first run, we discovered a problem: the original evacuation speech was too long, and customers could not finish it in a noisy environment. Later, it was cut into three sentences in 15 seconds. The short sentence after the broadcast; there was also a request from the cashier, saying that the previous rule was to lock the cash box before evacuating, which was too time-consuming. On the same day, we applied with the headquarters to add a "priority evacuation in emergencies, and the loss of the cash box will be fully borne by the headquarters", which directly relieved everyone's worries. Moreover, the guide is not compiled once and for all. We have to update the version before the flood season this year. After all, a new rain shelter was added at the entrance of the store at the end of last year, and the drainage channel at the entrance was also modified, so the corresponding disposal measures will naturally be adjusted accordingly.

To put it bluntly, the emergency guide is an "emergency instruction manual" left for front-line personnel. There is no need for so many fancy formats or obscure terms. When you encounter an emergency, you can find the answer by looking it up. This guide is compiled in place.