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#1 Posted : 10 August 2001 05:31:00(UTC)
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Posted By Taileuk I am trying to define emergenncy response procedure for my factory plant. The emergency situations Air Receiver Explosion and Gas Cylinder (for welding) Explosion are identified. Can anyone provide any reference for the drafting of emergency procedures so as to ensure workers do the right things? Can anyone provide any refer
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#2 Posted : 11 August 2001 10:39:00(UTC)
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Posted By Frank Macleod Taileuk, The MHSWR 1999,Regulation 8 requires you to have procedures to deal with serious or imminent danger or danger areas. The ACOP gives good guidance on what you need to do as a minimum, which is reasonably practicable. Regards Frank Macleod
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#3 Posted : 11 August 2001 10:48:00(UTC)
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Posted By Mike Charleston Hi Taileuk There is little likelihood of many specific elements to an incident like this once the explosion has occurred, so the response is most likely to slot into standard fire-fighting and first-aid instructions that suit your working environment (eg: draw everyone back from the immediate vicinity where people may be hurt, call in professionals, muster, decide what to do once the professionals have finished damping down, saving life and securing safety). I have no direct idea of where the professionals might come from in your case - I assume that you can call on municipal emergency services for fire-fighting and casualty rescue/treatment. I also assume that in their wake will come a variety of technical advisers/agents like those who will declare the site safe for your company to re-occupy and accident investigators who may or not act, depending on the severity of consequence (or potential severity). The real procedural detail is most likely to be needed in your site-wide instructions for a variety of incidents that would obviously include these two examples. This is where you should define what your company does (not to be mixed up with what other professional emergency services do for you, except in terms of how your organisation and theirs communicate and operate in a co-ordinated fashion whilst they are on your company's territory). At this level you should consider: 1) What to do immediately after an incident has been detected - ie: the immediate reaction to get bystanders safe, shut down production/processes that might add to the problem, safeguard the future of any casualties and account for all personnel in the area. 2) What the company's support organisation should be doing to assist the professionals (provide site knowledge, technical guidance, logistics assistance if appropriate). 3) What the company has to do once the immediate life-saving and structural safety issues have been handled (isolate the area for investigation, identify witnesses, conduct initial interviews, plan alternative production/process arrangements, notify relatives of casualties, perhaps give such relatives support and assistance - to visit hospital for example, respond to enquiries from media sources, etc, etc, co-operate with any carry-over of involvement with the professionals - eg: Police investigations; other authorities). The only references that I can suggest to all this are pursuing enquiries on the Internet, using such key word searches as "Emergency; Response; Preparedness; Planning; Disaster" and similar. Also get a sight of other organisation's emergency plans in your country if you get the chance, looking at a variety of industry sectors but also looking for a focus on what the company's direct competitors do. If all else fails I can pack a bag for HK in less than two hours!! Good luck - Mike
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#4 Posted : 11 August 2001 11:35:00(UTC)
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Posted By Philip McAleenan Taileuk, I have sent you a document attached to an e-mail which I hope will be useful in you operation, Regards, Philip
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#5 Posted : 11 August 2001 18:07:00(UTC)
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Posted By Nick Higginson Taileuk, Before the issues of controls and procedures comes up, it is sometimes difficult to decide which emergencies you should have procedures for. We went for a risk assessment based approach, which was a fairly simple probability times severity, and anything which was medium or high risk was included i our emergency preparedness/disaster recovery plan. This was done in a group format for a consensus of opinions, and we were then able to involve staff and safety reps. It also eliminated the ideas of the clever chap who wanted to include aeroplanes dropping out of the sky, and UFO invasion in the procedures. Regards, Nick
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#6 Posted : 13 August 2001 07:59:00(UTC)
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Posted By Ken Urquhart Taileuk, I want to be helpful but, I wonder if you are a Safety Professional or a concerned employee trying to uplift safety in your Company. Or are you perhaps a Superviser or Manager who has been given responsibility for Safety aspects of parts of your workplace and the processes and or work tasks carried on there. Are you a Registered Safety Officer (Hong Kong Labour dept.,) If you are you should know the answers. If you are not then you should consult your Companies RSO. If your Company does not have Safety Advice then you should look at The Hong Kong Legislation ; The Factories and Industrial Undertakings (Safety Officers and Safety Supervisers) Regulations. Go to the HK Government web sites. The Labour dept., Site. www.info.gov.hk/labour/welcome/index.htm Then click on Occupational Safety and Health in the left hand page scroll bar. This will take you to the occupational Safety and Health specific pages. Scroll down this page till you get to "Occupational Safety and Health INTERNET Links." Under Hong Kong, open Occupational Health & Safety Council link, this will bring up their Home page with a choice of Chinese or English. Go to the bar marked Resource Centre and there you will find a complete list of Hong Kong Health & safety legislation. Also on the OHSC site you will find a page marked BOOKSHELF where many of the regulations and the published Guidance (Labour Dept Guidance) is downloadable Free of Charge. For the full texts and the Ordinances for HK Law go to. www.justice.gov.hk/Home.htm This will take you to a site that is called Bliss on the net. Hre you will find a searchable index of all HK Ordinances and all up-dates and amendments, again in Chinese or English. For Fire and Fire relatd information and Guidance, You refer to risks in the Workplace with Gas cylinders, go to the site of the Hong Kong Fires Services Departmnt. www.info.gov.hk/hkfsd Be reminded that Gases, Gas cylinders and related products and Chemicals come under the Dangerous Goods Regulations, and for storage purposes, you have to apply through The Fire Services Department for approval and a licence for your Dangerous Goods (Gas) Store. ie; It's position/location,it's Fabrication criteria,It's capaciy, and the Fire Precauions. Also talk to The Labour Department, they have many Guiance documents and leaflets and they issue them Free of Charge. Contact: The Government of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, The Labour Department, 15/Floor, Harbour Building, 38 Pier Road, CENTRAL, Hong Kong. Phone 852 - 2852 - 4041 Check their web site, (address given earlier and you can e-mail them). If you want some guidance other than Hong Kong's, or, to compare with Hong Kong look at the schedule of related Country/Organisation Health & Safety Web sites and organisations that I referred to earlier as listed in the LINKS on the HK Labour Departments web pages. But also remember that whatever procedure you devise and apply it must first and foremost achieve compliance with the specifics of the appropriate Hong Kong Ordinances. If it achieves better, then so much more to the common good. Hope this helps and if you would like to talk or to e-mail me, (I am Hong Kong based) contact me first with your telephone number and address, by e-mail. kenurquhart@pccw.com Regards. Ken Urquhart
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