It's never too late to increase the protection of building occupants in case of fire or disaster

Thank you for listening. For several years now we have discussed security and life safety planning and preparations for your building tenants, building administration and maintenance personnel. There are some basic minimum necessities that are recommended to assure that occupants of your property are protected and have the life safety tools available when emergency conditions occur. Even today, after the continuous reinforcement that anything can happen at any time, there are building owners and property managers that are still contemplating the need to implement or upgrade their back-up generators, emergency building lighting, back-up cellular phone service and even reserve oil tanks, as applicable. Even more basic, the plans for upgrading outdated or malfunctioning security systems are on the back burner. Yes, we are all acutely aware of the economic downturn in our society today and the impact it is having on property rentals, sales and maintenance costs. But the low cost of proactive upgrading or implementing security and life safety systems, planned and programmed to be installed over time, are far less than potential property losses encountered or the loss of a human life. We cannot put a price on the loss of life. We have addressed the necessity for emergency preparedness and planning from a business continuity standpoint, an anti-terrorist perspective and protection from common criminal acts. We have addressed the potential of a serious smoke condition, the availability of smoke hoods or respiratory aided devices and the need to evacuate building occupants. These easy-to-put-on devices will provide the wearer more time to exit from the life-threatening smoke condition by filtering dangerous toxic gases. As commonplace as fire extinguishers are, it is highly recommended that fire extinguisher maintenance procedures be reviewed, maintenance logs be checked and training procedures on the use of portable fire extinguishers for building occupants be examined to assure they at least exist and are easily understandable. In the event of an emergency, it is imperative that communications are not lost. It is recommended that emergency call stations be strategically located throughout the property using cellular back-up technology. If building occupants can communicate to describe their locations and what the existing conditions are in their areas, the first responders will be in a better position to help save lives. When an emergency occurs, we generally think of evacuating the property. There may be conditions where a shelter-in-place policy is advisable. If a shelter-in place plan is implemented, it is necessary that "shelter-in-place provisioning" has been planned for. A minimum list of such provisions would include potable drinking water, packaged foods, paper or plastic plates and utensils, first aid kits, sanitary facilities, flashlights and/or candles and batteries for flashlights and cell phones. It is further recommended that a list of occupants and their essential prescription medications be compiled. There is an increase in the utilization of Automated External Defibrillators, commonly referred to as AEDs. These battery operated portable devices can be used by anyone with a minimum of training to help save a life of someone suffering from cardiac arrest. The AED automatically analyzes the condition of the person apparently in need of assistance and either applies or does not apply the necessary shock to the heart. AEDs save lives when defibrillation is administered in time. Any supplier of these devices will be pleased to provide sufficient in-house training. Emergency provisions should be made to evacuate disabled persons. A common form of such an emergency provision is an evacuation assisting device in the form of an evacuation chair. Employment of an evacuation chair is not only for the handicapped but for people suffering a temporary disability due to the emergency condition, as well as expectant mothers. Evacuation chair staging stations should be set up at areas of known disabled persons as well as at stairwell locations. And now, we face threat of infectious pandemic outbreaks. An infectious disease outbreak is rare, but we just had a global scare with the H1N1 strain affecting people all around the world, including the U.S. and including New York City. The CDC tells us that this strain is somewhat contained and will probably diminish its intensity this year, but we are being warned that it may occur again next year. For this we must prepare now. What is necessary for all properties are well written and tested emergency plans, training of personnel in the administration of the emergency plan, early warning alarm and notification systems for fire, smoke, floods and air quality sensing, drills and simulated exercises to reinforce responsible preparedness by management and an evaluation system for all tested, written emergency procedures and the performed periodic drills on these procedures. Just as business continuity planning is essential to the survival of your business, these other recommended critical strategies are essential for the survival of your property's occupants. And please be advised that a significant part of the overall planning process, as we have recently become aware, is the planning for a future pandemic. Allan Schwartz, CPP, CHS-III is president and CEO of Safeguards International, Inc., Yonkers, N.Y.