Development of workplace disaster and emergency plans; example of production site of stationery materials

Disasters and other emergencies constantly lead to loss of life and property, making life difficult in all aspects. People are faced with these situations while they are working in the workplace. For this reason, it is of great importance to prepare and implement workplace disaster and emergency plans in the healthiest way possible. The aim of this study is to reveal which steps should be followed in the preparation of an effective disaster and emergency plan for workplaces and to apply these steps in a stationery production area. While conducting the study, foreign and domestic resources, legislation and guidelines have been examined and compared. For the establishment of disaster and emergency management at workplaces, the preparation process of the plan was examined in four steps, based on the findings obtained. Establishing the planning team, performing hazard and risk analysis, developing the plan and implementing the plan are the steps that make up this process. Then, these steps were implemented at the selected workplace and a disaster and emergency plan was developed. It was emphasized that priority should be given to risk management while preparing workplace disaster and emergency plans, as in integrated disaster management. This will be possible by analyzing the general and workplace-specific hazards one by one and performing the risk analysis and determining the measures to be taken according to the results of the analysis. Then crisis management, that is, what needs to be done after a disaster or emergency should be addressed. When the things to be done in crisis management are performed, deficiencies or new dangers that arise should be determined and risk management should be started again and this cycle should continue continuously. Following the preparation of the workplace disaster and emergency plan, it is emphasized the importance of explaining the plan-specific information such as how to behave in a disaster and emergency situation, asylum and gathering areas, which evacuation route to use, and providing reinforcement by performing exercises.