Toronto, ON (May 14, 2018) – Emergency Preparedness Week is organized by Public Safety Canada and takes place each year in May. This year, the event was rolled-out nationally May 6th – 12th, with the aim of helping Canadians safeguard themselves during an emergency situation. This year’s theme was “Be Emergency Ready.”
The event also presents an ideal opportunity to identify whether your organization is prepared for an emergency. Whether it’s a weather-related issue (such as a flood), a failure of a critical infrastructure system (such as power), or a community emergency which results in a shut-down of building or road access, emergencies come in all shapes and sizes and can disrupt your home or business.
“At 30 Forensic Engineering, we frequently encounter properties which have been subjected to emergency events—I would suggest looking for ways to not only survive through an emergency situation, but to facilitate the recovery and rebuilding process,” says Jeff Reitsma, P.Eng, Principal, Remediation.
Some practices to consider:
- Identify procedures and key support persons, including 24/7 contact numbers for your insurance representative, after-hours emergency response contractors and operation-critical vendors.
- Include audits of emergency response actions such as evacuation & lock-down procedures, equipment shut-downs, testing of back-up power, flow-testing drains, and exercising of shut-off valves as part of scheduled preventative maintenance activities.
- Document emergency response plans across all manner of scenarios and communicate (and practice!) these plans both internally, and as part of larger building- and community-wide
- Actively manage designated substances such as asbestos, silica, PCBs and lead and maintain inventories of said materials in accordance with applicable regulations; this information should be shared with emergency responders to make every reasonable effort to notify those workers of health & safety and environmental hazards.
- Maintain accurate and up-to-date drawings or CAD models, especially of infrastructure-critical elements such as electrical single-line diagrams and plumbing riser & valve schedules, to identify critical isolation and shut-off points and to direct emergency responders.
- Clear and consistent labelling of piping and valves, cables, conduits, panels and junction boxes will save precious time when tracing leaks and confirming isolation of systems in an emergency.
- Ensure all construction and renovations are done to code by qualified contractors; proper fire-stopping of floor slab penetrations for instance can minimize the spread of smoke & soot damage during a fire, and also prevent water from travelling from floor-to-floor via ceilings and within wall assemblies.
Incorporate resiliency into design selections where possible:
- Bolt- or screw-on finishes can be more easily removed than glued- or cemented-on finishes facilitate drying or replacement.
- Water permeable materials in layers should be avoided in leak-prone areas – hardwood flooring with foam underlayment as an example is difficult to dry in place in a timely manner.
- Permeable walk- and drive-way finishes and green roofs can help to minimize surface run-off in and around properties.
- Make allowance for flooding in risky areas and provide robust drains, housekeeping pads or pedestals for sensitive equipment, while keeping overhead areas in such locations free to allow use of lifting devices to facilitate replacement.
Make use of the extensive emergency preparedness resources available on-line, including excellent check-lists, tips and guides:
- Insurance Bureau of Canada
- Government of Canada
- Canadian Red Cross
- Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction
- Restoration Contractors Organization of Canada (RCOC)
It is essentially impossible to effectively plan for all potential emergency situations, but effective and targeted preparation can result in significant reductions to the likelihood and impact of an emergency situation on your property – “Plan. Prepare. Be Aware”!
About 30 Forensic Engineering
30 Forensic Engineering has been serving the insurance and legal industries for 15 years and is one of Canada’s largest and most respected multi-disciplinary forensic firms. Our core team of 50 Professional Investigators and Engineering Technicians is enhanced through relationships with some of the top scientists, standard-makers and specialized consultants in North America.
We provide world-class engineering and consulting expertise in:
- Civil/Structural Failure
- Building and Fire Code
- Geotechnical and Mining
- Biomechanics Personal Injury
- Human Factors
- Collision Reconstruction
- Transportation Safety
- Renewable Energy
- Environmental Health & Safety
- Multi-disciplinary Remediation
- Materials & Product Failure / Piping & HVAC
- Fire / Electrical & Explosion investigations
- Trucking
SOURCE: 30 Forensic Engineering
