Emergency management program for a hotel business

Emergency Management Program for a Business:

Businesses are among organizations that are vulnerable to disasters or emergencies though the degree of vulnerability is dependent on the kind of operations within the business. In addition to the kind of business operations, the other likely factor that contributes to an emergency or disaster is today's world that is characterized by natural hazards such as hurricanes, earthquakes, floods, and tornadoes. Businesses are also susceptible to widespread serious illnesses, workplace accidents, human-caused hazards like terrorism, and technology-related incidents. As a result of the vulnerability, businesses need an emergency plan that promotes preparedness for any emergency. The emergency or disaster management program requires an effectively developed preparedness program that offers tools that help in lessening the impact of these hazards.

The Hotel Business:

As this article seeks to establish a disaster/emergency management program for an organization, the type of organization to be covered by the program is a hotel business. The hotel is located in an area with a population of nearly 100,000 people. This business is also situated in the business district of a major town, approximately 10 miles away from a flood zone. While the hotel is not necessarily built in a flood zone, its proximity to the flood zone makes it susceptible to a flood disaster.

Generally, the hotel is characterized with several daily operations because of the huge number of customers it serves every day. The entire workforce of the business in involved in several activities that are geared towards providing high-quality customer service and achieving its business objectives and goals. Furthermore, the hotel functions in a highly competitive market conditions that is also seasonal in nature.

In the past few years of its operations, the hotel has experienced some disasters and emergency situations that have brought considerable losses. The previous disasters have not only contributed to huge damages but have also resulted in workplace accidents for some of its staffs. These damages and accidents have been attributed to the lack of an efficient emergency management approach and risk management program. In addition, the hotel continues to be vulnerable to fires and risks like workplace injuries, malicious damages, and glass breakage among others.

Emergency Management Program:

As an organization that has been vulnerable to disasters and emergencies in the past few years, the hotel requires the establishment of an effective emergency management program that mitigates the risk and lessens the impact of such incidents. The emergency program is one of the major components of the risk management process that involves managing and reducing factors that increase its vulnerability to and impact of these disasters. This program should also be part of a comprehensive risk management system that is designed and developed after conducting a complete survey of the hotel premises and its environs.

The design and development stages of the disaster/emergency management program will involve various important stages. First, this process would be based on the findings of the complete survey and evaluation of the hotel's premises and its environs. The survey or evaluation will be geared towards understanding the common risks and areas of vulnerability of the business organization to disasters or emergencies. The survey will also be geared towards identifying the factors that contributed to the past emergencies and disasters.

The second approach towards designing and developing an emergency management program for the hotel is identifying regulations that establish the minimum requirements for the emergency program. These regulations will be significant in guiding the process for establishing the necessary elements of the emergency management system. The identification of the regulations that provide minimum requirements for the disaster management program will also include collecting information regarding hazards and risk assessment. The third step in this process is to evaluate ways to prevent hazards and lessen risks as well as to carry out a business impact analysis.

In relation to the implementation of the emergency/disaster management program, there are several things to consider as part of the preparedness plan. Some of the most important elements to be included in the implementation stage of the program include emergency response, employee assistance, incident management, crisis communications, resource management, business continuity, and training. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the emergency management program, the implementation process will also include testing and evaluation to examine the progress of the program in achieving its objectives.

Mitigation and Preparedness:

The emergency management program incorporates mitigation and preparedness for any disaster or emergency through ensuring that the hotel has appropriate tools to help mitigate and prepare for any incidents. One of the major ways of ensuring mitigation and preparedness for any disaster/emergency is through insuring against property risk and investing in long-term well-being of the community. The property risk insurance will be based on the local community requirements for an insurable risk. The second way towards preparedness and mitigation is through establishing necessary measures to lessen risks based on the local requirements of the local emergency preparedness agency. For instance, the hotel will ensure that the required materials are established to prevent an emergency like fire.

Response and Recovery:

The hotel will establish an emergency response department to be headed by the manager of the hotel. All employees will be required to assemble at a designated location during an emergency and commence rescue and recovery initiatives after gathering in the designated place. Response and recovery initiatives during an emergency or disaster will be carried out in collaboration with the local emergency department. In addition to identifying a specific location for assembly during an emergency, the hotel will also provide training and information to all employees regarding how to respond to different kinds of disasters or emergencies. The training will be carried out periodically in order to ensure that employees are fully equipped with the necessary procedures for responding to an emergency/disaster.