Hospitality Focus on Safety: Emergency Procedures
Definition:
Emergency Procedures are the company guidelines on how to handles any reasonably foreseeable threat at your place of business, as outlined in the property’s Emergency Binder .
The Emergency Binder should consist of the following:
- Emergency Contact List:
verified and updated
- Emergency Shut Off locations
for Electricity, Gas and Water
- Procedures required by the
company for emergency situations
- Guidelines for Crisis
Communication
- Documentation forms for each
possible emergency situation
Prevention:
- Every New Hire should be required to read the Emergency Binder and sign a form acknowledging that they have read it and are aware of its location.
- All staff members should be required to re-read the Emergency Binder one time a year and sign a form acknowledging that they have read it and are aware of its location.
- The hotel safety designee, with the supervision of the General Manager should ensure that the Emergency Contact Information is up to date at all times.
- The hotel safety designee, with the supervision of the General Manager, should ensure that the most recent company version is placed in every copy of the Emergency Binder.
- A complete and updated Emergency Binder should be kept at the front desk.
- If copies of this are stored in other locations at the hotel, it is the responsibility of the safety designee, and General Manager, to ensure that all copies are updated regularly and at the same time.
- Every staff member must know where the Emergency Binder(s) is (are) located.
In the event of an Emergency Situation at your hotel:
- Clear and correct communication during and after an emergency is key to minimizing the damage to your staff, your hotel and your guests.
- Be honest and clear with every person involved in the emergency situation.
- Emergency situations should not be discussed, in any way, with any persons, including media persons, who are not directly affected or involved in helping with the emergency.
- As time permits, and within 24 hours, all corresponding documentation must be completed. Forms for each emergency situation should be found in the Emergency Binder.
- As time permits, and within 24 hours, every emergency situation must be reported to the corporate office and to the property’s risk management insurance carrier, regardless of whether a claim is determined to be immediately necessary.
- If you feel you may have incurred an injury of any kind, or feel emotionally upset in any way, report it immediately to your supervisor.
- Be very clear on whether you require immediate medical attention, imminent medical attention or request additional accommodations to prevent injury in the future.
- Inform the staff of the incident and make corrections to procedures or errors to ensure that this incident does recur.
Reminders:
- Regular, monthly safety reviews and inspections are key to keeping your hotel safe.
- Keep your management informed of any possible threats or breaches in safety protocols.
- Make sure the staff is educated and reminded of all emergency procedures.
June McCreight
June McCreight began her career in the hospitality industry as a housekeeper in 1996. In the years since, she has risen through the ranks, learning maintenance, front office, sales and revenue management, property management and district management, bench management and opening team management. She has trained hundreds of hoteliers and won many awards for her management successes. In 2011, June wrote and published, The Strangers in My Beds, a fictional novel based strictly on the strange events of her career in hotels. In 2014, June partnered with her father, a very accomplished software architect, and opened the business, Coba Enterprise Management, LLC with a very unique and specialized CMMS (Computer Maintenance Management System) software for hotels.
