march2021 - 15

INDUSTRY EXPERT
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Other resources for help with your ERP
development are the internet or third-party
vendors such as the company I work for,
which specialize in providing safety products like an ERP manual template.
Your ERP template should include sections that will answer the questions who,
what, when, where and how:
* What will each person's roles and responsibilities be?
* Who in your organization will have ERP
responsibilities?
* When will the ERP be activated and when
will participants begin their roles and
responsibilities?
* Where will the ERP be kept and where
will the command center be?
* How will each person carry out his or her
roles and responsibilities?
To help answer the questions, take time to
understand the hazards faced by your operation. Determine how extensive of a response
will be needed for the hazards identified.
Once you have this information, you can
better answer each question.
With these five questions answered, you
are well on your way to having a working
ERP. One example of how you can organize
your ERP might be:
* Overview
* Functional Areas
* Hazard Specific Sections
* Special Weather Contingencies
* ERP Checklists
At this point the goal is to not overcomplicate things. Think through each question
and provide common sense answers. Do not
put too many responsibilities on one individual. When possible, it is recommended
to have a back-up for each primary person
in the event of sickness or vacation.
It is usually advisable to survey your work
group to see if anyone possesses any unique
skills that can help during an emergency.
For example, you may have workers who are
already trained in emergency response. You
may also have people trained as volunteer
firemen, reserve police officers or in first
aid. The idea is to know your work group's
strengths and capitalize on that experience
during an emergency.
Knowing who to reach out to and how
to reach them is another critical part of an
ERP. You do not need to be searching for the

number to the local hazmat response team
during a hazmat incident. Take the time to
research and compile your contact list ahead
of time. Include a contact list of all the key
emergency responders as an appendix to
your ERP. This will make it easier to update
should names and numbers change.
From a basic standpoint, you will need
someone to coordinate the overall emergency
response such as an ERP team leader. This
position will usually be filled by someone
in a senior management position and will
oversee the Emergency Operations Center
(EOC). An administrative person is helpful
to document the response along the way.
The other positions will be determined by
the extent of the emergency and the availability of personnel.
Once you have the ERP template you
want to use, conduct a gap analysis for the
purposes of determining what existing policies and procedures you may already have
in place to go into your ERP. After the gap
analysis, you will then know what other
policies and procedures need developing.
As mentioned previously, an effective ERP
will answer the questions who, what, when,
where and how.
Now that you have an ERP crafted, your
work is just beginning.
To have an effective ERP, you must first
train everyone in how to use it. A training
schedule will need to be created and invitations sent out. It is critical that no one is
skipped and that all get their initial training
completed in a timely manner. The focus
must be on each person's role and his or her
responsibilities.
As most of us in aviation should already
know, checklists are an important tool to
help us perform critical tasks safely. The
pre-flight checklist that a private pilot uses
before taking off is a prime example. Experience has shown that some accidents and
incidents can be attributed to the pilot not
performing the pre-flight check.

Depending on the size of an organization,
you may choose to issue a hard copy of your
ERP to each employee. For larger organizations, an electronic copy in a location with
24/7 access might suffice. You must make
sure however, that everyone knows how to
access the ERP at a moment's notice.
A critical final piece in your ERP is to
plan regular exercises of it.
You can perform a scaled down version
known as a " table-top " exercise. This is
when you gather all the key players around a
conference room table and walk through an
emergency response. This will help everyone
get used to their roles and responsibilities
much quicker.
On a less frequent but a regular basis, it is
advisable to hold a full-scale exercise.
This involves advanced planning to
determine the scenario you will use. You
will activate the EOC and your call list. Keep
it as realistic as possible but ensure that the
participants are told it is an exercise and not
real world.
Always plan on a debriefing at the end of
any exercise. This will be a time to gather
in a conference room and go over how your
team performed. You will determine any
weak spots and focus on them in future
training. Take all lessons learned and share
with your team to help improve the response
the next time.
You will benefit in several ways once
you have an effective ERP in place. First,
you will be better prepared to handle an
emergency if one occurs. Second, you will
also have peace of mind knowing that you
have a plan in place. If you do not have an
ERP, I again encourage you to put one in
place immediately. If you do have an ERP,
ensure everyone is properly trained on it and
exercise it on a regular basis.
" Remember: when disaster strikes, the
time to prepare has passed. " Being prepared
to the extent possible to handle emergencies
must be an immediate goal.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Todd Thomas is senior safety manager at Baldwin Aviation Safety and Compliance.
With more than 20 years of experience in the U.S. Part 121 Air Carrier industry, he
has served in the FAA-required Part 119 position of director of safety for four U.S.
Part 121 Supplemental Air Carriers, three of which were passenger carriers and one
an all-cargo carrier. He is a Veteran of the U.S. Air Force, achieving the rank of Sgt.
before his Honorable Discharge and holds a Private Pilot's license.

MARCH 2021

AviationPros.com

15
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