Definitions
Emergency: Several definitions of an emergency exist. In general, an emergency is defined as a serious, unexpected and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action. The World Bank General Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines define an emergency as “an unplanned event where a site loses control of a situation that may result in risks to human health, property, or the environment, either within the facility or in the local community”. UN defines an emergency as “an event that will produce or exacerbate injury to people and/or damage to property unless immediate intervention occurs. A threatening condition that requires urgent action.”
Functional exercise: A simulated exercise with no actions in the field. The dominant feature of this exercise is the actual performance of some or all of the actions that would be required of participants in an actual emergency, except those activities that are performed at the scene of an accident. The purpose is to test planning and response capabilities of personnel and systems without actually deploying response equipment or resources; i.e. without any ‘boots on the ground’. A functional exercise involves co-ordination between the company and external entities.
Field exercise: A field exercise involves response operations conducted during a simulated emergency. The purpose of a field exercise is to rigorously test emergency capabilities of the total response system. Response equipment is deployed, realistic scenarios are used, medical personnel and equipment including operating rooms are included, etc. Field exercises involve all or most of the emergency-response functions, as well as community groups and government agencies. A field exercise is a multi-party, multi-jurisdictional, multi-disciplinary exercise, with ‘boots on the ground’ response. Field exercises may attract media attention.
Drill: A drill is a type of field exercise. A drill is a co-ordinated, supervised activity usually employed to test a single, specific operation or function within a single entity (e.g. a fire department conducts a decontamination drill).
Emergency Preparedness Plan (EPP): Related to external preparation for emergencies. Contains emergency planning communication protocols with external stakeholders.
Emergency Response Plan (ERP): Related to Anglo American’s on-site preparation for emergencies. Contains key emergency roles and responsibilities of staff on site.
Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan (EPRP): An integrated plan that includes all aspects related to both Anglo American’s on-site preparation as well as preparation with external stakeholders. Internally, these two elements may be captured as two separate plans: an , for the on-site plan, and the , for external stakeholders. While some sites may find it beneficial to keep the and the as two separate documents, for the purposes of the Social Way both aspects must be co-ordinated in order to manage the impact of emergencies on local communities.
Site-induced emergency: An emergency caused by site activities or stemming from a technical failure at site.
Relevant international standards
For emergency preparedness and response planning, the Performance Standards, the World Bank General Environmental, Health and Safety (EHS) Guidelines, and the World Bank Guidelines for Mining are all relevant and applicable.
Performance Standards 1 and 4 require all sites to establish and maintain an emergency preparedness and response system so that the company is able to respond to emergency situations associated with its site(s) to prevent and mitigate harm to workers, local communities, and/or the environment. Emergency preparedness and response plans and activities should be documented and based on the risks to community health and safety identified during the risk and impact identification process. The Performance Standards and the World Bank Guidelines provide an overview of the information an Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan should contain. This includes: guidance on developing emergency plans in collaboration and consultation with potentially affected communities, governments, and other stakeholders; and requires training programmes and practice exercises to be conducted at least annually to test equipment, plans, protocols and systems to ensure an adequate level of emergency preparedness.
The Performance Standards require that appropriate information about the nature and extent of environmental and human health effects that may result from emergencies at the site or caused by site-related activities is provided to potentially affected communities, relevant government agencies, emergency services, and other relevant parties. In addition, the Performance Standards state that information campaigns should describe appropriate behaviour and safety measures in the event of an emergency. Affected community and other stakeholders should be included in regular training exercises to familiarise them with proper procedures in the event of an emergency that may have an impact on them.
The Emergency Response section of the World Bank Guidelines for Mining refers to the process, which sets out a 10-step process required for the development of an integrated and functional emergency response plan involving local communities, governments, emergency responders, and others.
Lifecycle planning
Emergency Preparedness and Response planning is applicable to any phase of an asset lifecycle.