Emergency Preparedness for Libraries. Julie Todaro
Outline what worker issues may occur following alarms sounding concerning untoward effects that alarms may have (nausea, migraines, passing out, temporary vision loss, seizures, etc.).
• Identify what behaviors workers need to watch for/recognize in users affected by alarms to assist those users following alarms.
• Maintain lists of situations where managers know that the institution will be notified in advance of alarms sounding (e.g., safety weeks) for appropriate signage to be posted in advance; emails can be sent out in advance; and, as needed, special consideration will be taken for workers who identify that they may or will be affected adversely.
• Seek external training—as appropriate—for actions that require or appear to need unique training such as safely using devices to transport disabled patrons up or down stairs.
Lights and Lighting in Public or Private Spaces
There are a variety of lights and lighting in public spaces and, while most environments seek environmentally friendly lighting, any one of several things can occur unexpectedly with contemporary lighting, including the following:
• Lights on timers going off leaving workers in the dark
• Lights on timers going off leaving users in the dark
• Emergency lighting (automatic illuminating when standard lighting has shut off) not going on
• Emergency lighting (automatic illuminating when standard lighting has shut off) flickering or strobing either during or post emergency event
• Standard lights flickering or strobing
• Lighting in outdoors/parking areas either not illuminating or shutting off
Any one of these occurrences can create unsafe conditions for workers or users staying in spaces or moving within or exiting spaces.
Concerns for lighting and handling lighting issues should include these events during daylight as well as nighttime. And the absence of lighting or difficulties with lighting:
• Provides opportunities for negative and even illegal behaviors
• Causes the obvious concerns for fear of the dark
• Can create situations where workers are only minimally ready considering that furniture moves around/is not fixed in public spaces
• Can cause illness or conditions in some and a need to recover with medication, with relaxation techniques, or in a location other than their own workplace—to name just a few resulting effects.
There should be concern for lighting built into alarm/security services where lighting can—when not working properly—compound problems for workers and users. Just as with alarms, we never can and shouldn’t get complacent about lighting problems or issues.
Recommended behaviors for lighting issues in workplaces include the basic recommendation that emergency process owners should include lights and lighting (tied or not tied to alarm systems) as part of their roles and responsibilities. Additional recommendations include the following:
• Identify process owner roles and responsibilities for lighting (by floor, by area, etc.)
• Identify and purchase supporting items such as:
• Flashlights and hardhats with lights to assist in carrying out roles and responsibilities
• Flashlights or lighting wands for users needing assistance in moving around in or out of spaces
• Write scripts for workers to use when informing workers and staff of actions needed and determined by lighting issues.
• Design and regularly practice drills for behaviors that take place when emergency lighting is illuminated.
• Capture images of lighting that is not as bright as it should be, that is, if lights are flickering, or strobing or dimming, and so on, so that new workers can see what lighting that is not up to standard looks like prior to experiencing.
• Include in all lighting information any nuances such as “if lightings strobe . . .” or “dim” and the subsequent expected behaviors.
• Outline roles and responsibilities for managers with regard to any workers who may be blind or with vision loss who need to be alerted of lighting nuances or issues.
• Outline what worker issues may occur immediately concerning untoward effects that aberrant lighting may cause (passing out, temporary vision loss, seizures, etc.).
• Identify what behaviors workers need to watch for/recognize in users affected by lighting during lighting events.
• Outline what worker issues may occur following lighting events (nausea, migraines, passing out, temporary vision loss, seizures, etc.).
• Identify what behaviors workers need to watch for/recognize in users affected by aberrant lighting.
• Maintain lists of situations where managers know that the institution will be notified in advance of changes in lighting (e.g., safety weeks) for appropriate signage to be posted in advance; emails to be sent out in advance; and, as needed, special consideration will be taken for workers who identify they may or will be affected adversely by lighting aberrations.
• Seek external training—as appropriate—for actions that require or even might need unique training such as using safety evacuation or transport devices or using unique lighting (e.g., high-powered or unique colors or signaling flashlights) that must be used to transport disabled patrons up or down stairs or guide users—of all abilities—to safety.
Emergency Personnel are Summoned by the Institution or by Others Such As Users and Onlookers, or Visit of Their Accord
Emergency personnel visiting workspaces and service areas occurs more frequently in today’s public spaces as more events appear to be happening and as more individuals use social communication techniques which either summon assistance or identify situations where emergency personnel chose to arrive to assist. As always, care must be taken as workers are often instructed (when considering emergency personnel summoned for a wide variety of events) not to provide diagnostic or emergency health assistance to those having problems, because of safety, risk, and liability issues for the institution, workers, the individuals involved and other users in the area. The reality is, however, that
• many people do not want emergency workers to be summoned due to expenses incurred;
• many people do not want emergency workers to be summoned due to the nature of a status or because of their legal/criminal standing; and
• many workers are not aware of worker (and certainly not user) conditions due to Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) and—in the absence in knowing about conditions or situations—the default setting may be to call emergency personnel.
Note: This monograph content will not include information about those library and information organizations that have chosen to allow their workers to administer treatments to combat opioid issues. Instead, readers may reach out to their umbrella institution for legal information. Prior to reaching out, readers should inform themselves by consulting resources from the profession. (E.g., the New York State Library has extensive information including training materials and guidelines; OCLC provides content on and links to extensive materials including public library responses for case studies; and the American Library Association has information sheets which link to national resources including Center for Disease Control information.)
Recommended behaviors for calling emergency personnel always include managers establishing relationships with emergency personnel who support institutions or communities for the exchange of staffing levels, typical issues encountered by all entities, tips and techniques for handling, preferred methods of communication, code words for communicating under duress, typical/expectations of response times, tours of facilities to identify spaces, introductions of workers, and frequencies of emergency