DOE/EH-0123 --- Issue No. 89-07 --- 12/89

Emergency Assistance Telephone Procedures

A potentially dangerous situation arose recently when an employee at a DOE facility smelled smoke and wanting to report a possible fire, discovered he did not have, nor could he find, the emergency number to call.

A small fire was smoldering in a computer printer. The employee who identified the smoke notified his supervisor, and together they searched for the source of the smoke. Unable to discern the source of the smoke, they attempted to call the fire department. However, no emergency phone numbers were posted on, or near the phone. The fire department number was supposed to have been on a sticker on the phone. They called the operator, then dialed the number that was given and received no answer. After making another call to the operator, they were connected with the Warning Communications Center (WCC) which immediately summoned the fire department.

Initial employee training at this facility includes a section on emergency sirens and phone numbers. However, no written material is given concerning phone numbers.

Corrective Actions

1. Phone stickers with correct emergency numbers were distributed.

2. A posting that specified a three step procedure for reporting fires was issued as follows.
   IN THE EVENT OF AN EMERGENCY, TAKE THE FOLLOWING ACTIONS:

   A. Call Warning Communications.

   B. Call or report to the Guard Desk and stand by to provide information and assistance.

   C. Notify your immediate supervisor.

3. Emergency Action personnel conducted staff meetings to distribute the telephone stickers and respond to questions or concerns with respect to emergency procedures.

4. Posters displaying the sticker information were placed throughout the facility.

5. A quarterly Safety Note is being prepared that will include the names of Emergency Action Team members, their functions, physical locations, telephone numbers and photographs. Future Safety Notes will remind employees of emergency action procedures and appropriate actions.

Recommendations

Due to the potentially severe health and safety consequences of a delay in reporting an emergency, it is recommended that all phones have emergency numbers displayed prominently. Bold print and/or red lettering of the numbers is desirable to facilitate correct dialing under stress. For a large site where different areas report to different fire departments, each area must have site specific numbers readily visible for the appropriate emergency department.

Initial employee training needs to include not only a discussion of emergency reporting procedures, but also written hand-outs/cards with the emergency numbers listed. This is an additional support mechanism to assist in ensuring that these numbers are readily and easily available. Furthermore, telephone operators at DOE sites need to be educated to connect any caller reporting a fire directly to the WCC. When callers ask a public telephone operator for an emergency number, such as for the fire department, the operator does not expect the caller to take down the number, hang up the telephone, then make a second call to report the emergency. A public telephone operator connects callers directly to the fire department. Finally, ongoing training and frequent reminders of employee and line management responsibilities and appropriate actions during an emergency situation are also desirable.