Disaster Preparedness, awareness and

Drills in Schools

Submitted By: Amb Steve Mbugua

Dir; Makinika Afrika Intl

Following the several fire incidents witnessed in our Kenya schools with the latest one at

StephJoy Boys secondary school, there is a great need to have regular fire drills in our learning

institutions probably twice an year.

Drills are a first and important step in keeping schools safe and secure. They are filled with

teachable moments and they are as important to schools as reading, writing and arithmetic. The

purpose of drills is to save lives and property. An Emergency Operations Plan (EOP) is only as

good as the ability of students, faculty and staff to execute it. Following the established plan

requires a quick but careful assessment of the situation and practiced decisions as to the best

course of action.

When everyone at the school/campus regularly practices the plan, school personnel are more

confident in making decisions to effectively and efficiently manage an emergency or major

event. With good training and practice, everyone involved will be better able to react

appropriately to emergency events.

The safety and security of students and staff depends upon everyone knowing, to the extent

possible, what to do when an actual incident occurs. Minutes or even seconds often can make a

critical difference in saving lives. Conducting drills strengthens schools as learning organizations

by empowering and creating a culture of preparedness. Drills allow administrators, staff and

students to better prevent, mitigate, prepare for and recover from a variety of incidents.

Think back to when you were a kid in school. Do you remember the various hazard drills you

had to practice? Depending on where you lived were there fire drills, tornado drills, earthquake

drills, intruder drills, explosion drills, road accident drills? etc. The idea is that if such an incident

were to happen, everyone would know what to do without thinking about it. They would just act.

Why is it that once we get into the working world, it seems these drills go by the wayside?

Whether you are just in an office building where you could be threatened by fire or terrorism, or

a shop where there could be industrial accidents like chemical spills, why is it we don‟t always

think to conduct these same „worst case‟ scenario drills?

It‟s time to reinstate the emergency drill. But this will not be just any emergency drill. All

businesses are different, and that means you will have specific needs that have to be met. Think

about what needs to be met in your workplace in an emergency.

Schools and Students Safety

All schools should have health and safety guidelines and every student should be taken through

the rules during orientation. Regular drills and sensitization on the potential hazards and

incidents should be done to ensure that the students, teachers, staff and other stakeholders knows

what to do incase of an emergency.

Possible Threats

In addition to the fire and nature-related threats already mentioned, are there any specific threats

that may impact your workplace (i.e. radiation leaks, chemical spills, explosions from

combustibles). If there are, you need to train your personnel on how to deal with these situations

were they to arise.

Employee Safety

It is important to make sure your employees know where they need to go, and how to get there,

to be safe in an emergency situation.

Machine Shutdown

If you have a number of machines operating in your building, and some need to be monitored or

assisted while running so they don‟t burn up or cause more problems, you need a shut-down

procedure that can be followed quickly while still getting your employees to safety in an

emergency situation.

Materials Safety

If your workplace has a number of chemicals or other hazardous materials in use, it is vital that

you have measures in place to attempt to secure these materials as an evacuation or other

emergency operation is underway. Many of these types of companies have special rooms where

the chemicals are kept which can be shut and sealed off as an evacuation is happening.

You should plan regular drills with your employees to make sure they know what to do, when to

do it, and how to do it in case of an emergency. While you may not want to regularly close down

all your operations for a drill, you can go department by department, and make the employees do

a mock incident, and monitor their reactions, noting any mistakes they make in the process.

While it may seem like an inconvenience, the more prepared your company is for the worst the

better chance you will be able to safely shut down operations and get everyone out alive and well

if the worst were to happen.

Creating awareness though emergency drills, and, safety sensitization will be the key in disaster

preparedness and mitigation and will create a culture of resilience. All people should have an

idea of what to do incase there is an incident like fire, shooting, collapsed building, assault, road

accident etc. From my 12 years experience as a volunteer emergency responder, most of the

people do not have an idea of what to do incase of an incident and they end up risking their lives,

causing more harm to the casualties or worsening the situation.

Action plans derived from drills allow schools to translate lessons learned and best practices into

specific corrective steps and measures to continually improve the safety and security of schools.

I recommend that emergency drills be made mandatory for schools and start making drills a way

of life in all institutions!

There is also a need to have trained Community Emergency Response Teams(CERT) in every

sub county to work with the safety stakeholders and the nyumba kumi leaders.

“Conducting drills strengthens schools as learning organizations by empowering and creating a

culture of preparedness.”

If you are not safety conscious you may become unconscious, lose life or

properties. Safety starts with me, you, all of us.