Newsfeed_Spring 2017

HSE corner - Safety
during unexpected
natural disasters
By: Rob Dhillon
The flight crew hard at work.
delay between asking a question and getting an
answer,” he says. “The international work is way more
challenging, but there’s a reward and a real sense of
accomplishment when it all works out.”
Dan agrees that the work can be complicated to pull
off. “In Canada, you don’t have to have permits to fly
any specific path; in Ethiopia, the Information Network
Security Agency must approve all flight paths,” says
Dan. Because of all these hurdles, Ormat, our client,
has been very happy with our team’s work. “Just the
fact that we could carry the project out impressed them,
because it’s certainly not an easy project,” he says.
Both Steve and Derek were happy to return home after
such an intensive project, but Derek misses one thing
in particular: the coffee. “The coffee was excellent,” he
says enthusiastically.
Our Tampa Bay office recently had a near miss, as it
was in the direct path of Hurricane Irma. Luckily, its
path changed at the last minute, and though the area
was still severely impacted, all our employees were
accounted for. This event as well as the wildfires
we’ve been experiencing in Western Canada are an
opportunity to examine our protocols and ensure we
are prepared for future emergencies.
Staying safe at home and work is about planning.
We develop plans to prevent loss from occurring.
With natural disasters and other similar emergencies,
we plan and prepare for them the best we can and
execute our plans before, during, and after the event.
Actively planning can mean the difference between
life and death.
I encourage all employees to take a moment at home
and at work to think about how prepared you are if
an emergency occurred tomorrow. Are you prepared
to survive days without access to water, communication
networks, and potentially emergency first
responders? Could you go weeks without electricity?
If you had to quickly grab everything you need and
evacuate on very short notice, would you be ready?
Do you know the Emergency Response Plan at your
office? Take the time to answer these questions,
know the potential emergencies locally, and have a
plan in place. Better to prepare than to regret.
MCSL Quarterly Newsletter Fall Issue 2017
Page 5