Risk Assessment and Salvage Guide

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1.0 Introduction

The purpose of this guide is to provide some general guidelines for drawing up a risk assessment and salvage plan for your institution. We hope that it will be useful in helping you formulate your emergency plan, as well as providing you with access to further information through links and an attached bibliography.

The objectives of the plan are to have a written set of pre-determined actions which should identify and eliminate, or at least minimise, potential hazards and to provide response and salvage instructions. It should be clear, concise and comprehensive. It should provide step-by-step instructions while allowing room for improvisation depending on the manifestation of the emergency.

In the immediate aftermath of an emergency the presence of a trained team following a predetermined course of action will significantly reduce the amount of time lost and therefore increase the possibility of salvaging the maximum amount of material. The plan should contain a number of sections, for example:

• RISK ASSESSMENT / PREVENTION
• PREPAREDNESS
• RESPONSE
• SALVAGE
• ASSESSMENT

Finally, it is important that your plan be supported by the senior management of your institution. If the formulation and implementation of the plan does not have senior management support it will lack the authority and financial support necessary for the plan to be successful.