The phrase “emergency response plan” can evoke the image of thousands of pages filled with technical jargon collecting dust in a filing cabinet in a government office, not getting updated for years at a time.
That’s not the situation for casinos which manage their emergency plans as part of a product offering from Cennix, a compliance management and monitoring repository software-solution company.
Cennix has a cloud-based application for companies to centralize their compliance requirements for both emergency plans and other regulations. Examples include OHSA requirements, policies on sexual harassment, and food safety handling procedures.
Many Nevada casinos have been updating their response plans, perhaps for the first time in years, in the wake of the October 1 mass shooting on the Strip that killed 58 and injured more than 500. There will certainly be more stringent enforcement of the requirement that hotels and casinos submit an up-to-date emergency response plan to the state.
“Emergency response plans were on the back burner for casinos for a very long time, and they have suddenly moved to the top of their priorities,” said Cennix CEO Rob Willis. “An emergency response plan is a hefty task to take on, so management at hotel casinos are left trying to figure out how to coordinate such a project.”
Emergency response plans include interior and exterior maps of the property, contact information for the emergency response coordinator, directions to find emergency response equipment, location of command posts, information on public safety or health hazards at the casino, and the evacuation plan and information on access routes.
Such plans require a lot of decisions and designations, and casinos sometimes feel that they almost need to create an entire department just to get a plan into place. Then, once all of the information is compiled, there has to be a method for making it accessible and manageable.
Strong organization is the key to an effective emergency response plan, which can be challenging. That’s why many casinos are turning to automated compliance software to handle this process, providing a framework to create and maintain emergency response plans.
Cennix works by allowing administrators the ability to delegate and distribute the task of creating the plan, providing management with oversight, and ultimately producing a cohesive document to submit to the state.
The Cennix framework include safeguards that alert users to any element of the plan that is missing or out of date. That ensures casinos have a plan with all the necessary elements to be in compliance with state law.
It sends an email to the person responsible and lets them know the document is potentially outdated and needs to be reviewed. If nothing has changed, it’s republished. In the old process, with the plan residing in physical file folders, if someone changed jobs or a casino changed its management structure, there might be nobody assigned to look at it and update one or more parts of a plan.
Up-to-date plans can help improve response times, make evacuations more efficient, and foster better communication with first responders. They help mitigate confusion and provide clarity if there’s a need for evacuation because of hazardous chemicals or fire.
Police can know immediately who belongs in the building and who doesn’t. They can also get an detailed look at the layout of the building and its perimeters without ever stepping foot inside, giving them the ability to zero in on any problems.
With a plan that is hosted by Cennix, the plan is available to law enforcement, who would get updated documents such as drawings and employee lists. Cennix is willing to host a casino’s emergency response plan without charge.
It’s hard for many to see the value in a document that is used only on rare occasions, if ever. However, given recent terrorist attacks and the potential for major natural disasters, experts say that a good plan is critical in the unlikely event that an emergency does occur.
