Emergency Response, Safety, and Incident Procedures
Priorities
Life safety first, then property, then environment. In any emergency: alert (call 911, then the client contact), protect people, and preserve the scene for responders. You are not required to act beyond your training; heroics that create a second victim are a failure.
Fire. Use RACE - Rescue anyone in immediate danger, Alarm, Contain by closing doors, Evacuate or Extinguish. Fight only a small fire with the correct extinguisher, keeping an exit at your back; PASS = Pull, Aim, Squeeze, Sweep. Never use elevators. Know two exits and the assembly point.
Medical. Get consent if the person is conscious; consent is implied if they are not. Do not move an injured person unless there is immediate danger from fire, traffic, or violence. Send for the AED early and hand off to EMS. New Jersey's Good Samaritan protections cover reasonable emergency care, not reckless care.
Violence and active threats. Run, Hide, Fight - in that order. Do not confront an armed person unless there is no alternative and lives are at stake.
Bomb threats, suspicious packages, hazmat. Do not touch. Do not transmit on a radio near a suspected device. Isolate, evacuate, and call police.
Afterward. Secure the scene, keep a time log of your actions, identify witnesses, and complete your report before end of shift.
Traps
Evacuating through heavy smoke you have not checked; moving a fallen person "to be helpful"; silencing an alarm because it is "probably false"; letting bystanders contaminate a scene before police arrive.
Rule of thumb
Alert, contain, evacuate, document - in that order.