How to Protect Your Facilities from the Unexpected

Key questions for EM managers to prepare for vehicle crashes and other traffic incidents

A big part of emergency preparedness is getting ready for incidents that you hope you never see.

The tragic vehicle attack in New Orleans on New Year’s Day is a stark reminder that our communities and our facilities are vulnerable to similar incidents—whether they’re intentional or unintentional.

We have seen other recent examples at hospitals in Pennsylvania, Texas, and Maryland, where crashing vehicles resulted in serious injuries and damage to facilities that forced patients to be relocated.

Intentional acts clearly pose a significant level of danger, but we must be prepared for accidents, as well. Ask any emergency room nurse how often they see a patient experiencing chest pain, or shortness of breath, or severe bleeding, or dizziness pull up to their entrance when they were in a compromised, impaired, or disoriented condition.

The flow of traffic around health care facilities and entrances is a perpetual necessity. Everything from emergency department visits, inpatient admissions, outpatient visits, the delivery of goods and supplies, contractors, visitors, and much more utilize roadways, driveways, and parking spots near buildings and entry points, so the need for protective measures is high.

Here are a few key questions you should consider:

1. Do vehicles have an unrestricted pathway to an entrance or is there a series of landscaped features creating obstacles or a serpentine approach?
2. Are larger vehicles like delivery trucks and medical gas delivery trucks arriving at a secure entrance further from the public? These larger vehicles can pose a greater risk toward not only damaging a structure, but they can also create a larger amount of “flying debris” like brick, stone, and metal which can be lethal projectiles.
3. Have traffic patterns or entry point usage changed over time?
4. Is an older entrance now seeing a higher volume of people, and have protective measures been taking to account for the change?
5. Is vital equipment housed behind a wall where external traffic is high?
6. Is portable, external equipment like trailer-mounted oxygen tanks, generators, mobile MRI/imaging protected? 

To help prevent or minimize these incidents:

• Consider speed bumps, rerouting traffic, or limiting parking.
• Utilize security bollards, pillars, or other anti-ram barriers.
• Consider using decorative landscaping features like boulders, concrete flower or “security planters” as a defensive measure.

We cannot know when our facility will face an emergency, but asking these questions and taking these preventive measures can help make sure you’ve done everything you can to prepare. For additional information, contact Matthew Linse, HAP manager, emergency management.

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