Communication Issues in the Workplace.
Issues in Bureaucratic Structures: Economic Orientation Meets Political Orientation.
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Communication Issues in the Workplace.
As the toxic gas monitoring alarm sounded abruptly, the security department at General Semiconductor initiated the emergency response plan. This was an annual exercise to perform the documented procedures to ensure the responses were adequate in the event the circumstances were a real event. The initiated event was called an emergency Response Technician (ERT) response plan. The emergency response technicians were alerted via a pager system and were to immediately report to the basement to receive orders from the incident commander. In these types of emergency response drills, the incident commander forms a hierarchy to determine the chain of command and pathways for communication.
This incident proved to be much larger and potentially more dangerous than initially thought, and for this reason the local fire department was notified. When they arrived, the engine company reported to the command center on the second floor, and the rescue company reported to the basement. As two emergency response technicians were preparing themselves with self-contained breathing apparatus machines and chemical resistant suits, a backup team was preparing as well. The protected emergency response technicians entered the hot zone where they located the victim and started the removal and decontamination process. As the procedure was followed, the emergency response technicians asked the rescue company for their assistance on the roof after decontamination had occurred. The rescue team refused as they had not been given proper clearance from their superiors. Additionally, the team had no way of differentiating the emergency response technicians from regular employees. The emergency response technicians returned to the roof to inform the decontamination officer of the situation and at that time, the officer initiated a call to the incident commander.
