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Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Letting employees leave during severe weather

Date: Dec 14, 2021 21:08 UTC

Author: pzavon**At_Symbol_Here**ROCHESTER.RR.COM

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Author: Kristi Ohr <kohr**At_Symbol_Here**UMASS.EDU>

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From: Frankie Wood-Black <fwoodblack90**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>

Subject: Re: [DCHAS-L] Letting employees leave during severe weather

Date: Dec 14, 2021 21:39 UTC

Reply-To: ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety

In-Reply-To: Re: [DCHAS-L] Letting employees leave during severe weather

Demystify: 

There is the question of "letting them leave" i.e. the facility or "letting them leave" from their workstation towards a safe zone or shelter. Never sure what it means - when someone texts "they won't let us leave" - is it one or the other?

I am curious to see how this is going to work out - 1) was there adequate warning inside the facilities? 2) are the safe places close enough to be reached? and 3) did employees know where to go?

Been in Tornado alley much too long - not to know where to go in the event of a storm - but the trick is getting enough forewarning to get there.


Frankie Wood-Black, Ph.D., REM, MBA
ACS Fellow, AAAS Fellow
Principal - Sophic Pursuits
NOTE - ADDRESS CHANGE - Mailing Address - PO Box 433, Tonkawa, OK 74653

580-761-3703


On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 2:59 PM Jeffrey Lewin <jclewin**At_Symbol_Here**mtu.edu> wrote:
A quick read of the OSHA guidance pages did not suggest allowing employees to leave during a tornado warning. Most of it addresses the planning process before a weather emergency happens.

Tornado Preparedness and Response

More Tornado Preparedness and Response

The CFR referenced in the above links

Jeff



On Tue, Dec 14, 2021 at 3:24 PM Brady Arnold <barnold**At_Symbol_Here**xenotechllc.com> wrote:

Hi All,

I would like to get your opinion on a recurring theme in these articles about the tornadoes.

Both the story about the candle factory and the one about Amazon mention not letting employees leave during the tornado.

It's being reported as if it=E2=80™s a bad thing, but we don't let people leave while we're under a tornado warning either. They are a lot safer in our building than driving around in their cars.

Is there some kind of liability thing with letting them leave when it may put them in greater danger?

While I don't think threatening to fire them is the way to go, they should know that they do not have permission to leave.

I'd appreciate your insight.

Thank you,

-Brady

Brady P. Arnold, ASP

EHS Officer

Sekisui XenoTech

913-227-7143