[Nyagdu] FW: [GDF-TALK] Emergency Evacuation for employees with service animals

Mon Oct 7 13:50:00 UTC 2013

From: cheryl echevarria [mailto:cherylandmaxx at hotmail.com] 
Sent: Monday, October 07, 2013 9:35 AM
To: Julie Phillipson; Margo Downey
Subject: FW: [GDF-TALK] Emergency Evacuation for employees with service
animals

Great seeing both of you this weekend. Jenine Stanley posted this on GDF
Talk list, this morning.

Just thought of interest. Take care. 

Disabled Entrepreneur of the Year 2012 of NY State
Leading the Way in Independent Travel!

Cheryl Echevarria, Owner
www.echevarriatravel.com
631-456-5394
reservations at echevarriatravel.com

Your old car keys can be the keys to literacy for a blind child.  Donate
your unwanted vehicle to us by clicking www.nfb.org/vehicledonations or call
855-659-9314.

Echevarria Travel has partnered with Braille Smith. www.braillesmith.com for
all her braille needs.  Gail Smith is the Secretary of the NFB of Alabama

  _____  

To: GDF-TALK at yahoogroups.com
From: Jenine at guidedog.org
Date: Mon, 7 Oct 2013 13:26:51 +0000
Subject: [GDF-TALK] Emergency Evacuation for employees with service animals

Aiding Individuals with Service Animals During an Emergency
U.S. Department of Labor -- Office of Disability Employment Policy 
Source: http://www.dol.gov/odep/pubs/ep/serviceanimals.htm

Workplace emergency preparedness plans (or Occupancy Emergency Plans) need
to address provisions for employees with disabilities (e.g., persons with
hearing, 
sight or mobility impairments etc.) that utilize service animals. These
plans should ensure that the individual with a disability, the animal and
the emergency personnel 
can work in concert with each other to get the employee to safety during an
emergency without jeopardizing the safety of the animal. 

What is a Service Animal?
Service animals assist persons with different kinds of disabilities in their
day-to-day activities. 
Examples of work or tasks include, but are not limited to:
Guiding - assisting individuals who are blind or have low vision with
navigating safe paths of travel.
Hearing - alerting individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing to the
presence of people or sounds.
Mobility - pulling a wheelchair, or providing physical support and
assistance with balance and stability to individuals with mobility
disabilities.
Alert - assisting an individual during a seizure, alerting the individual to
changes in body chemistry (e.g. blood sugar), calling for aid or retrieving
items such as 
medicine or the telephone.
Psychiatric - helping persons with psychiatric and neurological disabilities
by preventing or interrupting impulsive or destructive behaviors.

Any comprehensive evacuation plan should be developed in conjunction with
individuals with disabilities who use service animals. The plans should
consider all 
emergency contingencies (i.e. lockdowns, shelter in place, evacuation) with
the assumption that the animal and the user will not be separated. 

The care or supervision of a service animal is solely the responsibility of
his or her handler. Just as employees are encouraged to keep emergency
supply materials 
in a "Grab and Go Kit", in case they should be confined to their work
facility for several days, it is advisable that an employee with a service
animal keep extra food 
and supplies on hand for their service animal. Consider keeping supplies or
food on hand for the service animals of visitors as well.

Alert first responders if there is an employee with a disability who has a
service animal. 

Engage individuals with disabilities to participate in evacuation drills
with his/her service animal and provide feedback related to physical
obstacles as well as 
obstacles created by the emergency plan. Emergency preparedness policies and
practices must ensure service animals can remain with their owners at
Shelter in 
Place locations. Although not required, agencies should consider ways to
transport, feed, and shelter the animals of employees who request such
assistance.

During an emergency, service animals are allowed to be transported with
their owners/handlers during evacuations. Service animals are permitted to
be in ALL 
places that serve the public as long as the animal is not out of control or
otherwise posing a direct threat to the health or safety of individuals.

A service animal may become hesitant or confused during an emergency.
Discuss how to best assist the person with a disability if this should
occur. 

Critical Questions

Have appropriate agency emergency personnel been given clear training on how
to interact with individuals with disabilities who use service animals, and
what 
preparations must be made (e.g. etiquette, creating emergency kits, etc.)? 

Have individuals who use service animals been given the opportunity to relay
to appropriate agency emergency personnel his or her specific preferences
regarding 
the evacuation and handling of the animal, particularly in case they are
accidently separated during an emergency? Have the individual's preferences
then been put in 
the person's evacuation plan and shared with the appropriate building and
emergency management personnel? 

Have internal responders, such as Floor Wardens or an individual's Buddy
received information or training to support an individual who uses a service
animal? 
Have they had the opportunity to become familiar with the individual with a
disability and with the service animal? Are they familiar or comfortable
enough to 
provide any necessary assistance?

Have safe areas and shelters been protected and treated so that they are
safe for service animals (e.g., chemicals and toxins may harm service
animals or damage 
equipment, including medical devices)? 

Has the individual with a disability and their service animal been given the
opportunity to participate fully in evacuation and sheltering drills,
including providing 
feedback to exercise planners following the drill?

Has the individual with a disability and their service animal been given the
opportunity to make practice runs of the primary evacuation route as well as
the alternate 
evacuation route(s) to strengthen their ability to navigate the paths of
egress prior to an emergency?
_

Jenine Stanley
Consumer Relations Coordinator
Guide Dog Foundation for the Blind, Inc R  and 
America's VetDogsR,  The Veteran's K-9 Corps Inc R 
Providing "Second Sight" R since 1946
371 E. Jericho Turnpike, Smithtown, NY 11787 
Toll-free: 866-282-8047 
Mobile: 631-708-6726
jenine at guidedog.org
jenine at vetdogs.org 
http://www.twitter.com/GdfJenine

To make a donation that can change a life ... contact the Guide Dog
Foundation at  <http://www.guidedog.org/> www.guidedog.org 
or America's VetDogs the Veterans K-9 Corps at  <http://www.vetdogs.org/>
www.vetdogs.org 
Visit us on facebook at: 
 <http://www.facebook.com/GuideDogFoundation>
www.facebook.com/GuideDogFoundation or
<http://www.facebook.com/AmericasVetDogs> www.facebook.com/AmericasVetDogs 

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