Question

A company sends a team of employees and one field supervisor to a customer's location for a week. Employees stay in hotel rooms, two employees per room, and receive a daily meal allowance that allows the purchase of one alcoholic beverage. At dinner one evening, the employees have a few alcoholic beverages, and then they return to the hotel, where one employee passes out in the parking lot. The other employees call an ambulance, and emergency personnel ask if the unconscious employee takes any medication. The employee who shares a room with the unconscious employee goes to the room and finds the employee's medication bottles. No one rides in the ambulance or follows it to the hospital.

The field supervisor calls HR to report the incident. The HR manager asks if the employee's spouse has been called and which hospital the employee was admitted to. No one knows where the employee has been taken, nor has the employee been in contact with anyone. The field supervisor locates the employee, who is in serious condition. The employee remains unconscious; it is unknown if the employee will recover from the incident. Management wants to end the employment relationship with the employee.
Which action should the HR manager take first to ensure that field supervisors are prepared to handle emergency situations in the field?

A. Review company emergency protocols and conduct a needs assessment to identify gaps.
B. Survey the field supervisors to determine their desire for training.
C. Recognize that emergency situations are unpredictable; therefore, training should focus on previous situations.
D. Identify emergency training programs and offer non-mandatory training.

Answer 1

The HR manager should first review company emergency protocols and conduct a gap analysis to best prepare field supervisors for emergency situations.

Step-by-step explanation:

The action that the HR manager should take first to ensure that field supervisors are prepared to handle emergency situations in the field is A. Review company emergency protocols and conduct a needs assessment to identify gaps. This is a crucial step in recognizing any deficiencies in current protocols and determining the specific emergency preparedness and response training required by supervisors. Immediate review and training will help the field supervisors to manage similar unfortunate incidents effectively in the future, ensuring both employee safety and compliance with OSHA regulations.

Following the review and assessment, it's critical to develop and offer targeted training programs. This training can teach necessary skills in decision making, teamwork, communication, and stress management, akin to what emergency workers acquire, as cited from the provided material. Such skills could prove valuable in preventing or handling future emergencies.