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Niko
02-11-2013, 01:48 PM
Hi,

We're a manufacturing company that operates a day and afternoon shift. The bulk of the team are on day shift (120) with the remainder (30) on afternoons. My question relates to what process is followed by other companies when it is necessary to contact the next of kin (e.g. a medical emergency)? I am particularly interested in how this would work if it happens out of hours (i.e. the pay office who control the information, have gone home) and if so, what measures are used to keep the next of kin information controlled to a certain level within the organisation. Any comments are appreciated.

Thanks,
Niko

admin
02-13-2013, 01:31 PM
Hi Niko,

I felt the answer to your question may lie with HR, so as you weren't getting any answers here I posted a copy of your question on our other forum www.HRbuzz.com.au (http://www.HRbuzz.com.au) .

This is the first reply from an HR Buzz contributor called Cottoneyes;

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I've seen 2 solutions to this:

The easiest solution is when a Manager Self Service exists within the HRIS / payroll system that it is set up that the manager has access to the emergency contact information. An emergency happens out of hours, the manager logs on and accesses the information and they continue with the process.

Another solution I've seen in the past is an automatic report run on a regular basis (eg each month) and a file in that case was sent to the security officer on the site. In the event of an emergency it was part of the process that they would be contacted, and then the emergency contact information is accessed if required.

Either way it is up to the company to work out with their privacy which is the parties than need / can be trusted with this information and go from there. Most HRIS providers in this day do have some form of auto run function within their reporting, the lower end ones may need to be paid to set this up for you.

As a secondary consideration, for business continuity purposes there should be more than one point of access to the payroll system and be able to access it off site as well.
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Moz
02-13-2013, 02:07 PM
The question that immediately comes to mind is how do you keep the information up to date?

If the HRIS system allows customisation you could possibly have a script written that sends a request to employees periodically by SMS or email to confirm that emergency contact details are still current.

Or you could implement a similar manual system.

tracker
02-15-2013, 02:20 PM
Niko

1) look at your emergency proceedures - who is the controller in the event of an emergency, what responsibilities they have and what information / resources they have to carry out this function including emergency services and ambulance numbers. They have to be trained and clear on their responsibilities.
2) look at the information you have on your afternoon shift if this is the problem - in the event of an emergency, especially if it requires evacuation, you should have records as to who is on site, their location, next of kin and their supervisor at the time. Also have a paper based system available ,that includes your hazardous chemical register, to hold this information in case you have no power.
3) run a number of desk top and mock emergency and evacuation drills over the year for both day and afternoon shift and include HR in the planning.

Niko
02-15-2013, 03:13 PM
Hi Tracker,
A timely reminder! Many thanks.