Safety, Security and Emergencies Policy
3. Purpose
Haldimand County Public Library is committed to providing a safe and healthy environment for all who use the Library. This policy is to ensure that all Library staff, patrons, assets and property are safeguarded during an emergency or disruption to Library operations, and that Haldimand County Public Library is prepared to provide the best possible service in an emergency situation.
4. Roles & Responsibility
The Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHSA) and Regulations impose a legal duty on employers and supervisors to ensure the wellbeing of workers under their supervision, and to take reasonable measures to protect employee and public safety.
- The Library Board:
- designates the CEO as the Supervisor in accordance with the OHSA;
- ensures that resources are dedicated to training the staff in safety, security and emergency procedures;
- requires each individual staff member to take responsibility for their own health and safety, as well as that of the patrons. Each person will take initiative on health and safety issues and will work to solve problems and make improvements on an ongoing basis.
- The CEO is responsible for the Library’s safety plans, including procedures, implementation, enforcement and reporting for:
- inclement weather impacting travel safety for the areas in which each branch is located;
- disasters such as fire and flood that threaten the Library’s people, collections, furniture and equipment;
- events which would compromise the safety and health of the staff and public, including harmful, abusive or dangerous behaviour by individuals, medical emergencies and bomb threats;
- crime prevention, including theft, vandalism and substance abuse;
- safe work practices.
- The CEO or designate will determine when to close the Library during an emergency. The primary consideration in making the decision to close the Library is the safety of all persons in the building and on the property.
5. Business Continuity
When a major emergency event happens, it is possible that:
- The business of the Library is interrupted, up to and including the closing or loss of the building;
- If the Library is relatively unaffected by an emergency event in the community, the Library becomes a key community resource centre for persons directly affected by the event.
Risk identification and mitigation
- ILS (integrated library system)
- servers are hosted offsite;
- offline mode is available if the ILS is non-functional for short periods of time. Offline mode would allow library service to continue;
- Multi-location collections
- If specific Haldimand County Public Library branches became inaccessible or unsafe, other Haldimand library branches would remain open and available to all Haldimand County Public Library patrons;
- Backups of shared drives and data are automatically created regularly. Cloud-based service is used for email and electronic file storage.
Impact
The following situations may arise from emergencies in or around the Library:
- Unsafe access to the premises;
- Unsafe operation of the Library due to fire, flood, etc.; loss of electricity or plumbing services on the premises;
- Loss of internet connectivity in the building;
- Loss of the ILS availability for an extended period of time.
The library building infrastructure, furniture and fittings are at risk from:
- Fire;
- Flood;
- Inclement weather;
- Malicious damage;
- Structural collapse;
- Infrastructure failure.
In case of emergency, the Library CEO or Branch Supervisor on duty would evacuate using the Fire and Evacuation procedure.
It may be necessary for one or more library branches to adjust service levels in the event of a longer failure or emergency, such as:
- An emergency in the community not directly impacting the Library building. The Library may act as a gathering place for services such as a climate-controlled area, technology charging point, and/or information centre, and may offer extended hours if it is safe to do so;
- An emergency affecting electricity, plumbing, or air quality. The Library will close if power, clean water or air is not restored within designated time periods.
The Library has available the most current Haldimand County emergency plans and protocols through the staff intranet service
6. Related References
6.1 Haldimand County Public Library Health and Safety Policy
6.2 Haldimand County Public Library Inclement Weather Procedure
6.3 Haldimand County Public Library Prevention of Workplace Violence Policy
6.4 Ontario Occupational Health and Safety Act
6.5 Ontario Public Libraries Act, 2005
7. Revision History
7.1 Date Last Reviewed: March 2026
7.2 Board Motion: 26-10