The Importance of Emergency Action Plans for Athletes

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The Importance of Emergency Action Plans for Athletes

The sports industry involves not only state-of-the-art medical achievements to provide excellent performance but is complex from the organizational point of view. Sporting events are some of the most attended events in modern society; therefore, it is crucial to ensure safety for both visitors and athletes. Therefore, various guards, medical specialists, trainers, security, firemen, and police organizations should be present in the facility that hosts an athletic competition. Besides that, the building has to meet all safety requirements that are developed. As such, one of the basic things for the safety of a building is the emergency action plan (EAP). EAP encompasses not only guidelines and routes on how to safely leave the facility in case of emergency but also includes training the staff on how to act in such situations. Hence, the paper elaborates on the importance of EAP for athletes and during athletic competitions. The prior research and terminology will be provided as well as an overview of the existing literature on the subject. The existing literature on the topic shows the consensus of the scholars on the importance of EAP for athletes and seeks ways to increase its efficiency.

Articles such as National Athletic Trainers Association position statement: emergency planning in athletics by Andersen et al. reflect on the existing policies and guidelines from the perspective of one of the agents. The topic of athletes safety is relevant to the public not only because of the professional sportsmen who can encounter the emergency. More than 460,000 student-athletes across the United States compete in 24 different sports each year (Popp, Berry, and Judge 638). This number is only continuing to rise every year (Popp, Berry, and Judge 639). National Athletic Trainers Association is directly involved in the process of the EAP development and resolution of emergencies (Andersen et al.99). Hence, the article provides valuable insight into the way emergency action plans are designed and regulated in each state.

Children aged under six years old and eighteen years old actively compete in various sports. Competitions of such young athletes are also supervised by safety and healthcare professionals. Children and adolescent athletes are especially vulnerable when in extreme physical activities (Casa et al. 550). Hence, the article Athletic training services in public secondary schools: a benchmark study. by Pryor focuses on the importance of agents such as athletic trainers during emergencies. The authors analyze primary sources such as school documentation and statistics to evaluate the availability of athletic training services in secondary schools. The risks of emergencies such as head and back injuries, sudden cardiac arrest, exertional sickling, and exertional heat stroke are much higher than among adult athletes. This is because children are less aware of their conditions and often undergo lesser medical observation than professional adult athletes do. Hence, the EAP is especially relevant for young athletes and the facilities that host young athletes competitions.

In the legal realm, some organizations and acts require adherence to safety standards. As such, EAP is mandatory for every building that hosts a company to ensure the safety of the organizations workers. The agency of OSHA was established in 1971 in the USA under the Occupational Safety and Health Act signed by President Richard M. Nixon. The mission of the organization is to provide safe working conditions through training and education. Also, the agency sets the standards and regulations to reduce risks of hazards at workplaces.

The OSHA functions under the jurisdiction of federal authority in the 50 states covering both private and public sectors of the economy. According to the law, employers are responsible for tackling safety and health problems, and eliminating or reducing risks (Andersen 99). Moreover, they must inform their staff of possible hazards, provide preventive training for the personnel, and ensure that workers have all necessary protective equipment. The employees have the right to complain about poor working conditions, receive copies of medical records of work-related injuries, and participate in OSHA inspections. the article The inter-association task force for preventing sudden death in secondary school athletics programs: best-practices recommendations. by Casa et al. focuses on legal challenges imposed by the fact that each state has to design its EAP and safety guidelines. The responsibilities and rights are not limited to the ones listed above but include many other items. Generally speaking, OSHA is the part of the Department of Labor that operates to assuring safe and healthful workplaces, sets and enforces safety standards, and organizes outreach, assistance, and a variety of pieces of training for personnel and rescue teams.

Developing an effective and sufficient emergency action plan includes several steps in different areas. General recommendations on the creation of EAP include training and availability of personnel, presence of equipment that is available and ready to use and ensured communications, transportation, and documentation. Each of those areas involves individual plans for each type of emergency. The existing literature on the topic provides some insights into the way emergency action plans are executed in terms of personnel training and communication.

One of the complications that can arise in case of the absence of an emergency action plan is the lack of understanding between the organizations that ensure safety in the facility. Those organizations include emergency medical services (EMS), firefighters, police, and others (Popp, Berry, and Judge 640). Each of those agents has its scope of responsibilities that should be clear and understood by their representatives. Further, to ensure the most effective work during the emergency, drills, and training should be performed to ensure a smooth transition of care between the organizations. For example, during the training, the medic should practice the process of an injured athlete receiving first aid and then going from the emergency medical service nurse to the local county medic.

The training also must encompass different emergency scenarios that reflect the most frequent cases of emergencies in the field. The procedures involved in training may be basic, but they aim to achieve maximum collaborative effort and minimize time disruptions as time is one of the most crucial factors during emergencies (Pryor 160). Some insight can be gained from the areas such as firefighting. The Life Safety Code handbook was designed to help people make the most effective safety decision in a building. Every decision that a person makes has some impact on life. The fire drills are designed to be used by the staff and any visitor on a premise on the occasion of a fire. People need to know the easiest route to exit the building. Hence, fire drills reduce panic and help people the way to exit quickly. Frequent fire drills show concern for future action in case a person has mobility issues. Fire drills help to find as well as teach that kinds of people how to exit effectively.

When researching the topic of the importance of emergency action plans for athletes, scholars may use several methods. To gather a basic understanding of the subject, it is important to conduct a literature review and identify the main trends and topics for further investigation. Most studies that focus on the selection of the most effective practices for effective EAP development are based on observational methods. Evidence gathered from observations of the successful emergency resolution is then compared and contrasted to create a set of recommendations for future EAP implementation. Scholars also tend to summarize the scope of knowledge from both secondary and primary sources to achieve their research objectives.

Due to the diverse scope of areas for research or improvement of EAPs for athletes, scholars may rely on experimental, quasi-experimental, and non-experimental types of research. Experimental research is a study that a researcher sets up to evaluate a given situation, such as a drug or treatment intervention. About the emergency action plan, this might be a study that investigates the efficiency of certain equipment used in extreme situations. For example, the utilization of automated external defibrillator programs in high schools (Toresdahl 244). Quasi-experimental research aims to understand why certain things happen. This kind of research does not involve randomization. For EAPs, this implies types of research that evaluate the actions of certain agents or emergency respondents. Non-experimental research comprises correlated design. The correlation design considers the relationship or association of variables. Here, the variables involved in emergencies may include various organizations or circumstances affecting the resolution of the situation.

The academic community that is devoted to studying the subject of the importance of EAP for athletes mainly follows the premise that emergency action plans have a positive impact on the resolution of emergencies during competitions and training. The general agreement was due to the numerous instances of EAP being crucial to saving the lives of athletes. In addition, the chaos and lack of collaborative effort of agents in facilities without the EAP make scholars highly recommend having an emergency action plan in the facility. Moreover, there is no disagreement on the positive impact of EAP on the prevention of lethal outcomes after extreme situations such as head and back injuries, sudden cardiac arrest, exertional sickling, and exertional heatstroke. Therefore, scholars that study the importance of EAP for athletes focus on future research to provide theoretical evidence agents that are resolving emergencies practically.

Most academic disputes are based on developing proper legal regulations that would ensure maximum safety during an emergency. Some scholars claim that every state has to have its own set of laws and rules regarding the development of EAP. Other believe that emergency action plans should mandatory and federal agencies should impose legislation that would ensure that EAPs are standardized across the United States. The proponents of this position borrow evidence from safety-related areas of knowledge such as fire safety departments. On the contrary, scholars that believe in a state-by-state regulation focus on evidence from successful cases of emergency resolution.

The scope of topics for the future study of the subject is expanding. The contributing factors to this expansion include technological advancement that provides new opportunities for increasing emergency plans efficiency. The studies that focus on the implementation of new equipment and personnel training are also relevant as they provide observational evidence of its efficiency that can be used to improve training programs.

In conclusion, emergency action plans for athletes are very important as they may save the lives, health, and careers of athletes and visitors of the competition. Several steps need to be followed to develop an effective EAP. Each of those areas has a wide variety of research topics. Although scholars mostly agree on the importance of the subject, there is an expanding scope for future studies as scholars provide valuable data and develop recommendations that enhance training efficiency and create effective strategies for emergency resolution.

Works Cited

Andersen, J. C., et al. National Athletic Trainers Association position statement: emergency planning in athletics. Journal of Athletic Training vol. 37 no. 1, 2002, 99. Web.

Casa, Douglas J., et al. The inter-association task force for preventing sudden death in secondary school athletics programs: best-practices recommendations. Journal of Athletic Training vol. 48 no. 4, 2013, 546-553. Web.

Popp, Jennifer K., David Berry, and Lawrence W. Judge. Physical Education and Athletic Facility Emergency Readiness: The Emergency Action Plan. Physical Educator vol. 75 no. 4, 2018: 633-646. Web.

Pryor, Riana R., et al. Athletic training services in public secondary schools: a benchmark study. Journal of Athletic Training vol. 50 no. 2, 2015, 156-162. Web.

Toresdahl, Brett G., Kimberly G. Harmon, and Jonathan A. Drezner. High school automated external defibrillator programs as markers of emergency preparedness for sudden cardiac arrest. Journal of Athletic Training vol. 48 no. 2, 2013, 242-247. Web.

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