You should stress to your employees that the foremost concern in any emergency is to ensure all people on the premises are accounted for and safe. Each facility has to develop its own policy as to whether personnel will attempt to provide any first aid or care for injured parties. Even being a good samaritan can involve liability, and this will vary from state to state. Under no circumstances should an injured person be left unattended, even if you do not provide first aid.

After accounting for all human life, you should attempt to preserve as much of your tenants' property and your facility as possible. The goal of property preservation must be balanced against the issue of endangering life, staying out of the way of emergency personnel and complying with whatever regulations are imposed by emergency personnel. Entering individual spaces at any time typically violates lease agreements that state that you will not enter anyone's space for any reason. It is, therefore, important to have a provision in your lease that states you will enter if it is necessary in an emergency situation.

On-site personnel should have a list of people to call in the event of an emergency, complete with phone numbers. In any emergency, you'll want to contact the appropriate authorities immediately: police, fire department, life squads and hazardous-materials teams. In most communities, this can be done by dialing 911. If not, make certain these phone numbers are posted in a central location in the office. This list might also include the facility's attorney, facility owners and managers, facility employees who may be able to assist with the emergency, and the facility's insurance agent.

Staff not on-site at the time of an emergency should be trained to report to the facility and know their jobs on arrival. You should have a list of responsibilities to be executed in order of importance--after the emergency has been discovered and the authorities have been notified.

When emergency personnel arrive, someone from the on-site staff should provide them a gate-access printout for the day. This will help them determine whether there are any tenants or invitees at the facility who are not accounted for. They will want this information before they go to work on the disaster issues, such as firefighting, earth stabilization and hazardous-material cleanup. Also make certain the gate is open so emergency authorities can enter the premises. Have a staff member posted near the gate to guide the emergency personnel to the appropriate area.

Make certain to move everything you can out of the way of emergency personnel before they arrive. If a building is collapsing next to RV and boat storage and it is safe to move the vehicles, tow them to another part of the property. Once the emergency personnel are in, close the gate. Unless it poses a violation under your state's statute, turn off the gate and suspend all access to the facility during the disaster.

On-site staff should use stickers to mark all property with the unit number from which it was removed. If it becomes necessary to store property in a different storage unit, it will then be possible for it to be identified by individual owners. This is an odd step to be taking at the time of an emergency, but the extra time spent will help keep items organized and make the tenants feel better about the actions you have taken to safeguard their property.

The manager must obtain an incident-report form from every person who was involved or in the facility at the time of the emergency. These forms should be ready on a clipboard to leave the office with the manager at the time of an emergency. The form should be dated and include the name, address and telephone number of the witness. Ask the witness to write in his own words what happened. Make certain the incident report is signed. Nothing is less useful when litigation begins than an undocumented recollection.

After the incident reports are completed, they should be kept in a safe place for management, ownership, the company attorney and insurance adjusters to review. The manager should interview anyone who has filed an incident report to see if there are any additional recollections not listed. The manager should be careful to note the names of the people he spoke to and what he was told. These recollections should not be added to the incident reports, but included in the manager's report, which should be completed as soon after the incident as possible. It is amazing how many details and other important facts escape memory within 24 hours.

All of this leads to a detail that is most often overlooked: safeguarding evidence. In every case of disaster I have been involved with, my clients have let the police take tenant records, incident reports, managers' statements, even video-surveillance tapes--all without keeping a copy. This can later hurt your position in litigation. In a recent fire case, my client turned the videotape of the surveillance cameras over to the police, who promptly lost the tape. This made it a much more difficult case for the client's insurance company to defend.

One employee should be charged with the duty of determining all available, unaffected space on the property so tenants who are affected can be moved. If space is not available at your facility, spaces in nearby facilities should be located and held for those tenants. This type of preparation along with communication with tenants will go a long way toward avoiding litigation and restoring tenants' confidence in your facility.

Once the disaster is under control, one employee should be responsible for contacting all affected tenants. If they have not heard or seen about the disaster on the news, you will need to let them know their property was involved in the disaster, the condition of the property, where it is located, and whether, when and how they can get into the facility to inspect it. Also make sure you have a list of who is authorized to enter into the damaged premises. If possible, schedule tenant visits to the facility so you can accompany tenants to their property. Try to have staff available to help them move or remove property that can be salvaged.

If appropriate, temporary fencing or other security measures should be ordered and placed around the damaged building(s) to ensure other tenants are not wandering around the area picking through leftover items. Once the damaged area is secure, reactivate all appropriate gate codes.

Make certain employees know they should not under any circumstances speak to the media. Only one person from the company should be authorized to speak to the media, and that person should never admit fault or responsibility. No one should speak to any insurance adjuster or attorney without an owner's or manager's consent. Adjusters and attorneys representing tenants should only be granted access to employees, witnesses or records with the consent of your insurance company--and then only with your legal counsel present.

In the days following a disaster, it is important to communicate with all tenants to explain, in limited terms, what happened. You should avoid making explanations about how the incident occurred unless it is obvious (i.e., a tornado). You should avoid making any representations about safeguards you have taken to prevent the incident from happening again. Do not admit responsibility, liability or remedial action. For instance, if an air conditioner on a climate-controlled building caught fire, you would not want to say you are now having all of your air conditioners serviced. This is a fine line to walk because communications with tenants will help preserve the relationship, but admissions against interest can be a problem.