Problem-Solving Case: Training Employees for Emergency Response At Atlantic Coffee Industrial Solutions' 1 million-square-foot plant in Texas, more than 350 employees work in five separate areas, where coffee is roasted, ground, decaffeinated, processed, and packaged for the retail and wholesale markets. It is one of the largest coffee plants in the world and proudly carries Fair Trade, Rainforest Alliance, and USDA Organic certifications. The company strives to focus the work environment on "values, quality, safety, and personal growth" and is exploring ways to help coffee farmers around the world adapt to climate change with practical and flexible tools. In November 2015, a veteran shift supervisor for Atlantic Coffee was killed in an accident at the plant after a faulty valve allowed a significant release of deadly carbon dioxide. Fellow employees rushed to his aid, but he died in a hospital shortly afterward. U.S. government investigators from the Occupational Health and Safety Administration (OHSA) found the accident was caused in part by lack of employee training. (Another cause was lack of proper procedures for stopping the release of dangerous chemicals.) Said a local OSHA official of the death, "The uncontrolled release of carbon dioxide is dangerous. If the employer expects its workers to stop the release, it must develop and implement a detailed emergency response plan with specific procedures." OSHA fined the company $63,000 for nine serious safety violations. Among these violations was the fact that the company's emergency response plan "did not address personnel roles, lines of authority, training, and communication." Other violations OSHA cited were that neither the employees "expected to participate as hazardous material technicians" nor those who were to "fill the role of incident commander" in an emergency had received at least 24 hours of first-responder training. Further, those who were to be incident commanders "did not know how to implement the employer's emergency response plan." The supervisor's son recently brought suit against the company for failing to provide an emergency response plan that might have prevented his father's death or training employees to follow such a plan. 1. Suppose you have been asked to set up an emergency response plan for a company whose manufacturing processes require the safe handling of carbon dioxide. The purpose of the plan is to ensure employees know what to do if this deadly gas were to be accidentally released in the plant. Review the types of on-the-job training discussed in this chapter, and identify the one (or ones) you would use. Explain your choice. 2. Prepare a training plan for the employees. Will you train them all at once or in groups? Why? 3. Would you recommend the company schedule regular retraining in the emergency response plan? If so, how often and why? What form would the retraining take