Disasters that impact a hospital can be internal or external and may be natural or man-made. Natural disasters are earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, or floods that can result in a large patient input. They can also result in the loss of utilities and other resources. Man-made disasters can be the result of industrial accidents, train wrecks, or terrorist's activities. These are most frequently chemical exposures, but could be radiation exposure or biological exposure. The hospital engineers including clinical engineers should develop an emergency management plan in conjunction with the clinical staff to prepare for these potential disasters. They need to consider not only patients, but staff and the community. The main goal of the plan is to keep the hospital operating to provide care for new patients and continuing care and safety of the existing patients and staff. The plan needs to address power outages, water outages, gas outages, facility structure, communications and keeping the facility from contamination. Contamination of the facility is a real possibility when patients arrive from industrial accidents or terrorist's activities. Potential decontamination of incoming patients must be considered in order not to endanger the staff and existing patients. The engineers and the clinical staff need to work together to develop the plan and conduct drills of the plan.
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