This may be the last week of April’s PrepareAthon; however, let’s not make it the last week to establish our preparedness. I want to take a moment to thank everyone for thinking about preparedness this month. My challenge to each of you is to sustain and expand these efforts to integrate and test your organizational preparedness.
Over the last three weeks we discussed severe weather preparedness for tornadoes, thunderstorms, and flooding; knowing your alert and warning resources like mass notification warning systems, or AtHoc, and local resources; and evacuation or shelter-in-place which included HVAC shutdown information.
This week we focus our attention on developing, training, and executing organizational emergency action plans. Each work center shall establish an EAP which is the foundation for preparedness and provides employees critical information such as:
- Employee responsibilities – protective actions to take during disasters and emergencies
- Supervisor responsibilities – review area EAP with employees twice a year
- Evacuation routes and muster points
- Shelter-in-place locations and associated actions
- Lockdown and run-hide-fight actions
- Emergency communication center phone numbers for fire, police, and Medical assistance
- Natural disaster and severe weather-related incidents and actions
Did you know that EAPs must be reviewed twice a year by every individual assigned to the work center? Why not expand this effort and complete an exercise as part of your program? Why not walk the evacuation routes and test your muster point/accountability process? The opportunity is yours, make the most of it. Checking the block will not save lives. Also don’t forget, you are responsible for your visitors as well!
In addition to the work center, consider planning at home as well. Check out the attached “12 Ways to Prepare” and Make A Plan | Ready.gov resources at the end of this article for more information.
Contact your local emergency services manager for more ways to prepare for emergencies at work and home.