23 Apr Are You and Your Team Prepared for Emergencies?
Workplace wellness programs typically include focus areas such as eating healthy, exercising, seeking preventive screenings, and dealing with stress, but has your organization addresses emergency preparedness thoroughly? Emergency preparedness is an often overlooked area of health and wellness but is an important subject that your team needs and would likely appreciate knowing more about. Aside from the shifts that we’re currently experiencing due to COVID-19, potential disaster can strike anytime, anywhere — in the form of a fire, flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, or other types of accidents. The key to making it through emergency situations often comes down to knowing what to do… how to do it… and when to do it.
Resources:
Here is a quick list of resources to boost your team’s preparedness in case of emergencies:
- Ready — a national campaign designed to educate and empower Americans to be prepared for and respond to emergencies, including natural and man-made disasters.
- U.S. Department of Labor
- National Safety Council
- American Red Cross
Other key action items:
- Help team members, especially those still working remotely, to centralize and frequently update contact information for local police departments, fire departments, and hospitals.
- Hold educational events (such as lunch-and-learns or department workshops held during the workday – or virtual seminars) on your own, using materials from the various government agencies and associations, or contact local representatives for the organizations who may be willing to put on events for you.
- There is no right or wrong time to hold emergency preparedness training, but you may want to consider certain topics at times when those emergency situations may be more likely to occur, such as floods during the spring, flu, or blizzards in the winter, etc.
