Hurricane preparedness is not the only reason to prepare!

Hurricane preparedness is not the only reason to prepare!

Littlebrowntony wrote an interesting article as part of an assignment on disaster preparedness plan – Better Health Abroad – Shut Down of Air Travel, http://littlebrowntony.blogspot.com/2007/10/assignment-five-disaster-planning

Having emergency preparedness plans for all locations of a business is an important issue not just for the disruption of air travel but for all sorts of emergencies. Given our world today and all the issues facing us on the business level as well as on a personal level it is important to have emergency preparedness at all times under all circumstances..

Depending on the emergency situation, communication by cell phone may be hampered or not in-service at all. It is always advisable to have at least 2 additional emergency methods of communication.

It may be impractical (but always useful to have at least two if not 3 employees) that are well trained and licensed in Ham radio operation. If the company is not large enough for such training and equipment then it is very advisable to have a contract with ham operators in the area of the company to agree to be available to help out with necessary communications in times of disaster or communication disruption.

Every officer of the company as well as all employees if possible should have a Citizen Band (CB) Radio for at lest their car. Many have home-base CB stations as well. The reason for this suggestion is often in a disaster situation; land-lines and cell phones are non-operational or are on limited availability. In the case of emergency need, a CB radio does not need additional support of communication towers, licensed operators, etc in order to get help. The staff of the company would have some sort of emergency resource available to them. Training on operation of a CB is very easy to learn and requires little time for training. The equipment is also inexpensive. Companies overseas may want to investigate as to the comparability of CB services in each country they have an business operation

If the company is a local company and there is sheltering – in –place mandates, then it is wise to have everyone with a CB radio and a set time and channel for reporting in to verify all are safe or in need, as well as to give necessary instructions concerning work deployment. It is best to use some of the higher number channels like 30-40 or lower channels from 5-10 since they are less used.

CB radios were very popular in the 1970s to mid-1990s before cell phones became dominate and cost effective. During Hurricane Katrina disaster recovery, many cell phones did not operate because cell phone towers were destroyed or there was limited or no electricity to power the batteries. The CB because a communication device of choice for many disaster response teams.

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Be Safe

Terrie

www.trainforahurricane.com