September Safety Topic: September is National Preparedness Month

Each month in 2018, we’re featuring a workplace safety topic to inspire your training activities and toolbox talks. This month is National Preparedness Month. 

All you have to do is turn on the news to be reminded of the many hazards that businesses and their employees face. Devastating hurricanes and wildfires, bomb threats, and workplace shootings underline the importance of preparing for a disaster.

Fortunately, there’s a lot that safety leaders can do to ensure their organization is prepared for the worst.

In keeping with this year’s  National Preparedness Month theme “Disasters Happen. Prepare Now. Learn How.”, here are 10 ways to participate in National Preparedness Month:

1. Download free National Preparedness Month resources including graphics, videos, and toolkits from https://www.ready.gov/september and https://www.ready.gov/business.
2. Identify your risk of hazards (both natural and human-caused) and learn what to do before, during, and after each type of emergency.
3. Sign up for emergency alerts and warnings in your area at https://www.ready.gov/alerts.
4. Develop or update your preparedness plan, including conditions that will activate the plan, employee training and awareness, mitigation activities, and other actions to ensure safety and business continuity.
5. Build an emergency kit with supplies that you may need before, during, and after a natural disaster or severe weather event. Download Ready.gov’s emergency supply list here.
6. Hold an employee training session to review your company’s disaster preparedness plan, safe actions during a disaster, and basic first aid and CPR training.
7. Conduct a drill to practice your organization’s response to an emergency such as a tornado or lockdown.
8. Meet with your insurance agent at least once a year to review your property coverage, deductibles, and coinsurance requirements. Create or update an insurance inventory of your facilities, equipment, supplies, etc. as required by your policies.
9. Contact your local emergency management office to identify emergency management resources in your area, as well as ways your organization can assist the community in the event of a disaster, such as distributing or storing relief kits.
10. Share safety and preparedness messages on your social media channels. Download the free Business Emergency Preparedness Social Media Toolkit from Ready.gov for inspiration.

Next steps: Download the 2020 Safety Calendar

Disasters happen. Participating in National Preparedness Month is just one way to prepare your organization for unforseen events. In addition to following the tips above, check out this post to help you plan your toolbox talks and training.