Did you know?  September is National Preparedness Month!  The 4 steps, from www.Ready.gov, are:

1. Be informed – Learn what protective measures to take before, during and after an emergency (from Ready.gov);
2. Make a Plan – Prepare, plan and stay informed during an emergency (from ready.gov);
3. Build a Kit – Build a Kit for disasters to be prepared (from ready.gov); and
4. Get Involved – Find Opportunities to Support Community Preparedness.

We should have positive and useful conversations in our homes, families, workplaces and community to prepare for emergencies BEFORE the emergency actually occurs. In an ideal world, we wouldn’t need to plan for emergencies, but as wonderful as our world is, it is not Ideal.  And so, emergencies and disasters may happen.  But family and community members of every age benefit from having and knowing the plan to activate in the face of an emergency.

I have written about NPM in the past, click here for information:  National Preparedness Month: Get your Kit

This September, I want to talk about preparedness in the workplace.   We spend up to 60 hours a week (or more) at our work place, or more than ½ of our waking hours.  It makes sense to have a plan for emergencies at work.

I work from home, or in other people’s homes.  We have preparedness plans for home, but I have one for my travel and organizing time, too.  Examples of my preparedness plan for my “workplace” are habits like:

1. Keeping my cell phone fully charged;
2. Carrying an extra charging cord, first aid kit and non-perishable snacks in my car;
3. Keeping my car keys and phone on me at all times; and
4. Keeping my gas tank always above a quarter of a tank.

There are lots of options for office workers, too.  A client who works in a high-rise building in downtown Chicago has an emergency kit in his desk, supplied by his company and building management.  I researched other kits on-line, and they may contain items such as:

• a bottle of water and non-perishable snack (management comes around and refreshes these every year);
• a foil emergency blanket;
• a signal whistle and crank flash light; and
• a small first aid kit, face mask and a pair of latex gloves.
• My downtown client’s kit is in a small soft sided cooler bag, and other kits I have seen are in string backpacks or fanny packs.

If you don’t have a kit provided by your employer, please consider creating your own kit or a kit for a loved one, and keeping it close at hand for emergencies.  You can include any of the items mentioned above, and add others based on your own situation, for example, one kit that I researched included a poncho.  You can also buy pre-assembled workplace preparedness kits on-line or at most office supply chain stores.

Let me encourage you and your family, workplace and community to get involved and get prepared.  Focus on Preparedness now so you can focus better on everything else later!