Tag: emergency preparedness

This is one of my favorite topics. Or rather, it is one of the topics that I spend time researching. I am worried about busy business owners being held personally liable for not taking steps they should have taken to protect the business.

As we reach the end of 2020, the pandemic is absolutely raging. Cyberattacks threaten our government and a number of major U.S. corporations. The threat of lawsuit is more critical than it’s been in all the dozen years I’ve been maintaining this blog!

And as a business owner, your threat of being sued continues to intensify.

You could be sued by employees or customers who claim they got sick in your establishment. You could be sued by customers or shareholders who claim you didn’t protect confidential data. You’ve heard this saying: “You can be sued by anybody for just about anything.” Well, it seems true.

We are not lawyers. We aren’t saying you will get sued. We can’t keep you from being sued and we can’t help you if you do. Our goal is to raise some of the important preparedness issues that may serve to protect you. For sure, these are issues you need to be aware of.

It all starts with “The Prudent Man rule.”

The concept of “the prudent man” (or more likely today, “the prudent person”) is well established in the world of finance. It says that if an incident occurs, a money manager will be examined to see if he or she made the decisions that “a prudent man in the same position with the same training would make.” Often, those prudent decisions are closely tied to what might be considered “best practices.” If best practices have NOT been followed, then that manager might be held personally liable for negligence.

Today, the prudent man rule is being expanded.

This means your problems may be expanding, too. Three examples with important questions . . .

1. With cybercrime increasing exponentially, what are considered “best practices” for information, cyber and network security continue to evolve. Are you keeping up with other “prudent people” in your industry as regards information security for your business?
2. With health policies changing rapidly (even erratically) as a result of the coronavirus, is your business keeping up with regulations from OSHA, your state, county or city? Are you taking and documenting the steps that a prudent person in your similar business situation would take?
3. Given this year’s economic upheavals, not just from the pandemic but from storms, wild fires and other disasters, have you updated your business continuity plan to include coping with all likely disasters? (Was “pandemic” even included in your previous plan? Have you included it in your updated plan?)

If your answer to any of the questions above is “No,” you could be personally liable if your business gets caught up in a lawsuit!

Unfortunately, keeping up with industry “best practices” isn’t easy. Here at Emergency Plan Guide we regularly attempt to bring readers’ attention to business-related issues, including those associated with cybercrime and even public health policies. Since we’re not specialists in either of these areas, this sort of information is tough to stay on top of. We do what we can.

However, we do feel confident reminding all our readers about building and updating their business contingency plans.

It’s an ongoing effort. Just like individual families, some businesses have an “exit plan” aimed at getting employees out of the building in an emergency. (OSHA requires such a plan if you have more than 50 employees.) But at least half of small businesses have no workable plan for getting back to work following an interruption. Even fewer — only about 30% — have even consulted with an insurance agency about business interruption insurance.

An emergency exit plan may save lives, but, the lack of Business Continuity and/or Disaster Recovery Plan means that there may not be a company to come back to. In that case, everybody loses . . . employees and their families, owners, investors, creditors and customers.

No-cost or low-cost help is readily available.

If you are concerned about being personally liable because your business doesn’t have a reasonable business continuity plan, you can start putting the pieces in place using some or several of these resources.

• Many cities, in conjunction with FEMA and other local organizations, offer the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training to residents, businesses and employees of businesses to help save lives and property in a disaster. Most classes are free and some actually issue equipment to aid in light search & rescue, triage, etc. (Lots more about CERT here.)
• The American Red Cross offers classes and online information. Look at www.redcross.org.
• The Small Business Administration provides an online guide for drafting a business continuity plan.
  https://www.sba.gov/content/disaster-recovery-plan
• The Insurance Institute for Home and Business Safety® offers a guide to help small businesses stay open, called OFB-EZ. (“Open For Business – Easy”)
• Many insurance companies offer documents and assistance in evaluating risk and risk mitigation efforts before helping you purchase any business interruption insurance. Start with a conversation with your own property insurance carrier.

Taking advantage of these services should be the logical first step for the “prudent” business owner. When you’ve done some research, or it you want to get right to creating your plan, consider our book:

Emergency Preparedness for Small Business

We wrote this book for the busy, DIY business owner who isn’t ready to hand over planning to an outside consultant. The book trusts in-house expertise to build your plan and give employees “ownership.” Joe’s military experience led him to come up with the “file folder” approach that is so easy to delegate!

If you’ve been with us a while, you’ll recognize our straight-forward, step-by-step approach in Emergency Preparedness for Small Business. Plus there’s a companion WORKBOOK that will make it even easier for you to get started on your small business continuity plan. Click the links to go directly to Amazon for full details.

The resources listed here may not cover everything the business needs, but with them you will have made a solid start. Use your own industry experts to fill in any blanks about current “best practices.”

Going back to the Prudent Man rule, it says that a person making decisions for others can’t simply rely on what he or she knows. The Prudent Man will be held accountable for what he SHOULD know.

Don’t get caught on this one!

Joe Krueger and Virginia Nicols
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

At any given moment, take a look to your left. Then to your right. If disaster hits right now, one of those people is going to be your “first responder!”

Given what you see, what are your chances???

“We are all in this together.”

Here at Emergency Plan Guide you’ll see our wholistic approach again and again: “We are all it this together.” That’s why we extend our concern beyond individuals to the groups they find themselves in.

In our new book, Emergency Preparedness for Small Business , we point out the many groups connected to a business. Here’s an abbreviated look at some of them, and how they fit into the “wholistic” approach.

Every business community plays a role in YOUR business’s ability to survive a disaster, . . . and needs to be included in your “wholistic” emergency preparedness plan.

Your relationship with each of these groups can impact your brand and your reputation. Your community relationships impact your employees’ skill levels and quality of life. And your communities play a role in your ability to respond to emergencies.

If you’re a business owner or an employee, are you including these communities in your wholistic planning? 

What follows are excerpts from Chapter 3 in the book. (More communities are identified there.)

-The physical location

If you are in a business or industrial location your primary official contacts are likely the city government and local fire department. They will be concerned about providing immediate response to the threat of toxic chemicals, fire, flood, etc.

Other nearby businesses will have the same concerns – and will compete for the same official resources.

If your business is located near (or in) a residential area, nearby residents may have additional concerns about safety and security, including the company being prone to looting or other potential lawless activity.

-Employees and their family members

Communications with staff and family members are absolutely critical.

You probably already have an Emergency Contact form for employees. Does it have contact info for ALL family members plus an out-of-area contact? Do you know about special skills employees may bring to the emergency response table?

-First Responders, hospitals and other health care resources

How close are you to fire and rescue installations, hospitals, emergency care facilities? Under normal conditions, how long does it take them to respond to an alarm in your neighborhood?

Within your organization, what medically trained people are available, and what first aid and medical supplies do you have on hand for them to use?

-Utilities

Have you met with representatives of your different utility companies? What is their ability to respond to disruptions? Who in your organization should be trained on utility protocols?

-Telecommunications Companies

What level and type of services do you receive for voice, data, internet, video and restoration services in an emergency?

-Local, State and National Governments

What kind of resources can be mobilized at the local city level to deal with a crisis? The county or state level? How/when could you receive assistance from a National Guard deployment? FEMA?

-Stakeholders

Keeping the various stakeholders (board of directors, financial advisors, etc.) apprised of business conditions is an important management commitment. All stakeholder groups will have questions and will likely demand updates as to the company’s status in an emergency.

-Suppliers and business partners

What contingency plans do your suppliers have in case they run into problems?

-Customers

How will you support customers – local, long-distance, international – if the business is interrupted? How will customers be contacted in an emergency?

-Social Media

We have seen repeatedly how “news” of emergencies spreads dramatically via smartphones. Keeping the company’s messaging consistent to prevent rumors and speculation is a primary requirement in an emergency. Do you have protocols set up?

OK. These aren’t all the “communities” associated with a business. One of the reasons they all need to be considered?

Neighboring business communities may have conflicting interests in a disaster.

Bear in mind that the interests of these different groups can vary greatly.

Most will likely be sympathetic to your emergency situation and even helpful in the recovery process. Others may jump at the opportunity to take advantage of your problems. Still others might feel you were negligent in not taking reasonable or sufficient precautions to protect them from your problem – not to mention protecting your own employees, visitors, etc.

As always, thinking your situation through before an emergency hits will help you anticipate everything that could go wrong – and help you start setting priorities for building the processes and the relationships within the community that will make your response easier and more effective.

You might want to take another, closer look at Emergency Preparedness for Small Business. You can see the entire Table of Contents at Amazon.  

Virginia and Joe
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. We’re not lawyers but we have had enough business experience to be able to warn our readers of some of the legal dangers of not having a business emergency plan. We include those warnings in Chapter 8 in the Book.

A blog post on emergency preparedness every single week?

Six years ago when I started writing the Advisories for Emergency Plan Guide, my daughter assured me that I’d have no problem coming up with an article every week.

“After all, Mom, you’ve always been indiscriminately curious.”

I’m not sure that was a compliment. But it IS the truth, so every week I am inspired to learn more and write about some aspect of preparedness. Sometimes they are pretty unconventional – like volcano insurance, or museum putty, or the difference between threat and risk.

But there’s one topic I don’t write about: guns.

You will have noticed that Joe and I pretty much stay away from writing about guns.

We take this editorial posture for several reasons:

• Our focus at Emergency Plan Guide is mostly on people working together to improve their chances in a disaster. When people use a gun in a civilian setting, it’s not usually an indication of “togetherness.”
• Most of our recommendations are for things that ordinary people can see the value of and can be put to use with minimal training. Guns take a whole lot of practice and STILL may not turn out to be effective. On the contrary . . .
• Our readers come from around the country and increasingly from around the world. (Recent subscribers have come from The Philippines and Spain.) Rules and regulations regarding firearms vary tremendously; I don’t want to get any reader into trouble because I misled him or her or overlooked something critical.

All that said, I know that . . .

Many of our readers ARE interested in guns — just like I am!

Somewhere along the line I’ve written about my teenage days hunting quail and pheasant with my Dad. (I carried a double barrel 20 gauge – and was quick off the mark!)

I could certainly write about my eye-opening experience at the gun range in Las Vegas a couple of years ago – the first time I had fired a handgun.

And I could include info from other prepper blogs I subscribe to, and the endless stream of offers I get for free Glocks, free laser sights, free ankle holsters, plastic guns you can make yourself, bulk ammo, cheap ammo, bulk cheap ammo – you name it!

What prompted me to write today’s Advisory about guns?

With all that activity and interest, sometimes it doesn’t feel right just ignoring the subject. So when I came across the resource I’m recommending today, I was delighted!

One of the survivor blogs I get and read regularly comes from Aaron at In The Rabbit Hole. His focus in on “urban survival” and he offers blogs and videos to his fans: “How to Stop Worrying And Actually Be More Prepared.”

Sounds familiar, doesn’t it?!

Anyway, over the past couple of weeks he’s been running a training series made up of short videos. I started watching because they are short, and discovered a certain engaging quirkiness and a perspective I appreciate.

The third episode inspired me to action.

When I got to the third episode of the current training series, I knew I wanted you to see it too!

Whether you are a gun lover, a gun hater or scared of the whole issue, you need to see this short video, hear the story, and consider the advice. I haven’t seen anything as good for a long time.

I contacted Aaron and he kindly sent a link where you can sign up for the free series. It will be delivered one day at a time.  I suppose you can wait for the 3^rd day to get the episode on guns, but you’ll want to watch day 1 and day 2, too. Same quirkiness and same refreshing perspective!

 https://www.intherabbithole.com/7-day-course/

Let me know what you think!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

I just got episode 6 today, and am going  to go watch it now.

If you’ve been following our Advisories for a while, you know that we base a lot of our preparedness activities on CERT principles.

In good company!

We took the CERT training in 2001 — more than 15 years ago! We continue to support the local team. The image shows me at a CERT Appreciation  Breakfast last weekend. I’m there with the Police Explorer honor guard.  (Had to get up close to those outstanding young people!)

What is CERT?

CERT, of course, stands for Community Emergency Response Team. It’s a training program that fits under the umbrella of Citizen Corps. The Corps is a Federal Program started after 9/11 to help citizens get involved in protecting their neighborhoods.

(I looked it up: Citizen Corps manages six programs — CERT, Fire Corps, National Neighborhood Watch, Medical Reserve Corps, Volunteers in Police Service and the Corporation for National and Community Service. All these fall under the umbrella of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FEMA.)

According to the CERT website, its purpose is to “educate people about disaster preparedness and train them in basic disaster response skills, such as fire safety, light search and rescue, and disaster medical operations.” To see the whole detailed description, plus a few photos, head to the official site: https://www.ready.gov/community-emergency-response-team

The great thing about CERT

The training is standardized across the country.It is usually offered FREE OF CHARGE by coordinators from your city’s administration, local fire department and/or local police department.

Training session – note “Buddies”

If you want to understand what would happen to your community in an emergency, I urge you to get this training! 

• It’s fun, sometimes challenging, always well done. (Trainers are certified.)
• You’ll make new friends of people you never would come into contact with otherwise.
• You’ll review some first aid basics you learned way back when. Plus you will get a lot of new info like how to use radio technology and be ready for an active shooter. Follow-up programs let you practice using equipment like flares and fire extinguishers.
• Your understanding of the role of First Responders will change.
• And you’ll come out with some basic emergency preparedness gear: backpack or duffel bag, gloves, flashlight, face mask, etc.

Earthquake outreach to the community

And after the training, CERT members can be activated to serve.

We’ve promoted our city’s program, and participated every year in one or the other of the ongoing trainings they put on. Along the way we’ve been called up by the police department to help at events like these:

• Volunteers were requested at 11:30 pm to help with searches for lost citizens. (Both times, the lost person was older and suffered from some sort of dementia. Both times, the lost person was found, but only after he had spent the night outdoors, who knows where . . .)
• We provided support to various city-sponsored community events, like fairs and races – staffing booths, directing traffic, etc.
• CERT members did a door-to-door distribution of flyers to promote an anti-crime initiative. We also helped residents prepare for a possible weather event.

Every time we show up, we see some of our classmates!

Joe waiting for his assignment at a recent drill (before it started raining)

In this past year of significant disasters, other CERT members around the country have performed a variety of services. Some staffed HAM radio stations, others worked in emergency shelters. CERT members acted as wildfire spotters. Others supported community programs like installing smoke alarms, and helping manage pets during evacuations.

Where CERT is weak

All CERT trained individuals come out a lot more confident and a lot more knowledgeable.  They are ready to provide support to First Responders in emergencies.

Problem #1: After the training people go right back into a neighborhood where most of the others are still unaware and unprepared!

That training could be spread to more people in the neighborhood – but in most cases it is simply squandered.

Now that our city has nearly 2,000 graduates, they are trying to build a stronger community network of CERT grads. But they have run into a major problem that has plagued the effort for years.

Problem #2: The city, due to “privacy concerns,” is unable to share names and addresses of the people who have received the training!

This puts the burden of organizing a local neighborhood group on a single person or family.

What our neighborhood has done with CERT

We have been able to overcome this in our own local neighborhood, as you know. For years we promoted the class, month after month. Eventually we built up a core group of around 30 CERT graduates who were then able to attract even more neighbors – with or without formal CERT training — to join in our local neighborhood emergency response group.

How we built that neighborhood team is, of course, the story I’ve told in my Disaster Survival Series, just published. Our group’s success was based on CERT, our Homeowner Association’s support, and a lot of determined and committed people. I’ve documented all the steps we’ve taken in building the group.

Looking to promote more resilience in your OWN neighborhood?

There are probably a half-dozen or even more good training programs that would benefit your neighbors and could be molded into a neighborhood or group training program.

CERT has worked for us because it is free, nationally certified and recognized by property owners and the media. It is non-profit and is supported by our local First Responder community.

I recommend you find out more about CERT availability from your city’s Office of Emergency Management (maybe called the Department of Emergency Management, or Emergency Management Office). It’s possible only a couple of classes will be held each year, but in some communities there will be more. Find out! (If you can’t get training in your town, you can get some of the basics online. )

This is one tax-payer supported program that really pays off.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

We have taken the CERT ball and run with it because, unlike some of the alarmist survivalist factions, we don’t want to be totally on our own in a disaster! We want friendly and prepared neighbors all around!

New words for 2017

Did you know that the big dictionaries (Merriam Webster, Oxford English, etc.) routinely add hundreds and sometimes even thousands of words every year?

In 2017 a lot of the new words were what I’ll call “social terms” – words like froyo, troll, mic drop, and dog-whistle. Don’t overlook the word conlang, referring to a “constructed language” like Elvish or Klingon.

I certainly don’t USE these words every day. But I try not to look dumb if someone uses them in my hearing!

But let’s move on for a light-hearted tour of  . . .

Words for emergency preparedness

New words emerge in the narrower world of emergency planning, too. Plus, of course, there are “old” words that resurface for one reason or another.

Here’s a list of words that have reappeared and that I’m likely to hear or even use at any time. How familiar are YOU with them?

Some commonly abbreviated expressions

. . . useful in emergency planning and also in everyday situations.

NSFW – I thought I’d start with this one because if you see it, you may be in trouble. It stands for Not Suitable For Work and refers to internet content (most likely nudity, profanity, etc.) not appropriate for the workplace. Compare to SFW (Safe For Work).

ICS – Emergency professionals throw this around, pronouncing just the letters. They stand for Incident Command System and refer to the standardized way official groups (First Responders, FEMA, etc.) respond to an emergency, or “the incident.”

IoT – OK, we’ve written about this a lot lately so it should be familiar as the Internet of Things, for example, the automated devices that you’re using to control your house — door locks, air conditioning, etc.

SOP – A favorite business expression that is used in emergency response, too. If people know the Standard Operating Procedure they will be able to work effectively together.

EOC – If you take your neighborhood emergency response group on a tour of your city’s Emergency Operations Center you may be disappointed. The EOC is only activated when there’s an emergency.

BIA – So just how much of an emergency would a power outage represent? What about a direct hit from a tornado? Your Business Impact Analysis should give you some perspective.

HVAC – Pronounced “H-Vac” or “HVAC”. I have to include this because some of my friends are Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning experts!

MTBF, MTTR, MTBU – Some of my favorites, these expressions always invoke a sense of urgency. (I don’t use them, but people in the world of manufacturing sure do!) Mean Time Between Failures, Mean Time To Repair, and Maximum Time to Belly Up.

Hint: If you use any of these words in a written document, it’s always a good idea to write them out fully “at first use.” It’s awfully distracting to read a report filled with abbreviations you don’t recognize.

Frequently-used but confusing industry jargon

. . . heard on the news and sometimes misunderstood or mispronounced by newscasters.

Cache – This French word refers to a collection of things (like emergency or military supplies) that are hidden away for later use. It’s pronounced “cash” but often is mispronounced by adding a syllable at the end so it sounds like “cashay.” (Cachet, pronounced “cashay,” is a totally different word that marks someone or something as having status or prestige.)

Failover – I have always been confused by this word but I’m trying to conquer that confusion! Failover refers to a process whereby (for example) a computer system, in the event of a failure, automatically switches to a backup or standby system. (Fail -> switch over)

Pandemic – We are all pretty familiar with the word epidemic, referring to the outbreak of a disease that spreads quickly in a community or region. Pandemic also refers to the spread of disease, but is used when the outbreak spreads across a whole continent or even the world.

OK, now we can tuck these words into our own vocabularies!

A brand new word for 2017

Here’s one I’ve never heard or said, but maybe you could use it in a Scrabble game because yes, it’s now in the dictionary.

Listicle – This is one for writers and bloggers. It refers to a published article that is made up of . . . you guessed it, a list! (Why, this Advisory, with some strategic editing, could become a listicle!)

Whew! That’s it for this week. Hope you have found these words as interesting or amusing or puzzling as I have. (Remember, learning new words is recommended for keeping your brain fresh . . .)

Send me your favorite words and I’ll include them next time!  In the meanwhile, if you want more on vocabulary, check out our earlier Advisories, listed below.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

• For some of the informal (maybe even NSFW) words that float around on the various survivor blogs . . . https://emergencyplanguide.org/survival-vocab-quiz/
• If you’d like a refresher of words from our CERT classes: https://emergencyplanguide.org/emergency-preparedness-vocabulary/
• Emergency preparedness terms typically used in a business setting: https://emergencyplanguide.org/emergency-preparedness-vocabulary-for-business/
• Heavy-duty (and not so heavy) jargon that I picked up from our Police and Fire Department trainers: https://emergencyplanguide.org/jargon-more-vocab-from-the-world-of-emergency-preparedness/

Keeping up with the latest — whether political news, phone technology, business trends or emergency preparedness — takes some effort.

It’s made easier when I find reliable sources that I can return to again and again. It’s made even easier when people take the time to send me the good stuff!

So today I’m sharing some preparedness and disaster recovery tips that I have recently received from favorite sources. Thanks to you all! (Please follow the links in each paragraph to get more on that topic.)

1-For Business Owners from Business Owners

Focus on Crisis Communications

I attended another  online webinar this morning, hosted by Agility Recovery: www.agilityrecovery.com  Today’s webinar was on Building a Crisis Communications Plan for business. I’ll be drafting a full Advisory based on my notes, but if you know you need this part of your plan, go grab this earlier version of their worksheet right now – https://www.agilityrecovery.com/assets/SBA/crisiscomms.pdf– and watch for my upcoming, updated  Advisory on this topic!

In the meanwhile, get to know this business preparedness and recovery service. I’ve found everything they do to be first rate. Over the past several years I’ve shared a number of things from their resource library. At their website, you’ll find:

• Tips: Their “52-week Disaster Recovery” series.
• Checklists: One of the best: Checklist for Power Outages and Back-up Generators. (Read the whole Advisory before you request the checklist. The questions in the Advisory are critical! https://emergencyplanguide.org/power-outage-in-the-workplace/.
• Case studies. There’s likely to be a story about a business similar to yours since Agility has responded to thousands of emergencies. I was particularly captured by the story of Western Financial Group’s 2015 flooding and recovery.

I really can recommend Agility Recovery as a “reliable resource.”

2-For Homeowners from a Homeowner

Focus on Flooding – Wells and Septic Tank Systems

I live in one of the most well-planned communities in the country. (Some neighbors complain that it’s overly planned. That’s another story for another day.) In any case, all utilities here are underground; I had to look up images of “telephone poles” for my recent Advisory about power lines because I couldn’t just look out the window and see one!

As a kid, though, we lived a lot further out in the country, and we managed our own well and septic tank. We even strung our own phone and electric lines (probably without a permit).

So when I got an email this month from one of our readers, I was interested!  Jim McKinley –  www.moneywithjim.org   — offers smart money management advice.

The resource he sent for us is about preparing your family and home for a flood – in particular, preparing to protect your water supply and sewage treatment system. And the link takes you to a pdf published by the Canadian Province of Saskatchewan. The general info is likely to be review for most Emergency Plan Guide readers, but I found these aspects of the article to be particularly valuable:

• Protecting your wellhead
• Decommissioning well pits
• Coping with groundwater flooding (lots of info on setting up drains)
• Pumping out a septic tank or holding tank BEFORE flooding
• Managing the soil of your private wastewater system AFTER a flood

You may not live in Saskatchewan, of course. And the property where I grew up, and maybe where you live, has long since been “connected to the city system.”

But it’s likely that someone you know lives further “off the grid” than you do. Or maybe you know someone whose vacation home has wells and/or a private wastewater system. Share this link!

https://www.wsask.ca/Global/Lakes%20and%20Rivers/Flood%20Watch/Preparing-for-a-flood.pdf

3-Finally, for anyone whose car has been caught in a flood.

From time to time over the years I’ve watched with concern and even horror as water crept up through the floorboards. But my cars have never been fully flooded.  How about you?

Once in North Carolina I rented a car for the day. We noted right away that something was amiss, and as the day warmed up – and we got farther and farther away from the rental shop – it became clear that the car had a real problem! It had been flooded!

Peeeee-yewwww! The smell was awful! Talk about car body odor!

If a car has been flooded, it’s usually considered a total loss by the insurance company. And it will be completely replaced. But, if you don’t have the right insurance, or the car wasn’t totaled, then you may find yourself trying to save it.

Once again, our friend Jim has directed us to an excellent online resource:

https://www.yourmechanic.com/article/how-to-reduce-the-damage-to-a-flooded-car-by-jason-unrau

And I’ll add to this article, part of which deals with eliminating odors. Yes, have and use plenty of baking soda. But in addition, consider this under-$10 specialty product:

This “sponge” doesn’t attempt to overpower the odor with another smell; it absorbs all odor.

If only we had had one of these in that rental car!

OK, that’s three tips for today. Maybe only one applies directly to you. But perhaps you have been inspired to think about other tips that you might share here. We welcome your suggestions!

 Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide team

P.S. Got an idea for a tip or for a full Advisory?  For a family, for a group, for a business? Just let me know and we’ll figure out how to get it published!  You can write to me directly at Virginia@EmergencyPlanGuide.org.

All ready for the holidays?

Here are 3 security mistakes people tend to make at this time of year. Take 2 minutes to check them out. It would be wonderful if you and your family could avoid them all.

1. Packages are SOOOO tempting!

Sure, you know better than to allow packages to be delivered to an empty house.

Just a week ago I was stopped on the street by a patrolman who showed me a picture of a kid taking a package from a front porch. (The picture had been taken by a home security camera. More on those later.)

And when you’re shopping, take the time to put gift purchases into the trunk of your car. If they won’t FIT in the trunk, at least cover the back seat pile with a dark and preferably dingy looking blanket. Better yet, make an extra trip rather than let packages sit unattended in a parking lot in full view.

And at home, don’t position your tree and all the lovely presents right in front of a window as in the picture above. Someone could break the window, grab the presents and run.

Packages are so tempting — to thieves!

2. “We’re so proud of our emergency preparations.”

The holiday season often means more visitors to your house. The guy to string the lights on the roof. UPS and Amazon delivery people. All the invitees to your Christmas party!

Every person who comes onto your premises has the chance to take a good look at what you have – and that includes some of your emergency preparedness items.

Your gardener sees the locks, the security cameras and lights you’ve installed. The delivery guy walking past your open garage door sees your tools and the cupboards and shelves packed with food and water. The computer guy you bring in to troubleshoot your new network sees your ham radio set-up, not to mention your laptop and printers.

It’s natural for a visitor to tuck this sort of information away. And in a big emergency, your house might become a target for one of those visitors, now turned desperate.

What can you do to cover or camouflage emergency supplies? Yes, be proud of the sensible steps you’ve taken. But with a bit of creativity you’ll get more of them out of sight. You can be just as satisfied and maybe a whole lot safer.

3. Take out the trash!

We’ve all read the novels where the criminal is identified because of stuff he puts in the trash. (Harrison Ford left orange peels and fake ID photos in the wastebasket in The Fugitive, remember?)

If you’re making a lot of purchases and getting a lot of gifts, you are going to have more trash than usual. And it may attract the wrong kind of attention.

Save and/or shred receipts or statements that have account numbers. Some receipts for online purchases may show up in your email. Protect them from casual view. Don’t stuff empty cardboard boxes (with pictures of TVs and electronic games and security cameras and drones!) into the trash; break them down and recycle anonymously at the recycling place.

And if you’re traveling during the holidays, make sure newspapers, leaves or other trash doesn’t build up outside while you are gone. That trash, plus a dark and empty house, is a real invitation to trouble. (Ask a neighbor for help, and invest in some timers for lights and/or radios.)

Oh, and for heaven’s sake, don’t you or your kids announce via social media or on a phone message that “We’re away skiing for a week!” Ouch!

We wish you the pleasure of giving, and the excitement of receiving. But we sure hope it’s not spoiled because you overlooked taking these sensible precautions.

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. We’re writing an Advisory about “Hiding valuables in plain sight.” Sign up for all our Advisories to be sure you get it.

Last week we attended a business expo: 1,000+ people talking, laughing, and sharing their business ideas. Energy and American ingenuity on display!

We figured these people wanted their business to succeed, so we offered a couple of quizzes to get a conversation started about Emergency Preparedness. As you can imagine, results were mixed.

• Some people (10%) took one look at us, saw the word “Emergency,” and shouldered their way past. Not interested, or threatened.
• A few (5%) grabbed the quiz and proceeded to show off how well they and their businesses were prepared. They were enthusiastic!
• Most (85%) came out with a version of the same thing: “Oh, I know I should be doing something, but . . .” (They usually said this with a shrug and a weak smile.)

Do these reactions sound familiar?

They should. As we’ve reported before, more than 60% of small businesses have no plan for emergency preparedness or response. In this crowd of very small businesses – many being operated out of home offices – apparently things were even worse.

Familiar doesn’t mean good. The impact of an emergency on a business with no plan is just plain dreadful. Historically, in nearly half the cases,

1. The business shuts down and never reopens.
2. Employees lose their income.
3. The owner loses his or her income and the entire investment.

Here’s our answer – and our commitment.

At Emergency Plan Guide we research and write about all aspects of preparedness, focusing on three main groups of people: families, neighborhoods and business.

Naturally, there is overlap. A family that is prepared can be an inspiration to neighbors. A neighborhood response group can attract resources to benefit many. A prepared business can stay afloat and support its families and the wider economy.

So, our Advisories and our articles and books strive to meet the needs of each of these groups. But . . .

We think the small business community is most often overlooked.

Resources for the small business seem to fall into two categories – free government websites and programs, and commercial business continuity services including insurance.

All of these have plenty of excellent information, in fact, page after page of it.

And there’s the problem. The typical small business owner is already overwhelmed!

So, here at Emergency Plan Guide . . .

We present basic business continuation information in small, easily digestible bites.

One of our favorite business tools is a simple, one-page flyer that lists 7 things you can do at work to improve preparedness. The list could be used to develop a full-blown preparedness plan, or it could be used, just one question at a time, to start informal conversations around the lunch table or at a staff meeting.

However you want to use it at your business, feel free. You can get your copy of the flyer here and take a look at how you want to proceed.

Disclosure: Yes, we know this one-pager is awfully lean. We’ll take a look at each item in more detail in coming months. The main thing is for you and your business to get started!

Planning for emergencies will save lives and jobs. There’s no time for planning or training once a disaster strikes.

Virginia and Joe
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

Small business owners sometimes confuse emergency preparedness with workplace safety as required by OSHA. Click to get our Advisory that gives more info on OSHA and its limitations.

A Gift for a Lifetime

I got my first Swiss Army knife when I was about 8 years old, a gift from a friend of my mother’s. (A boyfriend? We’ll never know!) I don’t think I’ve been without one in my pocket since.

When I say without “one” I should really be saying “without several” since there are so many different models, each with some special feature, that you want to own one of each! (Well, maybe not every one. Read on . . .)

Real Swiss Army knives, brand name Victorinox, last nearly forever if you don’t lose them.

If a part breaks or goes missing, you can fix it!

Replace scissors spring on Swiss Army knife

Here’s what got me started on this Advisory. I had to . . .

Replace the broken scissors spring

in one of my favorite small knives.

I use these scissors a LOT, for cutting everything from paper to fingernails to packaging tape.

(Once I even used the scissors to give myself a quick haircut when a posh restaurant thought my hair was too long to let me in.)

Where to find the spring

In years past I have found the scissors spring at hardware or sporting goods stores, but for the last three years I’ve had no luck. (Maybe people prefer to sell a whole new knife rather than a $2 set of springs!) I( knew I could get them from Victorinox, but that involved more shipping that I wanted to fool with.)

This time, I went to Amazon to get what I needed. Here’s the link to the purchase, for a grand total of $2.95. Victorinox Scissor Spring, Small

How to replace the spring

Replacing the spring takes four things: a new spring (image 1 shows the package), some sort of round file or punch (image 2) , a pair of needle-nose pliers (3) and a little dexterity.

And here are the steps to replacement.

• Open the knife so that the scissors extend at a 90% angle.
• See the round hole near the base of the scissors? One side of the hole has sharp edges; on the other side, the edges have been rounded.
• Use the pliers or a punch to push/pull the old spring out so it comes out the rounded side of the hole. I found that the tip of a small round file worked perfectly for me.
• Use the pliers to press the new spring into place from the rounded side of the hole.
• Be patient and persistent. You may need to flex the spring slightly to get it into the hole.

Knife like new, back in my pocket for another day!

What about other models of the Swiss Army knife?

Victorinox (and competitor, now partner Wenger) has produced many different models since the company started in the late 1800s. All have a main blade plus various auxiliary tools – as many as 30 in various combinations! Most also have the familiar red handle with white cross logo.

Most practical multi-tool

While it’s great to have different tools all in one, the largest Swiss Army Knife that I find practical is the Swiss Champ. It costs $73.49, and its holster adds another $8.34.  (Yes, I own both.)
Victorinox Swiss Army Swiss Champ Pocket Knife (Red)

If you want more tools, of course, you can get more. In 2006 Guinness World Records recognized a knife (made by Wenger) that had 87 tools and 141 different functions and that cost upwards of $1,000!

Best for everyday use

And for everyday use, I carry the “Midnight MiniChamp” version with built-in ball point pen and flashlight . . .

Victorinox Swiss Army Midnite Minichamp, Sapphire

(This picture shows the knife in blue, but of course, it comes in red, too.)

If you’re shopping for yourself or for a gift, take the time to review all the different models to get the exact knife you need. Again, a small convenient pocket knife is one thing, and a versatile multi-tool for your survival kit and/or emergency kit for the car serves a completely different purpose.

Either way you can rest assured that this will be something to treasure.

And one final note, just for fun. It turns out that the name “Victorinox” is a combination of the original owner’s mother’s name – Victoria – and the French word for stainless steel, “inoxydable“, shortened to Inox. (Stainless steel was invented by an Englishman in 1913.) Oh, and the clever family that named the company still owns it, four generations later.

Joe Krueger
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team

P.S. I’ll bet you have a favorite Swiss Army knife. Which one and why? Your comments may help others decide which one(s) to get!

Some statistics for small business.

You’ve seen the stats here before. Check out numbers from a June 2015 Nationwide Insurance survey:

• 75% of small business owners say they don’t have a disaster plan. (This is UP from the 72% we’ve quoted before!)
• 38% don’t even think a disaster plan is important.
• Unfortunately, a business without a plan has a poor chance of recovery after a disaster. FEMA reports that 43% of them will never reopen, and another 25% will close their doors after one year. That means that after a disaster, nearly three-quarters of businesses without a plan will be gone.

Who knows what the numbers will tell us after the recent one-two-three punch from Hurricanes Harvey, Irma and Maria!

No matter what the exact numbers are, operating without a plan leaves your customers in the cold, your employees without a job, and your investment down the tubes.

If you don’t already have a plan, what might spur you to action? Consider this . . .

Let’s take a look at just one risk that you are surely familiar with.

One company we follow is Agility Recovery. As its name suggests the company offers recovery solutions – four main ones (office space, power, communications, computer systems).

In its 25 years of business, Agility has responded to one type of emergency more than twice as often as any other —

Loss of power!

Further, according to Agility Recovery,

• Nearly 70% of businesses will lose power sometime in the next 12 months.

So, where does your company stand on being ready to withstand a power outage?

“Well, I think we have a back-up generator on premises!”

That’s a start. Again, thanks to some resources offered by Agility Recovery, Popular Mechanics and The Home Depot, here are

Ten questions for your next conversation about power outages at work.

1. Do employees have emergency kits with flashlights? Are the batteries fresh? Are the flashlights hand-crank?
2. Do you have emergency radios so you can get the news and weather? Again, fresh batteries, hand-crank or solar?
3. Are electronics protected by a power strip surge protector?
4. Do employees know what should be turned off in a power outage, and what should be left on?
5. Are desktop electronics connected to a functioning UPS device so they can be powered down in a controlled fashion?
6. Do you have a back-up generator for essential equipment?
7. Do you know what equipment is considered “essential” and are you confident the generator can both START and RUN that equipment? (It takes 3 to 5 times more power to start up a motor than to run it.)
8. Have you trained on where to place the generator when it is needed?
9. Do you have the appropriate electrical cords and plugs for your needs? How long do cables need to be?
10. Do you have fuel for the generator? How long will it last, and what are the plans for getting more?

Get the rest of the questions and answers.

These ten questions are really just a start. Any business other than a home office needs more information in order to do a good job of managing a power outage. You can get a more detailed checklist, plus see some of the case histories offered by Agility Recovery, at their resource library: https://www.agilityrecovery.com/resource-library/

Power outages are on the horizon, it’s just a matter of when.

Good luck!

Virginia
Your Emergency Plan Guide Team