When an emergency situation arises, the news stations cover all the hard-working first responders and others who are tasked with keeping us safe. We have emergency management departments, fire departments, law enforcement, and rescue squads in every county. We have FEMA, the Red Cross and the National Guard. But who is taking care of your business?
As a small business, you will be on your own for a time when a large-scale disaster occurs. That time may be a few hours, or it could be days and weeks before you’ll receive any assistance. A major disaster is very much like emergency room triage; it’s not who’s there first, it’s who has the most serious injury that gets care first. So if you want your company and your business to emerge from a catastrophe intact and return to full operation quickly, it will all depend on how well-prepared you are.
The other part of this scenario is trucking and logistics-specific. Unfortunately, “when trucking stops, America stops.” As a trucking company, even a small or micro trucking operation, you may be the vital link to getting areas hard hit by a disaster back to some level of normalcy. Being prepared and ready to provide logistics services becomes even more important. Make sure that your employees are safe, and make sure that you have the means to operate on a minimal basis.
In order to be prepared, following is a list of questions for which you should have answers.
1. If all communications go down in the area of your trucking company, can your drivers get funds to fuel and continue operating if they’re outside the disaster region? Check with your fuel card provider to see what programs they have to keep your truckers funded if your main office is suddenly off-line.
2. Do you have backup power? Do you have a generator and the fuel to operate it? Most trucks have a fuel capacity of 150 gals. of fuel or more, so if you have trucks with APUs on them, this may be a quick solution for emergency power. This will enable you to keep a few lights on, operate a couple of computers, and charge cell phones.
3. Do you have a “bug-out” survival kit in the office for every employee? Each kit should have the following as a minimum: $100 cash, a flashlight with spare batteries,12 bottles of drinking water, a first-aid kit (cold pack, gauze, gauze pads, iodine, hydrogen peroxide, antibacterial cream, adhesive bandages of varying sizes, tweezers, scissors, sewing needles and thread, and an hemostatic agent like QuikClot), and sawdust/charcoal hand warmers for the winter.
Other items in this kit should include at least a week’s supply of any prescription medication needed by each employee, high-energy snack foods, two changes of clothes, boots, extra socks, jacket or sweatshirt, work gloves, and folding knife or multi-tool like a Leatherman.
There are many other things you must do to be prepared for a major disaster, but these three will help ensure the safety and well-being of your employees whether on the road or stranded at the office.
Contact Tim Brady at 731-749-8567 or at www.timothybrady.com
