Your workplace wellness program likely includes topics such as eating healthfully, exercising, getting preventive screenings, and dealing stress, but does your program cover being prepared for emergencies – at the workplace and at home?
Emergency preparedness is an often overlooked area of health and wellness, but is an important subject that your employees need and would likely appreciate knowing more about.
A potential disaster can strike anytime, anywhere — in the form of a fire, flood, tornado, hurricane, earthquake, illness outbreak, accident, or some other calamity. The key to making it through emergency situations often comes down to knowing what to do… how to do it… and when to do it.
A number of organizations offer a plethora of free online preparedness resources you can use to educate your employees.
- Ready — a national campaign designed to educate and empower Americans to be prepared for and respond to emergencies, including natural and man-made disasters
- U.S. Department of Labor
- National Safety Council
- American Red Cross
Other groups that may have materials include local police departments, fire departments, and hospitals.
Hold educational events (such as lunch-and-learns or department workshops held during the workday) on your own, using materials from the various government agencies and associations, or contact local representatives for the organizations who may be willing to put on events for you.
There is no right or wrong time to hold emergency preparedness training, but you may want to consider certain topics at times when those emergency situations may be more likely to occur, such as floods during the spring, flu or blizzards in the winter, etc.
