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Preparing Your Employees for Weather Emergencies | SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island
9/19/2023 (Permalink)
If your home or business was damaged in a storm, call SERVPRO of East Brownsville & South Padre Island to get you back in action.
A prepared business is a successful business, right? That is probably a principle that has been instilled in you and your team for a long time, but have you considered preparing for weather emergencies?
In the midst of learning how to handle every hurdle your company might jump, make sure you spend time thinking about the weather in your environment. Create an emergency plan that will both protect your team and help mitigate as much loss as possible.
When you are prepared, you can approach emergencies calmly and quickly. These tips can help.
The perfect place to start creating your plan is by getting to know the weather your business will face. Assess regular weather threats and the extremes, and spend some time learning about previous damaging events that have occurred near your property.
Living in a semi-tropical climate means we enjoy a lot of sunshine and warm weather, which for most of us is a fantastic gift during the winter season. But our warm climate also means we often face heavy rains, flooding and tropical-style storms, including the occasional hurricane.
Because flooding is a concern year-round, make sure you know where your property is on flood maps in order to have the correct coverages and safety measures in place. You should also keep up with local weather daily. Things can change quickly, so make sure you have more than one avenue to stay ahead of storms moving in.
Communication is one of the most important parts of your emergency plan. You need to make sure your team is on the same page as you enact your protocols in order to avoid confusion and prevent panic.
Create a system that employs more than one communication method so everyone receives the same message quickly. Your team needs to act quickly when it is time to gather supplies to evacuate or head to the safe space in order to seek shelter.
Some emergencies will require your employees to evacuate the property in order to ride out storms safely. Practice exit plans with your staff regularly, and make sure routes are mapped out and displayed throughout your building. Label doors and illuminate hallways to ensure the safest exit.
When severe storms move in quickly and evacuations are not safe, your staff needs a safe location they can shelter. Choose a location on the lowest level of your building, and keep supplies close. Visit this space when you practice your evacuation plans with your team so everyone knows where it is.
No matter how you are riding out the storm, the more prepared you and your team are, the calmer and safer everyone can stay. Panic can make situations much worse, so practice your plan often to keep anxiety levels low. Keep up with the weather regularly, and communicate often. A prepared team is a happy team!
Don’t let extreme weather take control! If storms strike your business, SERVPRO® can help you restore your losses.