How to train employees for weather emergencies
If a devastating weather emergency such as a tornado, flooding, hurricane, or other severe weather were to strike in your area, would your employees be prepared to cope with such a difficult, stressful, and dangerous situation?
Weather emergencies can strike with incredible force and sometimes very little warning. Proper training and preparation saves lives and minimizes destruction of property.
Do employees know the plan?
If you’ve not done so recently, be sure to review your organization’s emergency plan with all your employees. Explain how you will notify employees about facility closings and provide other critical information before, during, and after an emergency.
Give trainees the opportunity to ask questions about anything that is unclear about the plan or any emergency procedures they don’t understand. Remind them that it is the time to ask questions and resolve uncertainties — there won’t be time to find out when a real emergency strikes.
Also, be sure all trainees understand their emergency duties. Carefully explain any unfamiliar duties they will be expected to assume in a crisis.
Are employees ready to deal with crisis-related difficulties?
Be sure to cover the worst-case scenario — not to scare trainees, but to prepare them for the potential devastation.
They need to be ready to deal with crisis-related difficulties such as:
- Power outages
- Downed phone lines resulting in the loss of land-based communication
- Lack of safe drinking water
- Impassable roads
- Gasoline shortages
- Food shortages
- Gas main breaks and resulting fires
- Sewer line breaks creating the risk of disease
- Structural damage to the facility
- Damage to or destruction of homes and personal property
Do they know when to go and when to stay?
In some weather emergencies, there may be very little advance warning, and minutes will count. Employees need to know how to act swiftly, calmly, and purposefully.
Review evacuation and other emergency action procedures.
Make sure your trainees know:
- Emergency evacuation routes from their work areas and other parts of the facility
- Evacuation duties, including shutting down equipment, securing the facility, and assisting in the evacuation of co-workers
- Where to evacuate during a weather emergency
- Procedures for sheltering in place if conditions outside the facility make evacuation impossible
Are emergency supplies accessible?
Whether trainees are at work or at home when a weather emergency strikes your area, they need to have the necessary emergency supplies on hand to see them through the crisis.
Critical emergency supplies include:
- Food and water: Emergency food and water
- Medical: Adequate supplies of medicines and first-aid materials
- Hygiene: Soap, clean clothes and towels, disinfectants
- Communication: Cell phones and rechargers, portable battery-operated radios
- Light and warmth: Flashlights with extra batteries, blankets
The better prepared your employees are for a weather emergency, the sooner your organization can be back up and running after the weather clears.
Frequently asked questions
What should employee weather emergency training cover?
Training should cover your organization’s emergency plan, employee notification procedures, evacuation routes, sheltering-in-place procedures, individual emergency duties, and worst-case scenarios such as power outages, water shortages, and structural damage.
What emergency supplies should employees have on hand?
Critical supplies include emergency food and water, medicines and first-aid materials, hygienic supplies, cell phones and rechargers, flashlights with extra batteries, portable battery-operated radios, and blankets.
What should employees know about evacuation during a weather emergency?
Employees should know their evacuation routes, their specific duties during evacuation, where to go once they evacuate, and procedures for sheltering in place if outside conditions make evacuation impossible.
