It’s a wise thing to prepare for emergencies. After all, that’s why people buy insurance. However, the type of insurance mentioned here is the self-reliant kind. No insurance company can help you when there are no light in your town or the grocery store shelves are empty. Preparing for this type of emergency is something you must do for yourself. If you have a business, than you also definitely need an emergency action plan.

During some emergencies, you and your staff must leave the office These include fires and floods that threaten your home or office. Usually, it’s best to remain inside during other types of emergencies, such as widespread electrical outages or huge snowstorms. This training can be useful for:

• As extra information besides the mandatory training sessions that happen regularly;
• Your employees to apply at home;
• The times when you and your staff members are on a trip or even in the office.

8 Ideas for a Complete and Safe Emergency Action Plan

Thinking in terms of these two basic scenarios – traveling away from the emergency or staying inside – allows you to organize your emergency action plan preparations. The first requires packing the car with the items you will need the most while away. The second deals with staying quietly inside for an extended period of time.

1. Air, Water, Food

Whether traveling or staying, you can’t survive for very long without breathable air, drinkable water and palatable food. If you are just beginning to implement an emergency action plan, start with these three essential items.

• Air: If the air is contaminated, you won’t last long. You’ll wish you had a gas mask. You can purchase these online or from an Army/Navy store. Every member of the household needs one that fits well.
• Water: If water is unavailable or undrinkable for any reason, you’ll be in trouble within the first day. Save soda bottles and glass jars and fill them with clean water now. Contaminated water can be used to flush toilets. The clean water you store is just for drinking and cooking. Depending on the contaminants, bleach or colloidal silver might solve the contamination problem. So have some of that on hand as part of your emergency action plan.
• Food: Some food must be cooked before eating, others do not. Focus on the second group because you may not have a means of cooking while traveling or even in the office. Many canned vegetables can be safely eaten cold from the can. Have a non-electric can opener with the cans. Canned hams, canned chicken and summer sausage can be eaten without being cooked.

If drinkable water is in short supply, remember that many canned foods, such as green beans and canned fruit, have liquid in them.

If you have pets, stock up on their food, too. You don’t want to change a pet’s diet or you could have a very sick animal on your hands during an emergency situation.

2. Staying Warm

If you live in a cold climate, a means of staying warm without central heat must be part of your emergency action plan. Enough blankets, sweaters, shirts, pants, socks, boots, hoods, hats, rain gear and gloves should be available for every person.

Developing a secondary means of heating should be part of your emergency action plan thinking. If you can install a small wood-burning stove and store some wood, paper and matches, that would work.

Have a good axe on hand and a non-electric means of sharpening it. In a long-term emergency, you don’t know what wooden thing you’ll have to chop up to stay warm. It could be a desk or an extra table. A wood stove also allows you to heat water for tea and coffee. This would be a comfort during an emergency.

If you have a propane kitchen stove, be sure that the propane tank is more than half full at all times. There is enough to worry about during an emergency without being angry at yourself for letting the propane level get low.

If you don’t have a propane kitchen stove, get a camping stove that uses bottled fuel and have plenty stored away. Know the shelf life of the fuel, exactly how the stove works and what you need to light it.

3. Lighting

Sitting in the dark during an emergency is unnerving, upsetting and dangerous.

• Flashlights: If you must travel, flashlights and batteries are the best option. Find a long-lasting flashlight/battery combination. Have at least one on hand.
• Solar lights: If you opt to stay home during the emergency, you can put solar lights into the yard during the day and bring them in after dark. These will give you some light. Not all solar lights will last the night.
• Oil lamps: During an emergency situation, someone may be assigned to stay up after others go to bed. An oil lamp or two will suffice for this person. The oil burns quickly, so experiment before the emergency to determine how much oil and how many wicks should be on hand to last for an extended period of time.

4. Self-Defense

Now that you have food, water, clothing and lighting for you and the others, now is the time to incorporate a means of protecting both the persons and the survival items.

• Firearm: If you don’t have a firearm and plenty of ammunition, start researching the best weapon for your situation. Learn how to fire and clean it with confidence. You will need a safe and comfortable way of carrying it, if you need to leave home. If possible, have spare parts on hand.
• Pepper Spray: Guns are not the only means of self defense. Several canisters of some sort of spray (there are several) should be part of your emergency action plan preparations.
• Knives: Knives have many survival uses. There are many types specially designed for different purposes. Learn the characteristics of the different types of knives and purchase the best ones you can afford. Understand the strength of the steel and the proper way to sharpen it. Purchase the sharpening equipment when you buy the knife.

6. Financial Emergency

Part of your emergency action plan thinking should be the scenario where the banks are closed and the ATM machines are empty. Have small denomination bills stored away where you and one other trusted person knows where they are. Bartering for goods will work to a point but many people will want cash.

If you want to use gold and silver during an emergency, remember this. If you present a gold piece worth $1,000 at the grocery store, they won’t be able to give you change for it. On the other hand, if you offer them a Peace silver dollar, worth about $12.50, they may sell you some groceries.

7. Emergency Medical Care

A properly stocked first aid kit should be in every home and car. The inexpensive ones that can be bought at a drug store are not adequate for real emergencies. So each person should compile the necessary supplies into a case. A first aid book is also useful. Then have each household member learn what it teaches.

8. The Items in Your First Aid Kit

• Small cuts and scrapes: 2×2 gauze pads, antiseptic, band aids, tape, scissors.
• Head cut: 2″ rolled bandage, 3×3 gauze pads.
• Large or deep cut: 4×4 gauze pads, wide tape. Apply pressure. Focus on stopping the bleeding asap.
• Splinters: add a good set of tweezers.
• Bruises: Topical pain cream, ibuprofen for swelling.
• Possible broken arm: Sling and wide rolled gauze to secure arm to body.
• Possible broken leg: Poles and wide rolled gauze to keep the leg straight.
• Small burns: Small burn pads and sterile water.
• Large burns: Large burn pads.
• Poisonings: Ipecac, only if appropriate. Have a manual on hand on what to do for each poisoning.

Summing Up

Lastly, stay current on the political news. If the war drums are beating, you don’t want to be caught off guard. Also, read the prepper sites and forums on a regular basis. Stay abreast of the latest emergency action plan preparations that other people are taking. If you like novels, there are many free ones online that rehearse various survival scenarios. Each one will train your mind to think outside the box when living through various difficult situations.

Emergencies can and do happen. They can happen to you and your family or your staff members. The whole preparedness thing can seem overwhelming at first. However, as with any insurance measure, if you take it one step at a time you will become increasingly ready for what may come your way.

Images from depositphotos.com.