As we experience the season for hurricanes and wildfires, concerns about losing power and the impact it will have on your business are to be expected, especially if a large portion of your work force is working from home. And losing power can also impact your customers and community. That’s why it’s important for you and your employees to plan for power or internet outages.
To help, we’ve pulled together a list of things the Department of Homeland Security recommends for navigating an outage. Be sure to pass these along to your employees; they’re a great jumping off point to spark conversations about their individual power outage preparedness plans!
Keeping the lights on: Prepping for a power outage
- First, take an inventory of all the items you might need during an outage that rely on electricity.
- Next, purchase batteries and plan for other alternatives to meet your needs in an outage.
- Sign up for local alerts and monitor weather reports.
- Install carbon monoxide and smoke detectors with battery backup.
- Flashlights? Extra batteries? Review your emergency supply stock. Also, be sure to have enough nonperishable food and water. Make sure there’s enough for every household member.
- Adopt an “ever-ready” mindset; stay in the habit of keeping your mobile devices and other electric equipment charged and your gas tanks full.
- Consider investing in a backup generator.
Power restored, restoring order – Being safe after an outage
Hopefully, the disruption in power didn’t last too long and cause too much frustration. Now, as you work to get things back up and running, here are a few quick tips:
- If the power is on and the internet hasn’t come back, use a hot spot to connect or tether your cell phone to your computer.
- You may be able to charge your laptop in your car using a car charger adapter.
For even more tips, visit Ready.gov for information on remaining safe during various disasters and emergencies, and how to build effective plans.