MayDay
Suggested Preparedness Activities
Disaster preparedness doesn’t have to be difficult! You can take simple steps throughout the year toward your goals. Why not start this MayDay? Here are some suggestions from the Heritage Emergency National Task Force:
- If you have a disaster plan, dust it off and bring it up to date.
- If you don't have a plan, make a timeline for developing one.
- Get to know your local firefighters and police. Invite them to tour your institution and give pointers on safety and preparedness. Heritage Preservation offers a poster and podcast outlining tips for working with emergency responders.
- Identify the three biggest risks to your collection or building (such as a dust storm, leaking water pipe, heavy snow, or power failure) and outline steps to mitigate them. Use Heritage Preservation’s tools for risk evaluation, available here.
- Evaluate your need for a priority contract with a disaster recovery firm.
- Conduct a building evacuation drill and evaluate the results.
- Update your staff contact information and create a wallet-size version of your emergency contact roster. See the Pocket Response Plan™ (PReP™) here.
- Eliminate hazards such as boxes and furniture in hallways, blocked fire exits, or improper storage of paints and solvents.
- Join forces with nearby institutions and develop a protocol for helping each other in case of a disaster. Check to see if such a network already exists in your region here or listen to advice on how to get one going here.
- Identify and label priority collections and objects for evacuation during emergencies. Which are most important to your mission, irreplaceable, or most fragile?
- Register for a free course to learn how your institution fits into existing emergency response protocols. A list is available here.
Need more ideas? See what other organizations did for MayDay 2012.
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