Posts Tagged ‘family’

Survey Reveals That Families Are At Risk

Sunday, September 28th, 2008
Do you know where your kids are?

Do you know where your kids are?

The Mailman School of Public Health of Columbia University recently released the results of an annual study on disaster preparedness that it has been conducting since the 9/11 terrorist attacks. To download and read the report, click here. The study didn’t reveal any major surprises: most Americans are not prepared for a major emergency and most parents are not aware of the disaster plans their children’s schools have in place. The survey question I found most interesting was “Which statement best characterizes what you think might happen in a disaster situation?” 57% of respondents answered that “You will work on your own to protect yourself and your family” and 13% answered “You will wait for help to arrive”. If 57% of the population accepts that you must work on your own to protect yourself and your family, then you would expect that at least 57% of the respondents would indicate that they have disaster plans in place for their families, but the number was far lower than that. It appears that people know what they have to do, but they are not all doing it. As small business owners, we can change this. Encourage your employees to put in place disaster plans for their families using the same methodology we are using for our small businesses. This will not only help your employees and their families, but it will help to secure their “buy-in” for your business disaster plan, when everyone realizes the benefits.