safety-related Workplace preparedness

[KE8HNK]

What would happen if you had to spent the night or several days at work due to a snow storm, or another natural  or man made incident? 

One thing working security is that I can always be mandated to work, some others work in sectors as such too that may require you to stay for more than one shift, do you have comms to keep in touch with your family? Do you have your Go-Bag setup for several days at work? do you have or carry extra supplies in your vehicle? As ham radio operators we often times do emergency preparedness and public service events but do we take the time to plan for our personal lives and our families? I would like to hear from others about the thought of having to stay at work for a few extra shifts to about a week. What would you do? How would you plan? And finally how would you go about establishing contact with family who do not have their ham radio license's?  

[K3MRI]

What an absolutely excellent point!!! I have actually given it substantial thought and use it as my main argument to get my spouse to get her tech license, at least. I have not yet succeeded (still trying) but that at least would give me an effective alternate means of staying in touch with her. I think that I will insist more! As for the go-bag, on that front we are all set. We actually have short and long term ‘kits’. We have the ‘get out of the house, it’s on fire’ set of items that we grab (passports, birth certificates, etc.) but we also have a ‘we need to survive in the woods for a month’ kit. As for the work side, a workplace scenario no longer applies to me but, indeed, I am quite certain that few of us plan adequately for having to ‘go’ from work or, more relevant to your point, having to ‘stay at work’ for extended periods of time. Which does bring me to the Pandemic. If anything, it has taught us the dos and donts of isolation. If you had talked to someone about being cooped up for six months, even just one month, in 2019, they would have told you how impossible it was. Ask them today and they will all tell you that, if nothing else, they know ‘how’ to do it. That does not mean we are prepared for an extended stay at work, but I think that we are now better prepared to ‘figure it out’.