Emergency Preparedness
If you are located anywhere in the eastern half of the United States, you got hit with some pretty nasty weather this week - high winds, tornadoes, snow storm, etc. Were you prepared? If you're like most people, the answer is probably no.
Regardless of whether you are an individual or a business, you need emergency supplies. Now, I'll bet that the first things that popped into your head when you read that last sentence were food, medicine, water, clothes and blankets. Those are definitely all items that should be in your emergency kits, but a few other basic necessities are communication, information and light. How will you reach people in an emergency? If it's a large-scale natural disaster, your phones probably aren't working. How will you get news and information? How will you find your way around if the power is out?
Two-way radios can keep you in touch, to a certain extent. They don't replace a traditional phone completely, but they don't depend on cell towers - they operate radio-to-radio, independent from any other system. Your coverage area depends on the type you buy - FRS, GMRS or business radio. They each have different signal strengths and coverage areas. FRS is designed for family use, operates at the lowest power of the three and has a shorter transmission distance than the other two. Both GMRS and business radios require a license from the FCC. Browse our selection here. Make sure you keep them charged - most two-way radios have rechargeable batteries, not alkaline batteries.
Another necessity is a weather alert radio. Some are crank radios (no power needed), some are battery powered, some are solar powered and some are a combination of power methods. Some are strictly weather radios, but many can also provide AM and FM frequencies to keep you in touch with other pertinent news. Here are a few options that Office Express carries:
The third item on my topic list today is flashlights. Even during the day time, it can be pretty dark in a building with no power. You should always have flashlights available throughout your building or your home, with fully charged batteries. I recommend getting flashlights with regular batteries as opposed to rechargeable ones, and have plenty of spare batteries on hand. Just common sense here. Think about it - if you have no power, you have no way to recharge the batteries. Well, almost no way. If you have a UPS on your computers, you might be able to plug the charging station into the UPS and recharge it. (Make sure to shut down your computer at the first sign of a power outage. That will increase the amount of power available to draw from the UPS.) I think it's just easier to open a new pack of batteries and pop them in. LED flashlights and lanterns are very bright and long-lasting. Headlamps are growing in popularity also. I've included a few options below and you can see our selection here.
You may not think of your office products supplier for items like two-way radios and weather radios, but we have them. We are a one-stop shop! Make sure your office or home is prepared for an emergency before it happens!