With the new year quickly approaching, it is a great time to revisit policies and procedures. One plan that tends to be overlooked is an Emergency Action Plan. We hope we won’t need it, but it’s better to have in place and never need, than to need and not have.

The American Red Cross ReadyRating program is a great tool to see how well you are prepared for disasters and emergencies. We recently did an initial assessment at the Chamber and it allowed us to see where we were already doing great, and where we need to make some improvements.

The assessment is quick and easy to complete—it only took us a few minutes. You are then given the chance to download a report of your initial assessment, a Next Steps report detailing what you should focus on next, and an Emergency Action Plan template you can use to create your own plan.

ReadyRating is free and members are then given a seal (pictured) that can be displayed on their website or in their business. The ReadyRating website is full of resources and training exercises.

The Chamber did a webinar about ReadyRating with Mary Rodgers from the American Red Cross in April, which can be viewed on our YouTube channel. If you’ve been wondering where to get started with emergency planning, ReadyRating is a great first step. Visit readyrating.org to sign up.

This article was published in the Venango Chamber’s December 2021 VenangoWorks! Newsletter.