January 25-31, 2011 Business in Vancouver
SMALL BUSINESS 23
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Metro Vancouver companies set for “when – not if” workplace shakeup Mass emergency drill to test B.C. business community’s quake preparation By Rebecca Edwards
ook around your office – where would you take shelter from flying debris if a major earthquake struck during the working day? When the shaking stops, will you have the training and supplies necessary to keep your staff and customers safe for up to 72 hours? In the following weeks, how will your business operate while the city rebuilds infrastructure and restores communications? The Great British Columbia ShakeOut earthquake drill on January 26 will ask British Columbians to consider these questions so that when – not if – a major earthquake hits, they’ll already have the answers. “At 10 a.m. on drill day, more than 300,000 participants will follow the command to drop, cover and hold on,” said Karen Basi, ShakeOut committee member and the City of Coquitlam’s emergency program manager. “We hope it will raise awareness that we do live in a seismically active area, we will experience a damaging earthquake sometime in the future, and you need to protect yourself when the shaking starts and after it stops.” To help businesses organize a drill, the ShakeOut website has information sheets, posters and an audio
DOMINIC SCHAEFER
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Carmen Funk, general manager, FAST: “we want to make sure our employees know what to do. People don’t think to get prepared until something has already happened”
announcement to signal the start of the exercise. The announcement – available as an MP3 with or without earthquake sound effects – instructs participants to get down, take cover under a table or desk and hold on. In the next 60 seconds, drill participants are asked to look around for any furniture that should be secured ahead of a real quake. If you’re near the ocean, you should take cover until the shaking stops, then head for high ground. One of the 179 B.C. businesses registered for the drill
is emergency preparation kit manufacturer FAST – First Aid & Survival Technologies Ltd., which is based in Delta and has 40 staff members. “We want to make sure our employees know what to do,” said general manager Carmen Funk. “People don’t think to get prepared until something has already happened. It’s too easy to put things off until it’s too late.” All 7,000 workers in downtown Vancouver’s Bentall Centre are being encouraged to take part in the drill by Kevin Soltani, security,
fire and life safety manager for building owner Bentall Kennedy. Soltani said staff members should be encouraged to get their homes prepared for emergency. “If an earthquake hits while you’re at work, you’re stuck in the office thinking, ‘Are my kids OK? Are my parents OK?’ “Unfortunately the phone lines don’t work and you are stuck. If it’s the mega-earthquake, you could be dealing with seven to 15 feet of debris in downtown Vancouver.
“If it’s the megaearthquake, you could be dealing with seven to 15 feet of debris in downtown Vancouver” – Kevin Soltani, security, fire and life safety manager, Bentall Kennedy
The bridges may be damaged or destroyed. “We tell people to have food and water for everyone in the building for 72 hours, but really it could be anywhere from three to five days before they can get help to us downtown,” said Soltani. “You need your staff to know their families are prepared, too, or they will want to get home before it is safe. “We want this drill to make managers come to us and ask how to get all this food, how to make a plan for their business.” Basi said businesses that take time to prepare an emergency management plan are more likely to survive in the aftermath of a natural disaster. “How do they get in contact with employees? How do they get their usual deliveries from suppliers? The failure of a business can be a secondary disaster for the community, so it’s something we want to prevent. “It’s a tough sell to get people to think about the worst-case scenario, but the fact is it’s not a question of if we have a major earthquake, it’s when.” The Great British Columbia ShakeOut is scheduled for Wednesday, January 26, at 10 a.m. Register or find more information at www.shakeoutbc.ca. Ą news@biv.com