Emergency Preparedness: Communication and Computers

Two other important considerations are communication and computers.

The most obvious form of communication is telephone. If the phone lines are down and/or the cell towers are down, it is important to be able to contact staff outside the facility. The facility plan will probably work for the dining services department as well as the rest of the facility, but the manager must know what the plan is.

Another consideration to is have all staff phone numbers, cell, home, and others as appropriate, easily accessible during an emergency. For example, it doesn’t help to have the numbers in your own phone if you cannot access your phone or in the computer if you cannot access the computer.

And if the cell phones are working, but the power is out, there needs to be a way to recharge the cell phone batteries. Check to be sure there are sufficient outlets connected to the emergency generator.

The computer stores a vast amount of data. If the computer is not accessible, it is important to determine in advance of an emergency how to access that data. In some cases keeping hard copies on file will work. Another option would be to have the files backed up so the information can be accessed through a laptop computer, provided there is a method to keep the batteries charged. Also check to see if the printer will be available.

Many facilities store information and communicate through an intranet. The manager must know what the facility plan is if that is to go down.

A great deal of communication occurs over the Internet, including order placement. If computers and/or the Internet are not available, there needs to be a back-up plan for placing orders and other types of communication.

As dependent as we are on computers and instant communication, this could be a difficult situation to handle in an emergency.

What comments do you have on addressing this issue?