Often the simplest solutions are the best.

For all our efforts toward planning for disasters, creating policy and procedures, writing exhaustive manuals and so on, we are left with one fundamental problem: In an emergency, it’s hard to think clearly and remember what to do.

And it is pretty important to get it right. Lives may be at stake. The severity and amount of damage to your property or inventory may depend on several people taking the correct actions in the correct order.

What to do? Well, we can and should revisit our plans and procedures to make sure they are as good as they can be. We can and should have an active training program in place. But for all of these efforts, we still know that individuals react differently to the chaos of an actual emergency event, and left to chance, things will not automatically go well.

The checklist

In a December 7, 2007 New Yorker magazine article titled “The Checklist,” Dr. Atul Gawande tells two dramatic stories. The first dates back to 1935 and a competition among aircraft manufacturers to build the next generation long-range bomber. The odds-on favorite lost the competition, the contract and two of its crew members, when its aircraft crashed. Years later in a dramatic turnaround, the same aircraft was flown for over 1.8 million miles without incident and 13,000 of them went on to contribute to a decisive air advantage in World War II. The aircraft? It was the famed Boeing B-17 “Flying Fortress.”

The second story describes the world of the intensive care unit where a team of highly trained professionals face some of the most complex patients in medicine and win—most of the time. But can the system be improved upon? After some resistance, an innovative hospital administration allowed a physician researcher to test a theory. The outcome? Improvements so dramatic that, initially, no one wanted to believe them.

Well, by now you’ve guessed the answer. It sounds so mundane, but in both cases checklists made the fundamental difference. And consider further that both of these examples center on carefully designed and controlled systems. What might the power of this new/old tool do when applied to the totally uncontrolled and unpredictable situation of an emergency?

The emergency action checklist

Since emergencies can occur anytime anywhere, the first trick is to have your guidance with you at all times. That fat three-ring binder collecting dust on the conference room shelf is of little use if you’re standing on the shop floor when “it” hits. Even if the binder were in your lap at the time, what chapter is that information in?

Lesson #1 Take it with you. A credit card-sized checklist can be with you at all times. In your wallet, sandwiched with your corporate ID on your belt clip, or around the neck on a lanyard.

Lesson #2 Make it for you. At the moment of a crisis where critical and focused action is necessary, you only need to know what is expected of you. Yes, somewhere else it must all come together (that’s that three-ring binder in the conference room). But right now, it’s all about you, and everything else is simply a distraction. So distill the guidance down to a role-specific checklist.

Lesson #3 Cheap and easy is good. Emergency plans constantly evolve. Or they should, because we should be constantly revising them based on our experiences coming from training and practice. The wallet card checklist is a small expense and therefore very friendly to frequent updating.

The product

What might go on such a list? Well again, it should be role specific. Some universal categories come to mind: emergency priorities, emergency first aid, shelter, evacuation, lockdown, emergency phone numbers and even your own personal information (medicines, allergies, in case of emergency call and similar details).

Work with your professional printer and an emergency planner for a good outcome. You will want to carefully select the material used for the qualities needed. If durability is the only concern, plastic or a laminate may be right. Perhaps you wish to leave a section where staff can enter some information of their own? Then a different material is in order.

The final choices will be made according to your unique needs and situation. The bottom line, that old adage “you can’t take it with you” doesn’t work here. In the case of emergency planning guidance, you can and should, take it with you.

		Joe DeFors, AD, BS, MPA, is a cofounder and principal officer of Comprehensive Emergency Management Associates (CEMA). CEMA is a full-service emergency planning firm based in East Lansing specializing in emergency planning services for families, businesses and communities.