Join us in recognizing September as National Preparedness Month, and start the conversation with your loved ones to build your readiness plan.
Disastrous events are occurring more frequently, and critical weather-related disasters are happening in locations not previously so affected.
According to the National Center for Environmental Information (NCEI), the United States “has sustained 395 weather and climate disasters since 1980 where overall damages/costs reached or exceeded $1 billion” (NCEI). This includes 2024 data.
Whether you have experienced, or are yet to experience, human-made and natural disasters, the Tony Mazzocchi Center believes that preparedness is key.
Under the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS)’s HAZMAT Disaster Preparedness Training Program (HDPTP), the TMC is able to support their preparedness and response initiative. The TMC’s cadre of Specialized Emergency Response Trainers, or SERTs, are uniquely qualified to provide health and safety training to workers and community members before a disastrous event occurs. In years past, they have also deployed to impacted areas in order to train workers and communities cleaning up and rebuilding after an event to better protect themselves in the process.
The SERTs team is currently working to provide preparedness training to as many regions across the U.S., including Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands, as possible – especially those which have experienced multiple disasters. The team has reached local union and worker center members, their communities and their management counterparts. Training focuses on disaster preparedness and hazard recognition, but may also be specific to events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, tornados, wildfires, infectious disease outbreaks and pandemics, industrial incidents, and more.
“As a SERT, preparedness training isn’t something workers and communities think about until after a disaster,” Eddie Sharpe of United Steelworkers (USW) Local Union 9-1441 said.
Sharpe is an integral member of the SERTs team who has experience deploying in the aftermath of disasters such as Hurricane Maria and later Hurricane Fiona. He has also provided preparedness training in several regions across the U.S., like Alabama, North Carolina, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
“Preparedness training helps provide participants with basic or simple tools to use,” Sharpe said, “such as a ‘to-go’ bag with a list of important items you will need like cash, deeds, batteries, etc.”
Rodrigo Toscano, member of USW Local Union 4-318 who works at the Labor Institute, is part of the SERTs staff team.
“Preparedness is often times counterintuitive to the way most people think, so we are trying to buck the trend and demonstrate the need for readiness,” Toscano said.
September is recognized as National Preparedness Month. As the TMC continues our initiatives and training, please join us in emphasizing the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)’s Ready Campaign. This year, the theme is called “Start a Conversation” and focuses on simply starting a dialogue with your family members about taking action to prepare. You can find more information, including a toolkit, at the Ready Campaign website: ready.gov/september#conversation.
If you are interested in disaster preparedness training, please contact the TMC at 412-562-2359 or [email protected].
References
National Centers for Environmental Information. National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI). (n.d.). https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/#
Graphics courtesy of Ready.gov.
The United Steelworkers Tony Mazzocchi Center (USWTMC) is supported by awards through the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). The content in this article is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not represent the official views of the NIEHS.
