Disaster Safety and The Institute for Business & Home Safety

Misc.

After running a short series on preparing for the Florida hurricane season, I was contacted by the Institute for Business & Home Safety—they saw one of those articles and wanted to let me know about their organization, which is coincidentally located right here in Tampa! They also run a web site, called Disaster Safety.

I took a look at the site and I have to say I’m impressed at the amount of information they have. I thought a quick review might be in order, since it looks like a great site for more information about preparing for pretty much any natural disaster, including hurricanes.

One of the first things that impressed me about this site is that it looks GREAT. It’s very easy on the eyes, and all the information is organized neatly. The entire site is easy to navigate, fast, and very intuitive, too.

The second thing is that you can retrieve information according to your own zip code: enter a zip code on the home page, and you’ll be presented with a list of threats and hazards in your area. Entering a Tampa zip code gets you a page with links to information about flood, hurricane, and fire hazards, as well as a second list of links to information about protecting your home or small business.

So what kind of information can you find? Take a look at the Hurricane section of the site as an example. The Hurricane page includes a quick list of important points on choosing construction materials, and provides links to information about what you can do to improve your own home’s hurricane resistance. In the sidebar there are more links to information about topics like choosing shutters, protecting your business, and a checklist for manufactured home safety.

There’s lots of great, detailed information here that you’ll find useful no matter where in the country you live. As well as specific suggestions on protecting your home from disasters there’s information about building codes, home and business design programs, home maintenance, and a section with a selection of video clips that show you how to carry out some simple home repairs to keep it in good shape—sometimes it really helps to actually see how these things are done instead of just reading about it, so I found this section particularly useful.

To finish off, here’s a quick list of sections and topics you can find on the site.

Get Prepared: Information on preparing for earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, tornados, hailstorms, freezing weather, high winds, and wildfires.

Programs: This section includes information about home maintenance, residential and small business hurricane protection programs, research and community planning programs, and a section on building codes which is ordered by state.

Gallery: This short section has some interesting stories from people who have carried out some of the protection programs such as the Fortified…for safer living program for residential homes (which you can read about in the above section).

Newsroom: Press releases, media kits, and other “newsy” stuff. The interesting thing in this section is the Disaster Know-how and Safety Review sections, which have some good quick tips for home safety and a downloadable safety review on the subject of wildfires.

Videos: There are some great clips in this section, which show you just how to carry out some of the simple maintenance tips you can use to make your home more secure. There are clips on routine home maintenance, preventing tree damage, impact-resistant roofing, and preparing for a hurricane.

Date: Tuesday, June, 3rd 2008 @ 10:42:04 PM
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