Stories from the Road: A concerned West Bend customer contacted a loss control representative with questions regarding the current fire evacuation plan in place at their place of business. The management team and staff had routinely practiced a wide range of emergency drills and had a thorough written emergency action plan in place, but it was recently brought to their attention that many of the illuminated exit signs in the facility actually lead to dead ends.

Reality Alert: A weekend thunderstorm at a preschool resulted in over $15,000 in damages to personal property within the building and over $20,000 to the building itself. Water began to fill the basin beneath the building’s basement after heavy rains.

Ladder Fatality in the News: A 54-year-old woman suffered a fatal ladder fall after retrieving Christmas decorations from her attic. Reports indicate that one of the ladder rungs broke while she was standing on it.

Carbon Monoxide in the News: Six apartment residents were rushed to a hospital after a carbon monoxide leak was reported at the complex. Emergency responders were called to the scene after a mother noticed her small child was unconscious.

AED Could Have Prevented Tragedy: A 16-year-old high school basketball player had just made a game-winning shot in overtime when he suddenly collapsed to the floor. Initially, parents, coaches, and players thought it was due to exhaustion or just the excitement of the moment, but they all quickly realized something much more serious had happened.

Reality Alert: A summer camp experienced severe damage after a storm caused several large trees to fall. One tree landed on and destroyed a cabin and another tree struck the dining hall and caused major damage.

Fire Extinguisher Mistakes: While on a site visit in downtown Milwaukee, a West Bend loss control associate recognized a fire extinguisher in a restaurant kitchen indicating it had been discharged. This was puzzling because the fire extinguisher had been serviced only a few weeks before.

Reality Alert: A severe thunderstorm caused a facility to lose power for several days. While the facility was prepared with a standby generator, they ran out of fuel due to the length of the power outage.

Reality Alert: A fire completely burned a vacant building to the ground and caused severe damage to several adjacent buildings. Neighbors of the property had complained to the building owner about trash being left in front of the building, and police had recently discovered homeless people living in the vacant property.

A crisis can range from a drowning or medical emergency, to allegations of abuse or a violent intruder. In these unexpected situations it’s important to have a concrete communication plan in place. A well-designed communication plan can mitigate some of the damage and protect your organization from financial and reputational ruin.