National Preparedness Month: Four Ways to Prepare Before an Emergency Happens
Every September, National Preparedness Month rolls around as a reminder that most emergencies aren't stopped by luck — they're managed by planning. It's easy to hear "preparedness month" and picture stockpiled water and flashlights in a closet, but real preparedness is bigger than supplies. It's about reducing confusion in the moment something actually happens.
Think about the last time something went wrong unexpectedly — a car accident, a sudden storm, a medical scare. The chaos usually isn't caused by the event itself. It's caused by not knowing what to do next. National Preparedness Month exists to close that gap, and it gives businesses, churches, schools, families, and community organizations across Southwest Missouri a natural, low-pressure opportunity to take a real step forward.
This isn't about assuming the worst is coming. It's about making sure that if something does happen — a tornado warning, a power outage, a medical emergency, an active threat situation — the people around you already know their role instead of figuring it out in real time.
Here are four practical ways to use National Preparedness Month to actually get more prepared, not just think about it.
1. Know What Emergencies Could Actually Affect You
Preparedness only works when it's based on realistic risks — not a generic list pulled from somewhere else. Southwest Missouri has its own set of hazards worth planning around, including:
Severe weather, including damaging storms and high winds
Tornadoes, which can develop quickly with limited warning
Flooding, particularly in low-lying areas and near waterways
Fire, both structural and, depending on location, wildland
Active threats, an uncomfortable topic but a necessary one for schools, churches, and workplaces
Medical emergencies, which can happen anywhere, at any time, regardless of the weather outside
Power outages, often tied to storms but capable of creating their own set of problems
Other local hazards specific to your building, your region, or your organization's activities
Before building a plan, take an honest look at which of these are actually likely to affect your home, your business, or your organization. A plan built around realistic risks is one your team will actually remember and use.
2. Make a Plan
Once you know your risks, the next step is turning that knowledge into an actual plan — not just a mental note of "we'd probably figure it out." A real plan answers specific questions:
Where do you go? Every likely scenario should have a designated location — a shelter area, an evacuation point, a rally point.
How do you get out? Primary and secondary routes matter, because the first exit isn't always available.
Where do you meet? A clear assembly point prevents people from wandering or, worse, going back inside to look for someone who already got out.
Who is responsible for what? Someone needs to account for headcount, someone needs to communicate with emergency services, someone needs to manage anyone with medical needs.
How will you communicate? Phones may not work. Power may be out. Have a backup method.
What happens if your normal plan doesn't work? Plans fail. Good plans have a plan B built in from the start.
A plan doesn't need to be complicated to be effective — it needs to be clear enough that anyone in the building could follow it under pressure.
3. Build an Emergency Kit
An emergency kit is one of the most visible parts of preparedness, and for good reason — it's the difference between managing a disruption and being caught completely off guard. A solid kit typically includes:
Water — enough for each person for several days
Food — non-perishable, easy to prepare or eat without cooking
Flashlights — for every room or every person, not just one for the whole house
Batteries — sized correctly for whatever you're powering
First aid supplies — enough to handle common injuries until further help is available
Necessary medications — a rotating supply so nothing expires unnoticed
Phone chargers — including a battery-powered or hand-crank option
Important documents — copies of identification, insurance information, and emergency contacts, kept somewhere accessible
Emergency contact information — written down, not just saved in a phone that might not have power
Kits should be checked periodically. Batteries die, water expires, and medications need to be rotated. A kit that hasn't been checked in two years often isn't much better than no kit at all.
4. Practice Your Plan
A plan sitting in a binder on a shelf isn't preparedness — it's paperwork. The value of a plan comes from practicing it enough that it becomes second nature, especially under stress, when people default to habit rather than careful thinking.
This is where drills matter:
Fire drills test evacuation routes and timing
Severe weather drills test shelter-in-place procedures and communication
Evacuation drills confirm that routes are clear, doors work, and assembly points are understood
Active threat exercises build the muscle memory needed to respond quickly and correctly
Tabletop exercises walk a team through decision-making scenarios without the physical logistics of a full drill — a great starting point for organizations still building out their plan
Drills reveal problems that plans on paper never do — a locked exit, a confusing hallway, a communication gap between departments. Better to find those gaps during a practice run than during a real emergency.
Don't Forget the People Around You
Preparedness isn't just a personal exercise — it's a shared responsibility. Every plan should account for the actual people involved:
Family members, including those who might not be home during every scenario
Employees, across every shift and role
Coworkers, especially those in different areas of a building
Neighbors, who may need help or may be able to offer it
Children, who need age-appropriate instructions they can actually follow
Elderly or vulnerable individuals, who may need extra time, assistance, or accommodations during an evacuation
Everyone should understand their specific role — not a vague sense that "someone" will handle it, but a clear understanding of what they, personally, are supposed to do.
Why September Is the Right Time to Focus on This
National Preparedness Month falls in September for a reason that matters specifically here in Southwest Missouri: it sits right at the edge of the transition between summer severe weather patterns and the fall and winter risks that follow. It's a natural checkpoint before things shift, which makes it a genuinely useful moment to pause and take stock — not just a symbolic date on a calendar.
It's also a moment when preparedness conversations are already happening in the background — in the news, on social media, through community organizations — which makes it easier to get buy-in from a team, a congregation, or a family than it might be during a random month with no context. Momentum matters, and September provides some for free.
Preparedness at the Organizational Level vs. the Individual Level
It's worth separating two related but distinct efforts: what an organization needs to prepare, and what an individual or family needs to prepare. They reinforce each other, but they're not identical.
At the organizational level, preparedness typically involves:
A written Emergency Action Plan specific to the building and the people in it
Designated roles and responsibilities across staff or leadership
Scheduled drills that involve everyone who regularly occupies the space
Communication systems that work even if primary infrastructure fails
Documentation and training records, particularly for businesses and schools with regulatory or liability considerations
At the individual and family level, preparedness looks more like:
A household emergency kit and supply plan
A family communication plan, including an out-of-area contact in case local lines are overwhelmed
Knowledge of local risks and warning systems
A plan for pets, elderly family members, or anyone with specific medical needs
Practiced habits, like knowing where to shelter during severe weather without having to think about it
Organizations made up of individuals are strongest when both levels are addressed — an employee who is personally prepared at home brings a different level of composure and clarity to a workplace emergency than one who has never thought about it at all.
Preparedness for Different Types of Organizations
National Preparedness Month applies differently depending on the kind of organization involved, and it's worth thinking through what it specifically means for yours:
Businesses should focus on Emergency Action Plans, employee training, and clear communication chains — especially for multi-shift or multi-location operations.
Churches face a unique challenge: large numbers of people, often including many visitors unfamiliar with the building, present during services and events. Preparedness here means clear signage, trained volunteer teams, and a plan that accounts for people who don't know the building.
Schools need age-appropriate drills, clear staff roles, and coordination with local emergency services, alongside communication plans that reach parents quickly and accurately.
Nonprofits often operate with limited staff and resources, which makes simple, realistic plans more valuable than elaborate ones that are hard to maintain.
Community organizations benefit from cross-training and shared communication plans, since membership and attendance can be inconsistent from one event to the next.
Common Questions About National Preparedness Month
Do we need to do something formal for National Preparedness Month, or can it be informal? It doesn't need to be a large formal event. Even a short team meeting to review your plan, a single scheduled drill, or an afternoon spent updating your emergency kit accomplishes real, meaningful progress.
How often should an Emergency Action Plan actually be updated? At minimum, annually — but any time your building layout, staffing, or leadership changes significantly, the plan should be reviewed sooner. National Preparedness Month is a convenient annual trigger for this review, even if updates happen more frequently.
What's the single most impactful thing an organization can do during Preparedness Month? If only one thing gets done, running an actual drill tends to reveal more real gaps than any other single activity — it exposes locked doors, confusing routes, and communication breakdowns that a plan on paper simply can't show you.
Turning Awareness Into Follow-Through
The biggest risk to any Preparedness Month effort isn't a lack of good intentions — it's momentum that fades once September ends. A team meeting or a single drill is a great start, but the organizations that stay genuinely prepared are the ones that build a simple rhythm to revisit these steps throughout the year, not just once annually.
A few ways to keep that momentum going:
Assign ownership. Preparedness efforts that don't have a specific person responsible for follow-through tend to quietly stall. Even in a small organization, naming one person to own the plan makes a measurable difference.
Set calendar reminders for the next check-in, rather than leaving the next review to chance.
Tie preparedness to other recurring events your organization already has — a quarterly staff meeting, a monthly volunteer training, a seasonal transition — so it doesn't require an entirely separate effort to remember.
Keep a simple record of what's been done: which drills were run, when the kit was last checked, when the plan was last updated. This turns "we should really do that again" into a concrete, trackable habit.
Use National Preparedness Month as Your Starting Point
National Preparedness Month doesn't require an overhaul of everything at once. It's simply a natural checkpoint to:
Review your existing plan
Update emergency contacts
Check your supplies
Train your people
Schedule a drill
Preparedness doesn't have to happen all at once, and it shouldn't be treated as a single event that gets checked off and forgotten. Pick one thing from this list and do it this month. Then pick another next month. That's how real preparedness gets built — one deliberate step at a time.
If "review your existing plan" is the step that's been sitting untouched, that's exactly what a written Emergency Action Plan is for. OSHA Regulation 29 CFR 1910.38 requires most workplaces to have one, and for organizations with more than 10 employees, it has to be in writing and available to staff — the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reinforces the same standard for businesses operating here. A complete EAP covers evacuation routes, fire, tornado, earthquake, and active shooter procedures, accountability and headcount steps, emergency contacts and chain of command, and shelter-in-place protocols — Formation Industries builds these plans through a full range of Emergency Action Plan services, from a site walkthrough and core EAP documents up through drills, tabletop exercises, and FEMA regulation site assessments, depending on what your organization needs.
Formation Industries works with businesses, churches, schools, and community organizations across Branson, Springfield, and the surrounding Ozarks region to build practical, realistic preparedness plans — the kind that actually get used, not just filed away. If National Preparedness Month has you thinking about where your organization stands, we'd be glad to help you take the next step.
