Emergency preparedness is not just about having a written plan - it is about making sure people know what to do when it matters most.

In this episode, Garrett Thomas and Terry MacAdam discuss practical ways organizations can strengthen emergency readiness through better planning, stronger drills, and clearer response procedures. The conversation covers five core elements of preparedness: site-specific planning and threat assessment, regular real-world drills, rapid incident response, communication and alert systems, and post-incident review.

They also address one of the biggest breakdowns organizations face - having a plan on paper that staff do not actually know how to follow. From offices and storefronts to schools, houses of worship, and other people-centered environments, this episode highlights why preparedness must be active, practiced, and regularly reviewed.

If your organization wants to improve readiness, build confidence, and respond more effectively under pressure, this episode offers a strong starting point. Listen now.

Hi and welcome to the Guardian Way.

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Today's episode 121 deals with emergency

preparedness drills and response plans.

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This particular episode

was one of our most

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sought after subjects

when we did a survey recently.

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Our co-producer for this entire series,

of course, is Garrett Thomas,

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the founder of Guardian Protection Force.

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Hey, good morning Garrett.

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Good morning.

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Yeah, this is, a popular one.

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For a good reason.

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Everybody watching the news has seen

a lot of different incidents and scares,

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especially, houses of worship, schools,

and places like this.

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So if you are, listening

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from one of those organizations,

we will talk about that.

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Great.

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Well, listen, Garrett, then

why don't you just take us through here

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and, and take us through kind of these,

five major points that any.

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Actually, this would really be applicable

to any business,

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whether it be a storefront business.

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It could be, even a, an office

type business or whatever.

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So why don't you walk us through this?

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Yeah. As you said.

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This would be pretty much anywhere where

someone's where people are gathering.

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So, you know, comprehensive emergency

preparedness planning,

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site specific threat assessments

with clear evacuation,

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lockdown, shelter in place

and medical response protocols.

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And again, it's not enough

to just have the protocols in place.

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Your employees, your membership

or whoever is there needs to understand

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what that is

and what they do in those situations.

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You need

regular real world emergency drills

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such as active shooter, medical emergency,

fire and lockdown drills.

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You need to conduct it with your staff

and occupants to build muscle memory.

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We find a lot.

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Yeah.

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Let me interject something here,

because this was a really important point.

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I want to get your perspective because

you've got more experience than anybody.

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This is probably from everything

we've read.

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The one area where more businesses

fail than anything is, yes,

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they put a plan in place,

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but then, hey, every month,

every two months, get a regular schedule.

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Have you found that to be the case

that even though they have a plan,

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if they're not putting an active,

uniform, continuous

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drill program together,

it doesn't really help, right?

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Absolutely. We do a lot about it.

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Walk in, talk to staff.

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Hey, in the event of this, what do you do?

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And they don't know. Yes.

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The employer might say, hey,

I have this plan.

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And you say, okay,

let's look at that plan.

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Well, they have to dust that thing off.

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Blow off this book

that's been sitting there.

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You know, nobody knows about it.

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So, yes, it's not enough

just to have a plan.

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Everybody needs to,

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rehearse that and understand what they do

in those certain circumstances.

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Another problem I find is if you ask,

what do you do in a case

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of an active shooter?

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They will refer back to their fire drill

or some other drill.

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So, you know, it hasn't been practice

and they're not understanding

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what to do in the different instances.

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So, that's a good point.

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Thank you very much.

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Rapid incident response to command

control, train security personnel

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coordinating immediate response.

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Perimeter patrol

and first responder integration.

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If you don't have security staff,

then who is responsible for such a thing?

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Do you have management to understand,

how to respond to these situations?

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The other one is clear

communication and alert procedures.

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Establish chains of command

and communication systems

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to ensure fast, accurate information

during emergencies.

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For example, there are text procedures,

you know, where

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if you, you know, push a button,

the text comes out

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and it says, you know, to stay away

if you're not coming in.

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You know, so that's another thing

people don't think about is let's say

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you have the situation going on,

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and now you have employees

who are entering the work environment.

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They or coming to work.

You don't want that, right?

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You want people to get that alert

so they know stay at home.

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And people who are at the, facility

to get out.

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Right.

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Post-Incident

review and contentious permit.

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You know, just like the real world

drills.

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This is another one that is often,

overlooked and lost is after that

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incident.

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Do you look at and evaluate

what went wrong and what went right?

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Do you, make changes, meaningful changes

based off of what didn't work?

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Or keep the programs in place that work?

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The situations that, did work for you.

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Do you keep those?

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So it's really important

to look at the post incident review.

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That's great.

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Well, this is a being.

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You know, these five points are really

crammed full of really real world,

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action items that every company should

try to have in place, especially with the

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with the way the markets in the world

are reacting to events and everything.

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So to wrap this up, Garrett,

why don't you us, sign us off today?

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But before we do, give us, an overview

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of some of the different services

that Guardian does provide.

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Yes. As always,

we have our, no fee site assessment,

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workplace violence prevention program,

air camera systems,

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garden patrol services,

security operations plans and assessments,

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contentious termination

services, and executive protection.

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Well, until next time. We'll see you then.

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Stay safe.