More online emergency management training resources 

This month Rob Fagan’s blog about free emergency management training and education focuses on a very timely and useful source: the Safe + Ready Institute.

_{Power outage preparedness is one of the courses on offer online (image: Pan Demin/123rf)}

The opening splash page is easy to use and intuitive. Like most sites of this nature, you’ll need to sign up for a login and password. Once you’ve completed that step you’ll have unfettered access to all of their free content, which is more than 70 per cent of its offerings and includes courses and webinars.

Should one choose, there are more technical and focused courses that require a fee. The eight-hour RCRA Hazardous Waste Handling and Emergency Response course is fairly expensive, but the other course offerings are more reasonably priced.

The Safe + Ready Institute is not a large clearing house of all things emergency response. By clicking on the ‘Courses’ icon at the top, you’ll get a drop down menu of everything on offer. There’s less than 30 items offered at the site, but what it does have is new, innovative and not generally found in other locations.

One can also check the validity and veracity of content and course author bona fides under the instructors tab. Drones in Emergency Management and Power Outage Preparedness come to mind as unique, timely offerings.

The vast majority of the various learning experiences are less than an hour in length. So, while not micro-learning per se, they do meet the demands of busy professionals who need just-in-time information about hot topics. Additionally, there’s a basic preparedness course offered in Spanish, along with access to the Third Annual Safety and Emergency Readiness Virtual Summit. Registration for the summit is free, but access to some content will be for a fee. Sign up now for the summit in the first week of November 2018.

_{Another area, that of hurricane preparedness, is a 'real gem of a course', according to the author (Image: Nasa/NOAA/UWM-CIMSS/William Straka)} 

One might be tempted to skip over already familiar content, which would be a mistake! Even well worn territory like Hurricane Preparedness by Cheryl Nelson is a real gem of a course. Cheryl is a TV host and natural disaster preparedness expert, while also working as a certified broadcast meteorologist. She divides the course into three units of knowing your risk, the truth about preparedness, and are you really prepared.

Full of excellent videos, her own research, and interviews with the public, the course really brings home the threat and preparedness necessities for hurricanes.

Train today; live tomorrow. Good luck!