Book Review

  The Hartford’s Guide to Emergency Preparedness Planning, by the Loss Control Dept. of The Hartford Insurance Co., J.J. Keller and Associates, Neenah, Wisc., 2002, 300 pages, index, looseleaf binder, $199.00. Order via 800-327-6868. 

All security professionals recognize the need to plan for emergencies. Yet often, the magnitude of doing so can be enormous–even overwhelming–when there are insufficient resources, staff, and time to do so. This makes finding helpful guides and shortcuts an important task. The Hartford’s Guide to Emergency Planning is both.

 Put together by The Hartford’s Loss Control Department, this well-written and very well-organized workbook makes the job of putting together a customized emergency plan simpler by providing both explanations of each step in the emergency planning process and, on an accompanying CD, worksheets keyed to each step.

 The Hartford’s Guide to Emergency Preparedness Planning is both an aid and a training program. It helps security professionals understand why emergency planning is essential, how to identify and prioritize potential threats, how to create an effective plan, what training will be needed, what coordination will be required, and how to keep your plan current and your company ready for an emergency situation. This comprehensive and user-friendly guide and accompanying CD won’t write the plan for you, but its forms, worksheets, references, etc., will help ensure that you don’t overlook things and will ease the task of writing your plan.

This is an expensive publication, but it is worth its cost. If you are involved–or may become involved–in emergency planning, this workbook/CD combination belongs on your bookshelf.