Post by account_disabled on Mar 9, 2024 1:55:32 GMT -5
September 19 is a decisive date for the change in Mexican culture regarding natural disasters. The earthquakes suffered in 1985 and 2017 in Mexico City and Chiapas left a record of pain and devastation in our country.
But earthquakes are not the only natural disasters that negatively impact our lives, cyclones, hurricanes and floods are natural phenomena that have left negative traces throughout the world; Therefore, promoting a culture of disaster prevention and mitigation is essential in the daily life of corporations.
The culture of prevention in terms of Chile Mobile Number List civil protection helps companies - and society in general - to be more prepared to face these threats.
José Aguilar Méndez, senior director of security at DHL Express México, details that having a robust civil protection program is extremely important, since the company is aware that education is a factor that will help its collaborators to anticipate and protect yourself at all times.
“Civil protection is extremely important not only in the workplace, but with the training we provide it is something that can be used by each of our employees to take into their personal lives. Currently, the timely detection of risk factors and, above all, knowing how to act in times of incidents helps us mitigate nervous crises and, most importantly, preserve the life of each of the collaborators,” explained José Aguilar.
Prevention and training the key to success
What to do or how to guide employees when we face a potential natural or artificial disaster event? The security director for DHL Express in Mexico comments that “when a potential natural or artificial disaster event occurs, we react in two ways: with nerves or fear; and, to master these two feelings, you need knowledge and standards of how to react and a lot of practice.”
DHL Express has an internal training program through which it invites its more than 6,800 employees in Mexico to join protection brigade groups and thus receive training and the opportunity to participate in drills.
"What do we do first? We invite our collaborators to participate in the Civil Protection brigades, this means that the people who will be involved in the simulation processes will be trained and certified, which is very important, let them not say it, "Let it be through a serious institution that our people are 100% capable of reacting in a real event," said Aguilar Méndez.
DHL Express has more than 1,200 collaborators, volunteer brigade members with multifunctional certification; That is, they are trained to, if necessary, provide first aid, react in the event of a fire, lead an evacuation process and even carry out a “stress control.”
“It is recommended that for every 100 people in an area there be four brigade members trained in first aid, four evacuation specialists; four brigadiers trained in firefighting and one brigadier who is in charge of giving official communication.”
At DHL Express, says José Aguilar, the 80-20 training methodology is followed; that is, 20% theory, 80% practice. Giving greater weight to the practice ensures that people develop a “muscle memory” for certain events; That is, the participants in the drills develop the ability at a neural level to remember movement patterns by repeating them and thus react quickly in potential disaster events.
It is very important that these trainings, both practical and theoretical, follow certified manuals, guidelines and standards.
At a corporate level, DHL is governed by the “Global Security Manual”, a document that details the levels of compliance that all countries must have as a standard and, since its arrival in Mexico 40 years ago, DHL has has taken care of complying with regulations by working closely with civil protection authorities throughout the country.
“At DHL Express we have an internal civil protection program, which includes a macro evacuation drill in CDMX and in all states of the country, we design desktop scenarios, we raise awareness among our brigade members and we prepare very seriously,” commented Aguilar.
The executive recognizes that, after the 2017 earthquakes, people in Mexico understood that a cultural change was essential; Collective awareness was raised that being trained in civil protection can help us save our lives, those of our family, friends, co-workers and, in general, those who are by our side.
Recommendations to act effectively in the event of a possible disaster event
José Aguilar recommends that companies of any size, first of all, know and seek advice from the authorities closest to their physical location, which may be Public Security, Civil Protection, Firefighters or associations specialized in these issues; count among your staff with volunteer brigade members who understand and are aware that they are going to assume the responsibility of assisting a person or leading a group in the event of a possible disaster event and:
