Repost: Survival S.O.P.’s

In developing a Survival & Preparedness “System” – it is obviously important to think ahead. I mean, that is why we are all interested in preparedness is because we are concerned about what might happen in the future and are thinking, planning, and preparing now. Right?

With this in mind – it is a good idea to come up with Standard Operating Procedures for different scenario’s. These are written procedures with steps on how something will be done as well as who will be doing them, and what will be needed to make it happen.

The benefits to written SOP’s include the following:

1. The process of writing and reviewing them will often expose “holes” in the planning – enabling you to fix them now rather than possibly have to deal with them later.
2. Increased communication and consistency among group members as all will be reading the same SOP – there should be no question as to who will do what, when and how.
3. By being able to review these SOP’s frequently – the contents will become much more familiar to everyone. Should something happen it should not be necessary to pull out the SOP – rather it should be familiar to everyone so that the correct steps can be carried out. Basically – people will better know what to do and how to react with having SOP’s rather than not having them.

SOP’s can be both in printed form and stored electronically. It is suggested that SOP’s be stored in hard copy form in a binder – possibly having the individual pages laminated to make them water resistant.

Let me give you a few examples of a situations that a SOP would be beneficial:

• THSTF and communication is down and the kids are at school – Who gets the kids? Without some planning ahead of time so that everyone understands what is to happen under these circumstances – resources could be wasted (and the kids left at school!)
• TSHTF and travel home is impossible – where do you meet your group/family? Lets face reality – it could happen. A chemical spill could prevent you from reaching home. If communications are up – you could just place a call. If the nature of the “incident” is such that communications are down – does every one know where to meet?
• Your water supply has become interrupted – what steps do you take to provide non-contaminated water to your family?
• TSHTF and the power has been off for a few days and people are becoming desperate – what steps do you take to improve security on your property?

Those were just a few examples. Filling out a SOP form now can get you thinking about the possibilities that may occur later – so you can properly plan now.

For a Standard Operating Procedure Template – click here. The SOP template is in MS Word format. If you do not have MS Word – download OpenOffice.

Take care -

Rourke

© 2012, Rourke. All rights reserved.