“Be Prepared” is more than just the motto of the Boy Scouts. In fact, in the “post-9/11” America of today, it takes on a unique relevance within government offices, including at USDA.

And Jim Redington wants USDA’s employees to be tuned in to all that that concept entails, these days, at the Department.

Redington is USDA’s director of emergency programs, located within the Office of Operations. It’s his job to ensure that the Department has emergency programs in place to enhance the safety of USDA personnel and property, both at headquarters and field locations.

To support that goal, OO has created a website--www.usda.gov/oo/beprepared. “We’re trying,” he explained, “to include on that website any material that educates USDA employees on measures they can take to ensure their safety in an emergency--whether the emergency is nature-driven or caused by humans.”

One of the sections on the main page of that website lists various emergency preparedness-related memos sent to USDA employees. The most recent memo, dated Feb. 13, 2004, is titled “Employee Emergency Response Information Memo to All Employees.”

That memo describes the purpose and contents of the “USDA Employee Emergency Response Guide,” dated January 2004. According to the memo, the guide “outlines all USDA Headquarters emergency information including emergency contact numbers, the USDA Incident Command Structure, communication tools we use to keep employees informed during emergencies, what to do during various types of incidents, shelter-in-place guidance, and recommendations for preparing a personal Grab and Go Kit with emergency supplies.”

While acknowledging that the guide contains some specific information that only applies to USDA employees in the Washington, DC, metropolitan area, it points out that, “the general guidelines are applicable throughout the U.S. for most USDA facilities. USDA field offices are welcome to tailor the contents to fit their unique local situations and emergency plans.”

The memo then advises that, “We encourage you to become familiar with the contents of the guide and to keep a copy readily available in your [USDA] work area.”

The 28-page “USDA Employee Emergency Response Guide” is accessible from the main page of that website. As noted above, one of its sections describes a concept known as “shelter-in-place.” Mike O’Connor, OO’s “Be Prepared” webmaster, explained that this is a “protective action” in which employees don’t run out of their USDA office--during an emergency or crisis situation--but rather remain in the “sheltered environment” of their building.

“It’s a concept,” he said, “that’s designed to protect employees from external hazards--such as accidental or intentional chemical releases, severe weather, or civil unrest--and thereby minimize their chance of injury, while also providing time to allow preparations for a safe evacuation from the building, as appropriate.”

The guide also describes the purpose of what is called a “Grab and Go” kit, also called a “personal survival” kit. “Whatever you want to call it,” O’Connor said, “it’s a personal emergency kit which employees should have at the ready in their offices, in case they have to shelter-in-place for an extended period of time--usually not to exceed eight hours.”

Accordingly, as delineated in the guide, a useful--and creative--Grab and Go kit might include obvious items such as toiletries, changes of clothes, an employee’s medications as appropriate, water, and non-perishable foil-wrapped food such as snack bars, plus such items as lightweight paper masks to provide added protection from dust that may be generated in an explosion, light/glow sticks--especially in the absence of a flashlight--to carry in case one has to walk in the dark, and a metal whistle that can be blown to attract attention if the employee is trapped and unable to move.

“Those are examples of some items that employees might never have thought about for use in an emergency--so this is the time to think about it,” O’Connor advised.

Another section in the guide deals with suspicious packages and letters received in a USDA office. “We hasten to underscore that nobody except trained bomb disposal personnel should attempt to examine or move a suspicious package or suspected bomb,” Redington emphasized. “Nonetheless, the guide lists some possible characteristics of suspicious packages or letters.”

They include excessive postage, handwritten or poorly typed addresses, no return address, a city or state in the postmark that doesn’t match the return address, incorrect titles, a title without a name, misspellings of common words, markings such as “Personal” or “Confidential” in a package sent to a USDA office instead of to a home, a lopsided or an uneven envelope, excessive weight, and oily stains or odors.

Yet another section in the guide provides guidance on what a USDA employee should do if he/she receives a bomb threat via telephone. “Keep your wits about you,” Redington affirmed, “and try to get answers from the caller to such questions as ‘When is the bomb going to explode, or when is the chemical set to release?’ ‘Where is it now?’ ‘What does it look like?’ ‘Did you place it there yourself?’ and ‘Why?’”

The guide then provides factors to look for in the bomb threat caller’s voice, such as whether he/she is calm, laughing, has a lisp, has a voice which is raspy, nasal, soft, loud, or stuttering, and whether there are background noises that might offer clues to the bomb threat caller’s whereabouts, such as street noises, music, factory sounds, animal sounds, or the sounds of machinery.

Another USDA website, www.usda.gov/oo/beprepared/fieldtelephones.htm, provides emergency field telephone numbers to three different “Megacenters” around the country for use by USDA employees, depending on their field office location.

Redington is also responsible for oversight of USDA’s Operations Center, located in the Department’s South Building in Washington, DC. It was recently revamped, and now provides the capability to alert USDA field locations about natural or human-caused disasters in their vicinity, as appropriate. In turn, it also serves as a site for field offices to contact for guidance related to those disasters. “It’s staffed 24/7,” he emphasized, “and the toll-free number to reach it is 1-877-677-2369, or TTY 1-800-877-8339.”

The Operations Center also provides support to the Department’s Continuity of Operations (COOP) staff. That staff oversees the activation of USDA’s COOP Plan. This is a form of contingency planning designed to ensure that USDA’s essential functions are not disrupted and are continued--even from an emergency alternate location--in the event of localized acts of nature, accidents, and technological and/or attack-related emergencies. The December 1999 issue of the USDA News carried a story about USDA’s COOP Plan.

Now, about that Boy Scout “Be Prepared” motto noted earlier: Redington pointed out that USDA’s “Be Prepared” website includes this sentence: “The phrase ‘Be Prepared’ is used with the kind permission of the Boy Scouts of America.”

“Hey, I used to be a Boy Scout--and I want to make sure we give original credit where original credit is due,” he quipped. •