Waynes World - September 2006

NTA ANNOUNCES AN EXCITING NEW PROGRAM
COMING IN JANUARY 2007, AND...

SEPTEMBER IS NATIONAL
PREPAREDNESS MONTH
By Wayne Schooling

For the third straight year in a row, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) will sponsor National Preparedness Month, along with a coalition of more than 200 national, regional, state and local organizations. National Preparedness Month (NPM) is a nationwide effort held each September to encourage Americans to prepare for emergencies in their homes, businesses and schools. This year’s goals are to increase public awareness about the importance of family emergency preparedness and to urge individuals to make themselves and their loved ones better prepared.

Throughout the summer and fall, DHS will work with the National Preparedness Month 2006 Coalition – national, regional, state and local organizations from the public and private sector – to help highlight the importance of family emergency preparedness. Hundreds of organizations are expected to join in the activities of the coalition and provide Americans with a wide variety of opportunities to learn more about preparedness. Already, more than 70 national organizations and over 130 regional, state and local groups have signed on as National Preparedness Month 2006 Coalition Members. These coalition members have agreed to distribute general emergency preparedness information, host events and sponsor activities across the country that will promote family emergency preparedness.

National Preparedness Month helps to provide Americans with information about preparing themselves, their families and their communities for emergencies, including natural disasters and terrorist threats. NPM activities encourage individuals to get an emergency supply kit, make a family emergency plan and be informed about the different threats that may effect them.

As a National Coalition Member, we at the NTA introduced a Public Safety Series in April of this year on our website. Even if you think that you are not interested at this time, the responsibility to protect and educate yourself, your drivers and your family has risen to new heights. You owe it to yourself and to your family to visit the NTA website (www.ntassoc.com) and at least look at these items. Just as some Americans were not prepared for Katrina or school shootings, the only one that you can truly depend on in situations like these is yourself.

In response to this ever-present reality, NTA has partnered with one of the world’s leading providers of intelligence, security and risk development – the Jane’s Company. Jane’s, a leading provider of open-source threat, intelligence and public safety information since 1898, is in the unique position to meet all the aforementioned demands through the delivery of critical information and insight, which is required to prepare for and respond to incidents of violence, terrorism and natural disasters. Jane’s is an independent organization with an unrivalled reputation in regards to accuracy, authority and impartiality.

John Frederick Thomas Jane, known to all as Fred T., was born in 1865 in Surrey, England. As a youngster, Fred T. fought sea battles on the village pond using a complex system of signals he devised that was later adopted by the Royal Navy. As a teenager, Fred T. started a sketchbook of warships. In 1889 he was commissioned by a magazine to cover the inspection of the combined fleets at Spithead by Kaiser Wilheim II and the ensuing war games. He sketched nearly 100 ships. In 1898, the first edition of Jane’s “All the World’s Fighting Ships” was released. In 1909, only five years after the Wright Brothers’ first flight, he published “All the World’s Airships,” which is today considered the “Bible” of the aviation industry.

A well-known hoaxer and self-publicist, Fred T. had a reputation for “kidnapping” people. Among his detainees was a waiter suspected to be a German spy. The resulting publicity produced a flood of mail naming other “spies”. Fred T. handed this information over to the War Office, and the informants were passed on when the British service, MI5, was founded shortly afterwards.

To that end, Jane’s has developed the highly respected, and consistently relied upon, Jane’s Public Safety Series – which is an all-inclusive collection of guides designed to assist those with a vested interest in safety planning. From emergency management personnel, facility supervisors and school administrators, to corporate employers and private citizens, these guides provide the critical planning information that no one should be without. The Public Safety Series has a total of 11 guides and handbooks and covers how to recover from an emergency situation as well as the essential procedures on how to protect facilities against terrorism and violent crime. The series also helps you to recognize and respond to dangerous situations in schools, and how to prepare your company for potential threats.

The following guides are available from NTA: Chem-Bio Handbook; Citizens Safety Guide; Mass Casualty Guide for Emergency Responders; Mass Casualty Guide for Hospitals; Facility Security Guide; Safe School Planning Guide for all Hazards; School Safety Guide; Teachers Safety Guide; Workplace Security Guide; Crisis Communications Guide; and Unconventional Weapons Response Guide. Visit www.ntassoc.com or call toll free 1-800-805-0040 for more details.

COMING IN JANUARY
NTA plans to announce a new Safety Compliance Program. Members will be able to receive unlimited safety consultation at discounted prices. For example, a typical company with 11 to 20 units will pay a state association a minimum of $85 per month. With the NTA's new program, this same company will pay $44 a month. Some of our experts will be coming from the ranks of the DOT. Stay tuned for more details.