Schools and Daycare

American Red Cross Launches National Ready Rating™ Program

The American Red Cross (ARC) launched a newly designed website, ReadyRating.org, to help businesses, schools and other organizations better prepare for emergencies. The announcement was made at an event involving business, education and government leaders at Red Cross national headquarters in Washington DC. Ready Rating™ is a free, self-paced, web-based membership program that helps a business or school measure how ready they are to deal with emergencies, and gives customized feedback on how they can improve their efforts. Schools and businesses may face a number of emergencies that could disrupt their operations, ranging from natural disasters such as hurricanes and floods to outbreaks of illness such as the flu. The Ready Rating Program can help them feel more confident about the safety of their employees or students. See the ARC press release for more information.

School Retrofit addresses nonstructural retrofit of older schools. Spearheaded by Seattle School District, the Nonstructural Protection Guide is what the school retrofit training program is based.

• Cover, acknowledgements, table of contents (PDF)
• Section A - Background Information (PDF)
• Section B - Inventory Forms for Nonstructural Elements (updated forms can be found in Section D - in Seattle Pilot Test) (PDF)
• Section C - Details for Reducing Nonstructural Hazards (PDF)
• Section D - Appendices (PDF)

For any questions or more information on how to launch a similar program in your school district, please call (206) 615-0288.