Support Firms Ask Employers To Call Before Disaster Strikes

Employees who have no idea how to reach their employers may know the names of their health insurers, and doctors or hospitals can easily help employees reach those health insurers, Stieber says.

If displaced employees or employees in areas with terrible communications problems reach health insurers, customer service reps could offer to help those employees make contact with their employers, Stieber says.

Meanwhile, at Assist America Inc., Princeton, N.J., a travel assistance firm, spokesman Christopher Gibbs says the best time to call about a hurricane is before the hurricane has arrived.

Although a firm like Assist America has relationships with a large network of adventurous, Indiana Jones-type people who can obtain almost any type of vehicle and cut through almost any strand of red tape, they do have to work within the law, Gibbs says.

In the wake of Katrina, Assist America would have had a hard time getting rescuers in to help travelers out, if any had called it for that kind of assistance.

But Assist America is well-equipped to round up shuttle buses or even boats to help evacuate employees before a storm like Katrina hits, Gibbs says.

Last year, for example, Assist America brought in a cruise ship to evacuate students in Grenada to safe haven in Venezuela just before a hurricane struck, Gibbs says.

Employers should consider organizing the same kinds of evacuations for employees in areas threatened by major hurricanes, Gibbs says.

“Some people don’t have the resources to evacuate,” he says.