How The Ready Rating Program Works

The Canadian Red Cross Ready Rating program is a free, self-guided program designed to help businesses, organizations and schools become better prepared for emergencies. Members complete a ReadyGo or ReadyAdvance assessment and have access to tools, tips and best practices to help improve their level of preparedness.  Are you new to Ready Rating?  Check out the link below for immediate access to help videos about the program enhancements.

Membership in the Ready Rating program is simple. Here is how it works:

1. Join the Ready Rating Program

    • Review the terms and conditions of membership and create an online profile.

2. Take an Assessment

    • This comprehensive assessment will help you identify what components of your emergency plan need strengthening. Your baseline assessment will help measure progress at the end of the year.

    • The assessment consists of five sections that score emergency preparedness efforts in terms of commitment, knowledge of hazard vulnerability, emergency planning, plan implementation and community resiliency.

3. Create an Emergency Action Plan

    • Use a powerful EAP template generator to create an Emergency Action plan Plan for your organization.

4. Improve your Level of Preparedness

    • Take advantage of the detailed program guide and best practice tips available to members.
    • Conduct drills and exercises to test your plans.
    • Implement training programs, achieve certifications, etc.

5. Continue the Cycle of Assessing and Planning

    • Remember, preparedness is a journey, not a destination.

The Red Cross Ready Rating Go and Advance Assessment tools are the result of a comprehensive review of preparedness recommendations conducted by the American Red Cross National Office of Preparedness and Health and Safety Services, the American and Canadian Red Cross’ Scientific Advisory Council, and the Canadian Red Cross Disaster Risk Reduction Program. All Ready Rating program steps and recommendations are grounded in scientific research, best practices and/or expert opinion from respected professionals representing multiple disciplines and perspectives.

Participation

This step indicates your commitment to increasing your business’ or organization’s level of emergency preparedness during the course of the calendar year. You will be working to make your business or organization more prepared and to enhance overall community preparedness. Key actions for this step include:

  • Having your business or organization prioritize preparedness by involving senior leadership.
  • Appointing a Ready Rating liaison dedicated to completing the ReadyGo or ReadyAdvance Assessment

Emergency Planning

This step involves gathering information about possible emergencies that could impact your business or organization and your facility’s capabilities to respond to and recover from a disaster or other emergency.Key actions for this step include:

  • Knowing your region and the types of disasters most likely to impact your business or organization
  • Obtaining a Hazard Vulnerability Assessment from your local emergency management agency
  • Considering which hazards your facility is most likely to experience, based on proximity and past events
  • Knowing your business or organization’s current capacity to prepare for, respond to and recover from a disaster
  • Assessing the physical capacity, supplies, equipment and human resources of your facility to limit damage during a disaster

Develop an Emergency Action Plan (EAP)

An Emergency Action Plan describes the steps your business or organization will take to protect your personnel before, during and after an emergency. Key actions for this step include:
  • Identifying an emergency planning committee that is responsible for developing and implementing an Emergency Action Plan.
  • Developing a written plan describing how your business or organization will respond during a disaster or other emergency. Ready Rating Members have access to a powerful EAP template generator which will assist you in developing an EAP.
  • Creating a Continuity of Operations Plan

Implement your EAP

This step involves continuing to work with your planning committee to implement your Emergency Action Plan with your personnel. The key to implementing the plan is to make preparedness a part of the corporate culture. Key actions for this step include:
  • Training personnel on a regular basis about what to do during a disaster or emergency.
  • Acquiring and maintaining needed safety equipment and emergency preparedness supplies.
  • Showing personnel how to be prepared at work and at home so they are better equipped to help your business or organization respond to and recover from an emergency.
  • Conducting and assessing regular drills and exercises to determine the readiness of your personnel.

Help your Community get Prepared

Now that your business or organization and personnel are prepared, make at least one additional commitment to ensure that the overall community is prepared for a disaster or other emergency. Key actions for this step include:
  • Contributing supplies and/or services to emergency response efforts.
  • Adopting a local school or school district and support their disaster and emergency preparedness programs .

 Is Your Business Prepared?

  • 15-40 percent of businesses fail following a natural or manmade disaster.1
  • 94 percent of small business owners believe a disaster could seriously disrupt their business within the next two years.2
  • 51 percent of Americans have experienced at least one emergency situation where they lost utilities for at least three days, had to evacuate and could not return home, could not communicate with family members or had to provide first aid to others.3

Are Your Employees Ready?

  • Only 2 in 10 Americans feel prepared for a catastrophic event.4
  • Close to 60 percent of Americans are wholly unprepared for a disaster of any kind.4
  • 54 percent of Americans don’t prepare because they believe a disaster will not affect them.5
  • Only 1 in 10 American households has taken the appropriate preparedness steps: a family emergency plan, an emergency supply kit and training in First Aid and CPR/AED.4
  • 82 percent of Americans agree “If someone could make it easy for me to be prepared, I’d do it”.4

Emergencies Are Inevitable.

The Ready Rating program is designed to help your business or organization become better prepared for emergencies.

Sources: 1 Insurance Information Institute, 2000, 2 American Red Cross and FedEx Small Business Survey, 2007, 3 American Red Cross/Harris Poll Survey, 2009, 4 American Red Cross Preparedness Survey, 2006, 5 The Aftershock of Katrina and Rita: Public Not Moved to Prepare, 2005

FAQs

Answer: No, there is no cost for membership. Members are only financially responsible for costs incurred to improve their preparedness.

Answer: The Red Cross Ready Rating program provides a framework designed to help small to medium-sized businesses, schools, faith-based and cultural organizations, non-profits, social enterprises and other community organizations become better prepared to respond effectively and recover quickly from disasters and other emergencies.

Answer: This program does more than provide useful emergency preparedness information. The Ready Rating program’s Assessments, Next Steps Report and other templates allow members to better understand their particular risk to emergencies, and develop an emergency action plan that is tailored and fit-for-purpose to their organization’s circumstances and needs. Additionally, the Membership Seal makes emergency preparedness measurable and visible. Displayed at your facility and on your digital platforms, this serves as a public recognition of your organization’s commitment to preparedness and safety. Lastly, the Canadian Red Cross can provide additional services and resources to enhance emergency preparedness efforts that an organization undertakes.

Answer: The Ready Rating Seal is a visible statement that a member organization, business or school has committed to improving their level of preparedness by participating in the Ready Rating program. In adherence with Red Cross guidelines, members can also publicly display the Ready Rating Seal to show their commitment to preparedness.

Answer: Any small/medium-sized business, school, educational institution, faith-based or cultural organization, non-profit, social enterprise, and community organization that is committed to improving their emergency preparedness is welcomed and encouraged to join the Ready Rating program.

Answer: The Red Cross employed a powerful combination of research and practical experience to create a program to address the important components of emergency preparedness, meeting members where they are on their journey to preparedness and allowing them to work at the pace that meets their needs. The Ready Rating program is built through a combination of industry standards, good practices, and expert recommendations. The Ready Rating program not only provides members with helpful information — it also recognizes members for their efforts

Answer: For over 125 years, the Canadian Red Cross has responded to emergencies both large and small, helping people prepare for them through education and training programs. The Red Cross continuously builds on its experience to proactively respond to emergencies and disasters; this program is a step forward in our ongoing efforts.

Answer: The Canadian Red Cross’ most recent research shows that the majority of Canadians are not prepared for emergencies, citing a lack of awareness of risks they face and know-how of how to prepare as some of the main reasons. Because emergencies can happen at any time, there is a constant need to prepare for emergencies.

Answer: The Canadian Red Cross Society is a singular, not-for-profit corporation incorporated under the laws of Canada and a registered charity with the Canada Revenue Agency. Our charitable purpose is to prevent and alleviate suffering in accordance with the Fundamental Principles of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement. In keeping with this purpose our mission is to help people and communities in Canada and around the world in times of need and support them in strengthening their resilience.

Answer:  For questions or issues related to forgotten passwords or usernames, access to assessment data or any other technical issue with the site, please contact a team member or submit a direct support ticket.