Survival 5: Area Study Part 1: Evaluate Yourself, Your Team and Your Home
Purpose. Delineate the area being studied — this applies to your home, your work, and any other locations you will likely be. We’ll start with you, your home and then expand outward.
What special skills and background do you have? The people on your team?
These include medical, construction, problem solving, military, the list is basically about coping with a mild emergency that isn’t life-threatening. The key is to know what you can and can’t do, and what those around you can and can’t do. Think back to the last emergency experienced — what was the reaction? The answer to this will give a heads up to how one will react in the next emergency. There is no right or wrong answer, but awareness helps.
These skills include medical, military, gardening, hunting, survival training and experience, pilot, boat operation, camping, weapons, cooking, land navigation, swimming, communication (personal and technical), construction, problem solving, fire starting, knot tying, the list goes on and on. Think back to the last crisis encountered. What was the instinctual reaction? Some people can react well while others panic. This is a reality that has to be factored into any scenario.
Task Four: Mild: Evaluate & list the following for you and each member of your A-Team.
Name:
Ability to react in an emergency:
Special Skills Background #1:
Special Skills Background #2:
Special Skills Background #3:
Special Skills Background #4:
Overall Physical Condition:
Medical Status:
Allergies:
Medications:
Ability to walk/run:
Swimming ability:
Able to drive? What types vehicles?
Special Needs:
By looking at these checklists you can see what assets and liabilities you and your A-Team have.
YOUR HOME
When we think survival, we picture someone out in the wilderness in a pine tree lean-to, but we spend most of our time in our home and it’s easy to overlook what we can do to make that environment safer. It is far more likely, in fact a given, that you will experience one of the accidents or emergencies listed in this section.
When I research, I find statistics that are all over the place because people can’t agree on definitions. Once more, those statistics are variables that differ from home to home, so I won’t quote many (those of you with pocket protectors and calculators can google them) but let’s do an Area Study for your home in terms of the most likely areas of concern.
1. Falls are a leading cause of injury and death. This is more likely based on the previous part of the Area Study: your personal physical condition. Older people, naturally, are more susceptible to falls and getting injured. One in three people, 65 or older, will suffer a fall leading to serious injury, if not death.
2. Poisoning goes in the opposite direction for susceptibility: it is more likely for children to be seriously hurt or killed by ingesting a toxic agent.
3. Children are also susceptible to choking, suffocation, drowning and scalding. This includes airway obstruction.
4. Water leads to drowning. Do you have a pool? Water nearby?
5. Fires and burns are likely dangers.
To prevent falls
Clear clutter. Pick things up and put them away. How many times have we tripped over something that doesn’t belong on the floor?
Look at your rugs. Are the edges secured? Are folds flattened? Do they slide? Use tape and rug mats underneath to prevent this.
Bathroom: place grab bars and non-slip mats in all bathrooms. The bathroom is very dangerous because water and soap makes things slippery; and if you do fall you’re going to hit something hard like a counter or tile floor. We never land on the fluffy pile of freshly laundered towels, do we?
Lighting: make sure all areas are sufficiently lit, particularly staircases. When we lived in a 100 year old house, a back stairwell didn’t have a light in it. The stairs also turned near the bottom. We bought a number of motion sensor, battery powered lights and put them in that stairwell and all over the house. Often we placed them just as you enter a room, inside the door jam or on the wall, low down. They have been life-savers.
Always wear slippers or shoes with rubber soles. I can attest to the danger of just socks on wooden stairs. Never a good combination.
Make your stairs safe. If you have small children or they visit, become an expert at installing childproof gates at the top and bottom of stairs. Have handrails for all stairs.
Use ladders properly and do not exceed specifications. Always place on solid footing. Have someone hold taller ladders at the bottom when in use. Make sure leaning ladders are placed against a solid point.
Task Five: Mild: Fall Prevention Checklist
Clear Clutter
Secure edges of all rugs
Secure rugs to floors so they don’t bunch or slide
Place grab bars and non-slip mats in bathrooms
Make sure all stairways and dark areas are adequately lit
AMIR motion sensor light: https://amzn.to/2LwlkKY
Wear Slippers or shoes with rubber bottoms at all times
Childproof stairs with gates at top and bottom
Do all stairs have handrails?
Use ladders properly according to specifications
To prevent poisoning
Label all unmarked liquid containers. If you wonder what’s in that old plastic jug or bottle, assume it’s poison. NEVER use food or drink containers to store hazardous material.
Store cleaning products safely and out of reach of children.
Store medicines securely and out of reach of children.
Put child proof cabinet locks on all doors within reach of children.
Have the poison control phone number posted in your kitchen and on speed dial on your cell phone. 800–222–1222.
Never mix medicines together without consulting a doctor or pharmacist. Or call the poison help hotline which is monitored 24 hours a day and they can give you advice: 800–222–1222.
Monitor heaters and fireplaces for CO2 emissions. Have fireplaces cleaned yearly.
Never mix household cleaning products together. Some don’t like each other and produce toxic gasses, particularly bleach and ammonia.
Never mix:
Bleach and vinegar = Toxic chlorine gas
Bleach and ammonia = Toxic Chloramine Vapors
Bleach and rubbing alcohol = Chloroform
Hydrogen Peroxide and Vinegar = Parecetic acid.
Task Six: Mild: Poison Prevention Checklist
Post Poison Control # Prominently in kitchen: 800–222–1222
Label all unmarked liquid containers
Insure all cleaning products are stores out of reach of children
Insure all medications are stores out of reach of children and have childproof caps
Never mix medications without approval
Monitor all heaters and fireplaces for CO2
Have fireplaces and chimneys cleaned annually
To prevent choking and suffocation
There’s a reason certain toys are designated for certain ages. What a child can put in their mouth, they will put in their mouth.
When putting babies to sleep make sure there is nothing around them that can cause suffocation.
Watch children during meals. Do they know how to chew properly before swallowing? Cut up food for younger children into bite-sized portions. Stay away from hard candy and foods that can obstruct the airway.
Put trash bags and other plastic bags in places where children can’t get to them. The same with the plastic bag that comes back from the dry-cleaners.
Secure batteries, particularly button batteries, from children.
Task Seven: Mild: Choking/Suffocation Prevention Checklist
Keep small toys, items out of reach of toddlers
Clear sleeping areas for babies from all possible items that could smother them
Keep trash bags and plastic bags out of reach of children
Keep batteries, especially button batteries, out of reach of children
Task Eight: Mild: Drowning Prevention Checklist
Always monitor young children when bathing.
Insure your dishwasher and washing machine are off when done.
Never leave water running when you’re not watching it. This is not only for injuries but for home damage (speaking from experience).
Don’t use electronics around water, especially the bath.
Keep toilet lids closed.
Pools should be completely enclosed with at least a four-foot high fence and childproof gate.
Never allow children in a pool unsupervised.
Task Nine: Mild: Fire Prevention Checklist
Smoke detectors in every bedroom
Smoke detector on every floor
Test smoke detectors every month
Replace smoke detector batteries every six months
Never leave the kitchen while the stove is on
Never leave candles burning overnight or when not home
Task Ten: Mild: Firearm Prevention Checklist
All firearms must be secured in a locked area
Locked trigger guards on all firearms
Never leave a loaded firearm unattended
Know and follow all firearms safety rules
YOUR IMMEDIATE AREA OF OPERATIONS
That’s a fancy way of saying the area around your home, your work, your school, etc. At HomeFacts you will get a listing of the following which will help: crime rate, environmental hazards, crime stats, drug labs, air quality, radon, UV index, brown fields, registered polluters, tanks and spills, average monthly temperatures, probability of earthquakes, hail, hurricanes and tornadoes; closest airports, FCC towers, fire stations, hospitals and police stations.
Task Eleven: Homefacts
Go to Homefacts http://www.homefacts.com/ and enter your zip code.
Task Twelve: Environment
Of the four type of special environments (cold weather, desert, tropical or water) which ones do you need to be concerned with in order of priority:
Here is a partial list of natural disasters:
Tornado, Hurricane, Heat Wave, Drought, Wildfire, Blizzard, Earthquake, Tsunami, Volcano, Mud/Landslide, Flooding, Tidal Surge.
Below is a partial list of man-made disasters. While some of them are truly accidents and can’t be anticipated, others might have a higher likelihood depending on where you live such as a dam failure or industrial accident. Some also depend on your lifestyle, such as where you work or whether you own firearms.
Car accident, boat/ferry accident, train/subway accident, tall building evacuation, fire, power outage, burglary, robbery, carjacking, civil unrests/riots, terrorist attack, active shooter, firearms accidents, nuclear power plant accident, nuclear weapons, dam failure, biological weapons and infectious diseases, chemical weapons/accident, industrial accident.
Are your power lines buried? What industries are in your area? What are you downwind, downstream of? What toxic materials and/or gases would be emitted if there was an accident? Where is the closest nuclear power plant or storage area? Are there labs in your area that work with dangerous biological agents? What about the local university? Are you in the flood zone of a dam breaking? What rails lines are near you? What is being transported on those lines? Is toxic material being carried? If a train derails and that material is released, what should you do? Under survival, the proper response for a chemical agent is covered — your first instinct to run is usually the wrong one! The same is true for evaluating potential problems on waterways and roads.
Where is your hundred year flood line? You can use the FEMA flood map search to determine this by entering your address: https://msc.fema.gov/portal/search
Also, note that recent surveys indicate flood data is changing rapidly. Here is the link to an article indicating where things are changing updated in 2020:
https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2020-flood-risk-zone-us-map/
This is becoming more and more important!
Task Thirteen: Natural and Man-made disasters in order of likelihood in your AO
Natural Disasters in your area in order of likelihood:
1:
2:
3:
Man-made disasters in order of likelihood in your AO:
1:
2:
3:
4:
5:
By doing this task, we can now focus on what is important for your specific situation in this manual.
This is excerpted from: The Green Beret Preparation and Survival Guide
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