PLDT and Smart recently held a disaster preparedness fair that focused on preparing employees and their families to deal with disasters like earthquakes, floods and fires. The training sessions in Metro Manila were also livestreamed thru its various offices nationwide providing more employees with key information on how to prepare for such disruptions.
PLDT Vice President for Enterprise Business Continuity & Resilience and Asset Protection and Risk Management Atty. Oliver Odulio underscores the importance of disaster preparedness in building resilience communities.
“As part of the over-all program of the company in developing and building resilience, the critical component here is the readiness of our employees. While we do have programs which focus on preparedness within the office work space, personal and family preparedness is also an essential part of a holistic approach. Making sure that the families of our employees are safe and disaster-ready greatly contributes to the over-all resilience and readiness of the company in terms of responding to bigger disasters. A safe and prepared employee translates to a ready and resilient organization,” said PLDT Vice President and Head for both Enterprise Business Continuity & Resilience and Asset Protection & Risk Management, Atty. Oliver Odulio.
An employee tries the virtual reality game on typhoon safety measures by the Philippine Red Cross during the disaster preparedness fair.
As leading providers of digital services, PLDT and Smart also developed a mobile application for its employees that provides information and support during disasters. It aims to serve as every employee’s guide to disaster preparedness and resiliency, and a means to get assistance from the company during emergencies or disasters. The app is backed by the company’s security organization, which is well-equipped to provide rescue operations to the employees, their families, and their community.
An employee checks out one of the booths at the disaster preparedness fair.
“Through this initiative, we are upgrading the capability of our employees to be more disaster-ready and resilient, while enabling the company to create various business continuity plans. This will also allow them to respond in disasters pertaining to their work operations, and contribute to the overall safety of the communities where our businesses operate,” said PLDT Head for Business Continuity Tactical Response Engineering Miguel Gutierrez.
A lifeboat with some safety helmets and life vests are some of PLDT and Smart’s disaster response equipment which were showcased during the disaster preparedness fair.
“There’s no real endpoint when it comes to a person’s level of preparedness. The objective here is to continuously learn, to improve and be more adaptable and resilient as we go on. When we look at the risks that we face such as climate change and various environmental and social factors, we have to make sure that we are able to adapt our level of resilience to all these ever evolving risks and threats,” Atty. Odulio added.
