Author Archives: OfficePlus

Supplies You Need for a Power Outage

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As any Canadian will tell you, power outages aren’t seasonal. From ice storms to heat waves, a power outage can happen at any time. And while we can’t predict when one will happen, we can prepare for it.

Power Outage Supplies

The most important thing to have during a power outage? An emergency preparedness kit. Sure, most outages last mere minutes, but many of us have experienced that days- or even weeks-long blackout. For such times, turn to these five supplies for information, comfort and survival.

Supplies You Need for a Power Outage

  • During an emergency, wifi and cable might go out but the radio will always be there. A radio will keep you in the loop and may provide life-saving information during major emergencies.
  • Flashlights and lanterns. During a power outage, the last thing you need is an injury from stumbling around in the dark. Flashlights and lanterns aren’t just for convenience, but for safety.
  • Phone chargers. The conventional ones won’t work, so look for battery-powered backup chargers to keep you connected to friends and loved ones during a power outage.
  • Without batteries, radios, flashlights and some back-up phone chargers are useless. Keep a good range of sizes — from AAA to D — and you’ll be able to power any appliance.
  • No-heat meals. Your stove won’t work. Your freezer and refrigerator should stay closed to keep food from spoiling. Keep a few fully-cooked canned goods — and a manual can opener — to ensure you don’t go hungry.

For more tips on how to thrive during a power outage, visit Get Prepared.

The difference in high-visibility apparel colours & striping

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Woman wearing high visibility safety apparel

On a daily basis you will see high-visibility safety apparel being worn by people working across various industries – construction, warehouse and transportation to just name a few. It’s hard to miss them wearing florescent colours with reflective striping, and that’s just the point. But have you ever wondered why some will wear orange and others yellow, for example? Or if you’ve been tasked with ordering safety apparel, you may be overwhelmed with which colours you should order.

We know it can be quite confusing, so we’ve turned to the experts and would like to share this fact sheet prepared by the Canadian Centre for Occupational Health and Safety.

The fact sheet will answer all your questions such as:

  • When do I need High-Visibility Safety Apparel?
  • What is the difference between fluorescent and retroreflective materials?
  • What should I look for in High-Visibility Safety Apparel?
  • When would I wear the different classes of High-Visibility Safety Apparel?
Read Fact Sheet

Still need help deciding which safety apparel you need? Reach out to us and one of our product experts can help!

How to Handle Stress – Some tips to help bring the balance back!

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We all lead busy lives so it is important that we take responsibility for our health and learn how to cope with stress when it hits. There are four pillars of health – mental, physical, financial and career – that each person needs to keep in balance. It will make a large impact on a person if two of the four pillars are in negative territory which results in a drop of productivity.

The first step in keeping balance is to build resilience by exercising, eating properly, and spending time in nature. If you are able to build resilience, you will have more psychological wellness and if you are hit by stress, you won’t be impacted as hard. Another thing you can do is check out your company’s employee assistance program to get a rating for your health. The program helps to find the aspects of a person’s life that are causing stress. Once the cause is determined, the company’s employee assistance program can provide you with the help you need, such as a councilor or financial planner.

Businessman Dealing With Stress

Three steps to reduce day-to-day stress:

1. Learn tactics to reduce stress

If you find that you are stressed because of a large list of tasks you have to complete or by a large project, try breaking them into smaller chunks and tackle each task one at a time. Typically when a person is able to check off finished work at a relatively fast rate, they start to feel more productive and less stressed.

2. Deal immediately with a tough task

It’s best to tackle a tough task as soon as possible, as we tend to let our heads get the best of us. Instead of waiting until the end of the day to deal with your “to-do” project, deal with it as early as you can. By dealing with tasks right away, we save ourselves a day of stress and worrying.

3. Know when to ask for help

Don’t be afraid to ask for help when you’re feeling stressed and aren’t sure what to do. There will always be someone willing to help.

Seven steps to building resilience

1. Exercise

Exercise is always important, especially when stressed. It helps to clear your mind and get rid of stress by allowing you to calm your breathing. Exercises such as yoga and streching helpsthe body and mind relax.

Try starting off with going for a half-hour walk every day. If you feel stressed during work, take some time out of your lunch break to take a walk. If you’re able to, try to arrange walking meetings or have a friendly office competition by having all colleagues wear pedometers and see who can take the most steps in a week.

2. Eat right

Make sure you’re eating the proper amount of food and nutrients your body needs. You don’t want to be under eating or overeating as that can make an impact on stress and lead to other problems.

3. Get enough sleep

Everything is harder when we are running on little sleep, so it is important to get quality sleep every night.

4. Spend time with friends and family

Take the time to spend time with friends as family as they can help take your mind off of the every day routine and make you feel better overall.

5. Spend time in nature

Spending time in nature allows us to refocus, relax, and get away from technology and other collaborative means of staying “connected” to everything.

6. Focus on spirituality

Whether through organized religion, star-gazing, meditating or simply time spent contemplating life, give yourself a chance to stop and think about topics beyond the daily routine.

7. Be involved with your community

Helping others helps us feel better about ourselves.