A majority of companies have an emergency contact list in one form or another.  Whether it’s on a piece of paper or distributed electronically, it’s one important document.  However,  while it’s good practice to have one, keeping it up-to-date is another matter.

A contact list of few numbers is easy to maintain, but as it grows larger, it starts to have a life of it’s own.  This was the case when I used to maintain the emergency contact list at one of my previous employers.  By the time I took on the responsibility of updating and distributing the contact list, it had grown to over 150 individuals, with each person having at least three numbers (office, home, mobile).  I managed to find one of the original lists that was created over six years ago, and there were only about 35 individuals listed.

The problem I discovered with maintaining such a large list was that it was out of date by the time it was distributed.  It took over a week to update the numbers, and up to two weeks to have it printed out in an accordion-style wallet card by a professional printing company.  Many times, by the time the wallet card was distributed, some numbers would already be outdated due to phone number and other changes during the time the list was sitting at the printer’s queue, waiting to be printed.

This of course drew criticism from my manager on how a newly updated contact list had outdated numbers, and certain individuals on the contact list would send me an e-mail telling me that one of their numbers were replaced by a new one.  For this reason alone, I understood why no one else on the team wanted to own the emergency contact list.  Eventually, I came to accept that the list would always be a moving target, especially with so many numbers.  I remember one time that by the time a new list was ready to be distributed, the contact information for two individuals was no longer valid, because they had been fired.

Here are some tips to make life easier when it comes to maintaining and distributing large emergency contact lists

• Update the contact list quarterly - With employees coming and going, changing positions and constant changing of mobile numbers, an annual update (even semi-annual) may no longer be suitable.
• Set a cutoff date for completing the updates, or else you will never get the list ready for distribution
• Notify the listed individuals and recipients of the the list that a deadline for updates will be set, and subsequent updates will be made in the next one
• Place an ‘as of’ date somewhere on the contact list - I found by placing the full date  of the last update somewhere on the list before distribution greatly reduced questions on why some numbers were out of date.
• Understand the contact list is dynamic and will always be a moving target
• For some it’s a tedious task, but it is one of the most important documents to have during a crisis

With the new year just around the corner, it’s an opportune time to update your contact list for 2009.

~ KC Lee