Suppose a freak blizzard strands you and your co-workers in the office. Utilities are knocked out. On the second day the boss comes to you and says, "Look, this is getting pretty bad. People are hungry and thirsty, cold and scared. I know you think about survival stuff. Would you take charge of our living arrangements so we can get through the next couple of days if we have to?"

What would you do?

Wow. We are on the same sheet today. I was going to ask almost the exact same question.

First, the boss would either do a transfer of power in a way that does not diminish his standing but expresses his belief the best chance for survival is for that person to be giving orders. Or you tell him you will give him he can be the leader your his trusted adviser and does what you say. It sound draconian but a team needs only one leader.
Next, make sure everyone stays in one area to increase room temperature.
Next, have a group insulate the room to create more heat.
Next, have someone take a head count with everyone's name and number.
Next, have a group bring all the food, water, blankets (etc) they can to the room.
Next, have a group catalog our assets for use and prepare a rationing system for food and water.
Next, find a way to receive communications and transmit our situation (a car radio, a cell phone, laptop wifi).
Next, have a group locate playing cards, iPods, board games, books, magazines for people to stay busy.
Next, observe for those that are engaged and those that are losing it. Manage the minds of the people. Find out what strengths you have in the people around you.
Next, after getting feedback from all the above have a meeting with everyone and lay out what the plan will be for the next several hours or days to keep people warm, fed, hydrated, happy, hopeful.

My personal list, YMMV.

1 - Search the office for anything that can be burned to produce heat or used as insulating materials.
2 - Find any and all available water.
3 - Same as 2, but food.
4 - Cover/insulate all openings with whatever's available.
5 - Assemble everyone in one room for warmth.
6 - Crack a window, start a small fire (taking proper precautions, of course).
7 - Find any available medical supplies/ask if any co-workers have a medical condition that may be a serious concern.

That oughta be a good start.

Well I can attest that 2005RedTJ and I did not copy each others notes. We posted within a second of each other. And very similar posts at that.

Great minds....

I clicked "post", then I saw your reply that wasn't there when I first hit "reply". I could think of a lot of paperwork at my office that I'd LOVE to burn.

And I'd pull insulation from the ceiling/walls from other parts of the building and use it to improve the r-value of walls/ceiling around the area that would remain occupied. I work on a lot of construction sites, and have insulated a house before, so I do know a little about insulation.

Great minds, indeed.

I would have the boss stay in charge if I could and then just act as his advisor and maybe his adjutant.
This solves a few political problems.
Since the boss is responsible for the building it is easier to tell people to do stuff to it if it is under the bosses authority.
Once the chain of command is clarified comes the next steps.

Comms' list of things to get is pretty good.

Inventory of the situation and supplies is first.

I am going to assume the office has a fairly large crew and might even occupy their own building
If it doesn't it might be helpful to see who else is in the building. If there is more than one office unit occupying the same structure you will likely want to work together.

Then you need the supplies inventory
This includes whatever is in stores and whatever is in people's cars. Count everything from spare clothing to coffee filters.


If there happens to be a working radio then a radio listening group and a news reporter will help. People like to be informed.

Since an office and a blizzard are in the scenario you could send a detail out to collect snow. It can be melted for flushing toilets or if it is cold enough that the plumbing is frozen it can be melted for kitchen use. Snow is pretty clean usually but I would still have a crew boiling it.

Maybe some people could be kept busy clearing snow from around any cars in the lot too.

Like Comms mentions, nothing hurts moral more than somebody feeling bored and useless, so one of the things that would really help is having something for everybody to do.
That could include a group to do entertainment if your office is large enough.
Once the basics are attended to might be a good time to practice an office choir sing-along or something.
Maybe the group could do a bit of theatre, or somebody might even be a musician.

Good question dweste, and great answers. One thing I would add is to try and get word out to 911/Red Cross/National Guard/friend with a big truck letting them know we are trapped and running low on supplies.

-Blast

Don't forget your cars - generally a great place to cache get home bags, a bit of food, warm clothing etc. Send out people in 2s and 3s to salvage what they can. Also browse through unoccupied offices for additional clothing.

Burning - even though the power is off, your fire alarm system is probably still on battery power. Watch your open fires, getting dowsed by a sprinkler system would make the experience far worse and more dangerous. Burning stuff would be difficult in a modern office environment, every trash can and recycling can in my workplace is made of plastic, not metal. And most floors are carpetted. The only metal receptacle I can think of in my workplace is the kitchen sink.

Communication - I work in a collection of 30 buildings, not in your scenario but there are likely others nearby in the same circumstance. Reach out, find the best shelter, unify your command with the strongest leaders, consolidate people, supplies etc. Put 1-2 people on a radio (you do have your wind up radio, right?) listening for intel, including storm status, what is happening outside your door. If you are stranded likely others are too, and as the storm allows someone will be coming.

Reach out - depends on the blizzard and how prepped you are, but you may be able to send out a party of 2-4 people to alert someone (local FD or police) to your situation and get assistance. Right now though this scenario sounds like that would risk lives, which isn't called for after a couple days.

Find someone with a Ham license, there's usually about 1 in 100, and hope they have a HT on them.

Medical is very important - a few who have diabetes etc may need to be specially managed and cared for. Poll everyone for EMT and similar medical training. Put the best person in charge of polling folks for medical issues that will require management. Mental health too - people are separated from their families and will become distressed by that. If you can do anything to restore comms (email, cell phone, landline etc) that may be the greatest benefit to the group as a whole, even if it doesn't result in your immediate rescue.

Know your limitations - you've been given charge of "living arrangements to get through the next few days", you haven't been promoted to lead the company generally. Beware of turning this into a Lord of the Flies scenario. Make sure you and your boss know your boundaries - he probably still considers himself to be in charge, but will accept your recommendations if they are logical and result in warmer, happier employees. He may also be turning to other employees for help, with or without your knowledge, and their assistance may conflict with yours. If anyone has been trained and drilled in DHS Incident Command, you will have an easier time of dividing up responsibilities with a central reporting structure if not actual leadership. You won't have to do everything yourself, you delegate folks for logistics, supply etc etc and give them tasks to accomplish. Whether my boss has taken the courses or not, I would probably have this talk with him early on as a way to organize and see everyone through. ICS gives a framework for addressing this scenario just like any other. And don't forget, if you can contact anyone else, another stranded group, rescue personnel etc, the next person through the door with more or better experience than you is probably the new incident commander - unless the next person is your boss' boss. Don't let your ego get in the way of shifts in command structure. New leadership is generally a sign of better organization and more resources to address the situation, things getting better.

Relax - blizzards will blow by. Modern office spaces retain heat pretty well, while they will cool down it will take several days to get pretty darn cold

Oh yeah - keep notes, a log of your actions and those of others. You and HR will need them to to cover your potential liability. Make sure every medical procedure and response gets logged by whoever is in charge of that, and consolidate that with yours when you can finally go home. As a learning experience this would be a good one, and worth reviewing at a post mortem meeting when you present to management a plan for emergency preparedness. If they are so unprepared as to strand employees in the workplace with an approaching blizzard, turning to you for last ditch assistance, they will really need to re-think their training and preparations for the next incident. That, or you should re-think your continued employment by such a short-sighted employer.

Lists of what you would look for around the office:

insulation materials
food sources
water sources
first aid sources
morale / entertainment sources
communication equipment
what else?

Edit: heat sources