"Depending on the severity of the storm, you may need to fill your storm position," Foy said about BGE workers.
--Gus G. Sentementes
W.R. Grace and Co. handed out hundreds of snow scrapers to employees last winter, and this year put out "shoe grippers" at its office entryways. Both the scrapers and the grippers, which slide over shoes, will likely be put to good use today.
Like many big employers around the Baltimore area, the Columbia-based maker of chemicals and sealants was monitoring storm forecasts Thursday and preparing to shut down if the snow starts in the middle of today, as predicted.
"We're encouraging folks to take laptops home in case the storm arrives sooner than forecasters are predicting," said Andrea Greenan, a Grace spokeswoman. "Then they can stay in touch remotely."
The Social Security Administration, which employs 12,000 in Woodlawn, and Fort Meade, where some 35,000 people work, were among other big employers waiting and watching before deciding whether to tell employees to stay home or leave early. Catholic Relief Services decided Thursday to close its downtown Baltimore headquarters today.
Fort Meade would close "if we get some accumulation and it looks like it's dangerous to drive," said Mary Doyle, a Fort Meade spokeswoman. "Then we start shutting things down: the gym, the bowling alley and the PX."
--Lorraine Mirabella
Administrators at Baltimore-area hospitals were bracing Thursday for the weekend's expected snowstorm by fine-tuning contingency plans, jump-starting emergency command centers and making sleeping arrangements for critical staff, from hotel reservations to outfitting hospital units with free beds. "We want our patients and family and friends to know that we have made preparations to be fully staffed and to take excellent care of our patients in spite of what the weather brings," said Ellen Beth Levitt, a spokeswoman at the University of Maryland Medical Center. Greater Baltimore Medical Center, Anne Arundel Medical Center and the University of Maryland Medical Center have volunteers with four-wheel-drive vehicles on hand to drive people to work if they can't make it on their own. During December's storm, GBMC used its emergency command unit to notify the National Guard to have a Humvee pick up nurses who lived in rural Harford County and take them to the Towson hospital, said Michael Schwartzberg, a GBMC spokesman. Hospital administrators said they made improvements after December's record-setting storm. "We are reaching out more broadly to the medical staff earlier," said Herbert C. Buchanan Jr., chief operating officer for the University of Maryland Medical Center. "We have tightened up the processes."
--Kelly Brewington
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