As a business owner you likely have a plan to deal with evacuation due to fire or if an industrial accident happens on property. However, too often business owners fail to examine all of their disaster planning needs when it comes to their business operations.
Below are seven things you might be overlooking when it comes to disaster planning:
1. Business Continuity Plan — This is essential if your business relies on several key employees or access to things like specific resources or vendors. Have a plan on what you need to prioritize when it comes to maintaining operations — Do you have enough employees trained on specialized equipment? What if there is an issue where employees can’t get into work and no one is able to complete their tasks? Review operations and increase the number of individuals qualified to do key tasks if necessary.
Additionally, examine the way you receive inventory or goods. Do you order all of your supplies from one vendor? What if they are closed or out of business as the result of an emergency? Spend time now to identify and build alternative contacts and channels if you suddenly have to operate your business in a new way.
2. Backup Funding Options — Similar to the idea of backup vendors and suppliers, examine all the ways your business funds its operations. Can you potentially open a line of credit in advance? What about an additional corporate credit card or setting up a Venmo account? Even cash reserves could be a lifeline if you are a customer-facing business and find yourself unable to process credit card transactions due to a power disruption. Setting up alternate ways to purchase items and interface with customers can ensure your business stays operational in a time of crisis.
3. Have a Communications Plan/Out of Area Contacts — When an emergency happens one of the first areas impacted is usually phone communications, both mobile and land lines. Overloaded circuits can make it impossible to get in touch with employees within a disaster areas. In order to increase your chances of staying in communication with your employees, develop a communications plan that includes both a protocol for which managers contact which employees in times of crisis and all alternative ways to reach that employee (mobile, land line, email account, spouse phone number, etc.) Additionally, designate some key contacts outside your area (ideally out of state) where managers can call in updates if they are not able to get in touch with ownership. Your out of area contact can be a relative of a manager or owner, a vendor or even your insurance broker or agent; as long as someone can receive and relay key information in a timely manner you have several options.
4. Stay on Top of Inspections — When you face an emergency situation that might involve equipment or inventory, you will be able to help any first responders with an accurate and updated report on all items involved. For example, telling a Fire Captain that your sprinkler system was just inspected three months ago gives them some knowledge that maybe something is going on with water supply if your sprinklers are not turning on.
5. Plan for Those Who Need Help — While your on-site emergency plan may have steps or provisions to ensure safety of all employees, what about guests or customers on site? Critical to an evacuation or disaster plan is to outline steps and employee responsibilities to assist guests who may have mobility issues. Identify access ramps and wider doorways if you need to get someone in a wheelchair or using a walker to safety quickly. Are parts of your facility only accessible by stairs? Map out an exit path to move everyone to safety if someone can’t use the stairs or will take too long for them to exit. Since disasters strike without warning you never know who might be on property at the time.
6. Document EVERYTHING at your location — For any insurance claim in the future or even to assist first responders in an emergency situation, be sure you keep an accurate inventory of everything on site with key information such as model names, key components, etc. Document the serial numbers of all equipment; photograph storage spaces and create a file that simply records every piece of furniture and soft goods such as carpet, accessories and fixtures with information on purchase dates and prices.
7. Use Online and Non-Online Tools — Messaging around “the cloud” and storing your data online is everywhere today. While these options for data storage, backup and sharing are key, they become useless if internet services are down. A great complement to any online tool is a physical backup drive for essential files and documents. Multi-terabyte drives are very affordable and give you quick access to data if you can’t get into the cloud. Back up files with this redundancy option frequently and keep your backup drive(s) in a fire-safe location.
