Business Disaster Plans

No matter where you are located, disasters can happen.  Floods, earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes, fires, power outages, and wildfires are all disasters that can affect your business.   When you plan for a disaster, it will help you minimize losses and aid in faster recovery in the event of a disaster, which is why it is so important for any business, no matter the size to have a disaster plan in place.

Preparation

The steps that you take to prepare for a disaster are important.  Here are important things to take care of for preparing for a disaster and creating a disaster plan.

Prevention and Assessment – Taking a risk assessment of what could potentially have an impact on your business is important and allows you to plan accordingly for what could happen.  Yearly inspections, including the roof, safety systems, and fire prevention systems, to ensure that they are in good working order are vital.

Updated Contacts – Make sure that you keep an updated emergency contact list. This list should include your alarm providers, local police and fire agencies, customers, vendors, and staff. Disaster Relief agencies (FEMA, Red Cross) should also be included on this list.

Evacuation Plans – A posted evacuation plan should clearly show the floor plan layout with exits and emergency exits for staff and customers and the best route to use to each exit.  Staff should have a pre-arranged meeting place for after evacuation.

Records – Backing up and storing your digital records in a separate location from the business so that you can easily access them if there is damage to your computer systems in a disaster. Vital business records should be kept in a UL-rated safe to protect them from heat and fire.

Emergency Kits – Keep emergency kits at your location.  They should include blankets, batteries, flashlights, first aid supplies, a radio, a tool kit, a can opener, bottled water, and non-perishable food.

Emergency Planning

Your business disaster plan should include these vital aspects:

• Resources – What resources are available and what will you need to continue to operate your business during or after an emergency?
• Response – What is the immediate response in case of an emergency? This is where you will detail how to protect property, staff, client/customer safety, and your operations. This usually includes sheltering in place, evacuations, lockdowns, and nearest emergency services.
• Business Continuity – what is the strategy for keeping your business running? This can include transitioning to work from home, location clean up and repair, and financial recovery options.
• Provide copies to all employees – all employees should be given a copy of the disaster plan and have quarterly or yearly reviews.

Resources

For more resources, including checklists, sample disaster plans for Business Continuity and information for disaster relief assistance, please visit the following:

U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation

U.S. Small Business Administration

Ready.gov – Business Planning