Disaster Preparedness for a business

12/22/2020 (Permalink)

Did you know that 40% of small businesses will go out of business after a disaster? More often than not, a business owner is so occupied on the opening and upkeep of the business; they don’t find much necessity in focusing on unlikely and uncontrollable disasters that could potentially affect their business. Due to this, 40% of these small businesses will not open their doors after an emergency. With the life changing impacts that a disaster can have on a business, it is important to be prepared in this situation. Having a disaster preparedness plan can’t prevent the disaster; however, it can increase the likelihood of your company opening back up, after the disaster occurs. Some things you can do to be prepared is keeping company records on a network, as well as hard copies. In the case the hard copies get damaged, you will still be able to access them on a network. Moreover, having a communication plan to employees, vendors, and customers is smart. It’s best to plan for worst case scenario disasters. If your physical location is out of commission, you should have a separate plan to address all your customers, vendors, and employees. Third, consider a plan to keep operations running during the repair process. Make sure all your employees are aware and in the loop; therefore they can help and make sure they are up to par with the operations. Fourth, consider potential threat. Depending where you live, you may face different threats. Analyze different situations and plan if X were to go wrong, we can do Y. Lastly, routinely practice drills. Train your crew on how to use the preparedness plan effectively. Each person should know their specific responsibilities and roles, and be trained for it. Much like fire drills, implement the preparedness plan. Though it may seem like a waste of time, its better to be prepared than to not be.