No business should risk operating without a disaster plan

Disaster recovery begins before a disaster. While reports vary, as many as 40 percent of small businesses do not reopen after a major disaster such as a flood, tornado or earthquake. With no plan or backup systems, these businesses were unprepared for a disaster.

When you begin to develop your disaster plan, consider three factors: human resources, physical resources and business continuity. Think about how a disaster could affect your employees, customers and workplace. Think about how you could continue doing business if the area around your facility were closed or streets were impassable. Think about what you would need to serve your customers even if your facility were closed.

Source: American Red Cross

Preparedness Planning for Your Business

Ready Business will assist businesses in developing a preparedness program by providing tools to create a plan that addresses the impact of many hazards. This website and its tools utilize an “all hazards approach” and follows the program elements within National Fire Protection Association 1600, Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs. NFPA 1600 is an American National Standard and has been adopted by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.

The five steps in developing a preparedness program are:
Program Management

Organize, develop, and administer your preparedness program
Identify regulations that establish minimum requirements for your program

Planning

Gather information about hazards and assess risks
Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA)
Examine ways to prevent hazards and reduce risks

Implementation
Write a preparedness plan addressing:

Resource management
Emergency response
Crisis communication
Business continuity
Information technology
Employee assistance
Incident management
Training

Testing and Exercises

Test and evaluate your plan
Define different types of exercises
Learn how to conduct exercises
Use exercise results to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan

Program Improvement

Identify when the preparedness program needs to be reviewed
Discover methods to evaluate the preparedness program
Utilize the review to make necessary changes and plan improvements

For more information on reducing risk or any of our other services, please contact Jeff Harrison at jeff.harrison@cbservices.org or 800.807.0300 ext 2543.

Reference: http://www.ready.gov/business