Making Sure Your Business Is Ready for Any Potential Disaster Situation | SERVPRO® of Wilson County

5/8/2019 (Permalink)

There are a plethora of aspects and considerations that must be addressed when running a business, but one of the most important factors to think about is emergency preparedness.

When you have a plan in place, it will not keep disasters and emergencies from occurring, but it does give your business a leg up where safety is concerned and ensure that your employees know what to do if a disaster or emergency situation should occur.

Coming Up With a Plan

How about you—have you taken the time to sit down to develop an emergency preparedness plan for various disaster situations? If not, make this your next priority!

There are numerous emergencies your business should have a preparedness plan in place for, including:

• Fire
• Severe weather, including thunderstorms and winter storms
• Other natural hazards like floods, hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes
• Human-caused hazards, including accidents or acts of violence
• Technology-related issues like power outages and equipment failure

When an emergency occurs, it will not matter how it has occurred. Whether it’s a man-made incident or one stemming from nature, if there is no emergency plan for your business, things will escalate causing an even more chaotic situation quickly.

You should make sure that safety training and familiarization of emergency preparedness plans are included in the company onboarding process, team-building activities and continuing education opportunities. By helping employees familiarize themselves with proper safety protocol and emergency procedures, you’re not only giving them the tools to protect themselves, but you are also setting them up to help protect guests/visitors and the business itself.

Where You Should Start

Prepare for any worst-case scenario when beginning to set up an emergency plan for your business. Evaluate which scenarios are most likely to occur, as well as those that seem pretty far-fetched but could still happen. It’s always better to be safe than sorry.

The internet offers a wealth of information with resources to help guide you through this process, including Ready.gov, the American Red Cross, FEMA and the CDC.

Also, conduct a business impact analysis (BIA) to help predict the potential effect a disaster may have on your business. This would include lost or delayed sales and income, increased expenses from repairs, and delayed implementation of business plans—and don’t forget to make sure a crisis communications plan is in place, too.

Once there is an emergency preparedness plan in place, be sure hold regular drills to practice and review it with your employees. By reviewing and rehearsing various scenarios with them, you are ensuring that the process remains fresh in their minds and can help employees feel more empowered.

Disaster can strike when you least expect it, but by being prepared and having a plan in place, your business will be better suited to handle whatever Mother Nature has in store. If the worst should happen and your business is damaged, know that SERVPRO® of Wilson County is here to help make it “Like it never even happened.”