• Behavioral Issues
• Child Care
• Cleaning Up After a Storm
• Communication
• Deciding To Stay Or Go
• Evacuation Shelters
• First Aid & Medical
• Flood Center
• Food and Water
• Help the Relief Effort
• Insurance Center
• Lighting & Power
• Pet Care
• Preparing Your Home
• Special Needs
• Storms Explained

Your Business Disaster Plan: Preparing for the Storm

After disaster strikes your area, the recovery of your business or workplace will be greatly determined by the employees. Your business disaster recovery plan may be put to the test, so make it the best you can, while you can.

When a disaster like a hurricane becomes eminent, oftentimes, the workplace will take a backseat to other priorities. This leaves a business without a disaster plan greatly unprepared for a hurricane. If you connect with your employees and co-workers before disaster strikes, getting back to business after a hurricane won't be such a daunting task.

The Basics

• Disaster supplies, first aid kits, and safety kits should be readily available in the office.
• After you form your business disaster plan, test it! Make sure it works before disaster strikes.
• Information on local disaster management agencies and the Red Cross should be made available to employees.

 

Who and What to Plan For

• Be aware that without a disaster plan, many employees may not know how to reach each other, or continue work. Many of them simply may not know what to do. So, your business disaster recovery plan should include assigning employee roles and testing employees on these roles.
• With a business disaster plan, each employee will aware of their duties post-disaster. A business should also assign back-up employees in case certain employees are absent or unable to be reached.
• Owners may want to plan for safety, transportation, and lodging of both employees and their families. This way, the employee will have more stability and peace of mind- and should be able to tend to their assigned post-disaster work duties more easily. Travel, lodging, and cash funds or debit cards (when appropriate) should be established ahead of time. This will help to eliminate any confusion, and when and if evacuation happens, your employees can avoid the rush.
• If you know a hurricane is coming, consider deploying key team members ahead of time- help them get established first, so they may help other employees as well.
• The HR department, local government, and corporate level of your company should all be included and aware of your plan.
• It may help to plan for staff at an alternate location during and after a disaster to assume business operations.

 

Before Disaster Strikes: Other Factors to Consider

• Make sure that information on key vendors is up to date.
• Plan to implement a call forward business line, should communication lines become affected.
• Consider alternate forms of communication for the post-disaster time frame. Extra cell phones, satellite phones, text messages, or updating local radio stations with reports can help you contact your employees.
• Think about data saved in your business- is a lot of it on paper? It will help to transfer this data to a form of electronic media, and save it with a back-up disk. This way, valuable files and paperwork essential to your business’s welfare can be saved. Test these back-up drives regularly, and save them in a secure place.
• Understand your insurance policy and keep your inventory current.
• Most importantly, test your plan!

 

After a Disaster: What to Do

For information on how to get your business up to speed after a disaster, see our article "Your Business Disaster Plan: Getting Back to Business After the Storm."