Make Your Business Disaster Ready
Disasters happen, often without much warning. These events can have a profound impact on a company’s bottom line – some catastrophes can decimate an organization for years to come.
According to Dr. Jordan Sudberg, organizations need to mitigate the risk of disaster by creating a contingency plan. Doing so provides businesses with an emergency protocol and a re-route in the event of an unexpected crisis.
Fortunately, there are many ways to make a business disaster ready. Dr. Sudberg outlines five ways businesses can prepare for a disaster.
1. Conduct A Risk Assessment For Disasters
Before crafting a contingency plan against disaster, you need to understand the risks you face from these events. How vulnerable are you? This is where a risk assessment comes in. What areas of your business have the highest danger of facing a disruption? What are the potential losses if your company were to be hit by a tornado or chemical fire, for example?
Taking the time to consider these questions will help you identify areas where your business is susceptible to disaster. Armed with this information, you can take measures to reduce these risks – and thus boost your overall preparedness.
2. Establish A Disaster Response Team
Once you’ve identified the areas of your business most at risk, it’s time to implement a contingency plan to mitigate them. The best way to do this is with an actual response team. These individuals will help guide you through the disaster recovery process, should it arise.
Most business disaster response teams have a single leader who serves as an interface between the organization and the disaster. In other words, they’re there to prevent panic and provide strategic advice.
3. Conduct Test Drills/Mock Disasters
If you’re going to be able to recover from a disaster, you need to practice. Conduct training drills that simulate the emergency procedures outlined in your contingency plan. By regularly testing these actions and procedures, you can ensure the competency of your staff during the actual crisis event.
In addition, conducting mock disasters is an excellent way to assess the preparedness of your response team. They’ll rise to the occasion, but only if you put them through their paces in advance. Make sure that this is a regular practice during your staff meetings.
4. Have An Emergency Supply Plan
Disasters are unpredictable. You’re not going to know when or where they’re going to strike, but you can predict they’ll probably be disruptive. So, you need to ensure that your business has emergency supply plans as well as custom disaster survival prep kits in place in case of a disaster. And by prepared, we mean well-developed plans that are updated regularly.
An emergency supply plan will help your organization prepare for a wide variety of events, including power outages and other types of emergencies, both natural and man-made.
5. Purchase Insurance
Even with a disaster response team and a well-practiced disaster plan, things can still go wrong. The best way to cover your butt is with an insurance policy.
Whether it’s general liability, property damage, or worker’s compensation that you’re interested in, you can’t go wrong with a good insurance plan. Moreover, these policies can often be tailored to include coverage for specific threats you may face. By purchasing a policy with adequate coverage, you can be reassured that your business is well protected.
Conclusion
When it comes to being disaster ready, Dr. Jordan Sudberg believes that it’s important to remember that all businesses are at risk. Rather than fret over the risks you face, take the time to put an appropriate plan in place. Conducting regular drills, establishing a disaster response team, and purchasing adequate Insurance are just a few things you can do to ensure that your business will survive an unforeseen event.