Preparing Your Business for A Disaster

5/16/2017 (Permalink)

You may just be starting out with your own business or have an established well-oiled machine. Either way, you work hard planning for the future. One of the most commonly overlooked aspects of running a business, is disaster preparedness. After all, most businesses will never experience a serious disaster, so why worry? 

Planning is Not Hard

Luckily for business owners across Long Island, planning for the possibilities of a disaster is not as hard and time consuming as it seems. Here are a few tips to help ensure the continuity of your business, even in the event of a disaster:

• Develop a comprehensive preparedness plan that covers, fire, flood, natural disasters, criminal behavior and terrorism. Templates for these plans can be found in various places around the Internet including ready.gov, a service provided by the US Department of Homeland Security.
• Test your program to make sure that employees and contractors know what to do in case of an emergency. Proper testing can identify gaps in your plan and makes for a calmer and more organized response during a real disaster.
• Backups – At the very least keep crucial documents backed up offsite or in a secure location. Ideally, documents and other paperwork is scanned and backed up securely on the Internet.
• Train employees in critical skills such as how to handle an active shooter or CPR. These are training programs that save lives.
• While you may have business insurance, does it cover all disasters? Some policies have exclusions that can mean denied coverage.
• Have a list of known contractors and disaster preparedness companies such as SERVPRO of Bellmore/Wantagh that can respond quickly to your business needs.

Are You Ready?

You can learn more about being ready by visiting our very own SERVPRO website here: https://ready.SERVPRO.com - see if you are truly prepared for an emergency.

The bottom line: It’s never too late to implement important contingencies to help ensure the continuity of your business.  Not only does an emergency plan help you get back on your feet after a significant event, but it can also save time, money and most importantly, lives. Be prepared!