How to Prepare Your Business for Disasters and Emergencies
A catastrophic event can put everything at risk, including your customers, brand, and overall business. Emergencies, disasters, accidents, illnesses, and other crises often occur at the least convenient times. Whether you are dealing with earthquakes, hurricanes, floods, injuries, or other serious illnesses, your business should prepare for the possible impacts of these emergencies.
Background
Many businesses nowadays invest a significant amount of time, money, and resources to succeed. Yet, only a few of them have a business plan for emergency and disaster scenarios. Wrong move – weather emergencies alone pose a significant risk to businesses.
Whether you are operating a commercial office building, a warehouse, a manufacturing facility, a construction site, or childcare, it is critical to have an emergency plan in place. Having one will help in raising awareness and preparing for these events with a stronger response.
No one wants to think about a future emergency, but without planning and preparation, the next emergency could truly turn into a business disaster. It is important to prepare your response plans beforehand.
There is much that a business and its leaders can do to prepare for the most likely hazards. Below are some resources to help you with your disaster response.
Create a Preparedness Program for Your Business
The best way to successfully manage business risks is to identify all possible scenarios and create a contingency response plan. The contingency plan should detail strategies for dealing with emergencies and disasters specific to your location and type of business. This plan should also contain general risks that apply across all industries.
Access Available Resources
When creating your emergency preparedness plan for your business, it is important to utilise all available resources. It will ensure that your plan will address all possible contingencies. List down your local emergency numbers and know who and when to call.
Ready the Following Toolkits
Prepare a business toolkit series that will address hazard-specific emergencies, including earthquakes, hurricanes, inland flooding, as well as a physical and mental toolkit. Each toolkit will offer employers and managers a step-by-step guide to building preparedness within a business. Each toolkit contains identifying risks, developing a plan, taking action, and helping others.
Earthquake Toolkit (QuakeSmart)
Unlike other natural disasters, earthquakes often happen without warning and cannot be easily predicted. Fortunately, Australia is regarded as a flat and seismic continent safe from any serious earthquakes. While this is generally true, we occasionally experience earthquakes. Therefore, it is important to understand the risks, develop preparedness and evacuation plans, and take action.
Hurricane Toolkit
Some parts of Australia may be directly affected by heavy rains, strong winds, coastal and inland floods from tropical storms and hurricanes. The hurricane toolkit for your business helps you take action to protect employees, customers and ensure business continuity as well.
Inland Flooding Toolkit
Along with hurricanes, parts of Australia are also at some risk for inland flooding. Businesses, organisations, and community groups must understand the potential impacts of this disaster. The Inland flooding kit will provide you with tools to plan, take action, and become emergency-ready after rainfalls for many days in a row.
Physical and Mental Toolkit
This guide and resource kit will provide business owners and workers with a basic understanding and a place to start about workplace physical and mental injuries and what to do about them. The guide gives definitions, common causes of physical and mental distress, and legal frameworks (focusing on Australia). The toolkit also includes a list of resources available and possible actions to take.
Preparation Aids Recovery
Good preparation helps aid in recovery. Emergency preparedness planning is a make or break for many businesses. It can be the difference between staying in business and losing everything. Having an emergency plan is one of the best (and easiest) ways to help ensure your business survives and recovers from any emergencies and disasters.
Talk to us about creating your emergency plan and providing training to your employees.
