Small to Medium Business: Planning for Emergency and Disaster

When you are a small business owner, you eat, drink and sleep your business. Who has time to plan for something that may never happen? ( I am thinking every business ever hit by a tornado didn’t think it would happen to them) The Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety, as well as FEMA, offers you some tools to make the necessary process of ensuring recovery easier.

What could be better than the ability to say, We Are Open for Business! See the tools available to you at the link below and plan to recover as soon as possible following a disaster.

http://disastersafety.org/open-for-business/ofb-basic/

http://www.fema.gov/media-library/resources-documents/collections/357

Can My Business Survive?

According to Wikipedia;

A business continuity plan is a roadmap for continuing operations under adverse conditions (i.e. interruption from natural or man-made hazards). BCP is an ongoing state or methodology governing how business is conducted. In the US, governmental entities refer to the process as continuity of operations planning (COOP).

BCP is working out how to continue operations under adverse conditions that include local events like building fires, theft, and vandalism, regional incidents like earthquakes and floods, and national incidents like pandemic illnesses. In fact, any event that could impact operations should be considered, such as supply chain interruption, loss of or damage to critical infrastructure (major machinery or computing/network resource). As such, risk management must be incorporated as part of BCP.

Please consider developing a Business Continuity Plan so that you and those families you support through employment or as a business owner can have peace of mind. For assistance please contact the Cavalier County Office of Emergency Management or go to http://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/continuity to find great resources.

It’s National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week

The professionals that answer 9-1-1 calls may be talking to people at one of the worst times of their lives. While they are getting information from the caller, they are paging help to be en-route, they are answering the radio as help states they are on the way, and talking to the 9-1-1 caller at the same time.

It takes a very special person to do the required multitasking and remain calm.

This week honors those in Cavalier County and nationally for the skills that they have, for the personalities that they have to do the job of answering 9-1-1.

They work nights, weekends and holidays. The work is sometimes incredibly intense and sometimes incredibly quiet. It is a difficult job to be the one on the end of the phone, when a horror story may be happening on the other end. Any minute could be the terrible, or very successful ending to a 9-1-1 call.

Think of them this week and the service that they give to our community. They are the FIRST, first responders.

Disaster Plan

How about developing a disaster plan? How would you find your family if you are separated? How do you communicate in an emergency?

  • Decide where your household will reunite after a disaster, Choose 2 places to meet: one right outside your home and another outside of your neighborhood, such as the church, out building, neighbors house or  community center.
  • Become familiar with exit routes from your home and from your neighborhood.
  • Have the number of an out-of-state friend or relative to contact in an emergency, local lines may be tied up. This person can help you to communicate with others.
  • Make sure that all of your household members and family have a copy of your contact #’s and of your plan in their wallets
  • Practice your plan!