You can’t always control when disaster strikes your business—but how you prepare makes all the difference. Proactive disaster planning is your best defense. Whether it’s a storm, cyberattack, or power outage, taking the right steps now can save your business from total collapse later.
If it can happen, it will. Don’t let a lack of preparation be the reason your business becomes part of the 40% that never reopen after a major disruption.
Identify Risks Before They Find You
Disasters come in many forms—hurricanes, fires, flooding, hacking, data loss, or unexpected outages. The first step in proactive disaster planning is naming your top threats. From there, look into insurance coverage, system backups, and protective measures that align with your specific vulnerabilities. Don’t wait to find out the hard way.
Define Your Priorities
Your employee safety should be your utmost priority when it comes to a recovery plan. Making sure that your team is safe and are accessible if they are unsafe is the most pressing thing you need to consider.
How will you ensure your customer and employee safety when a natural disaster hits? What policies will you put in place to make sure they are equally protected and taken care of? Thinking through these questions will allow your team to understand your loyalty and dedication to their well-being.
Establish Your Plan
Step One: Learn what requirements affect your business
Some steps within your game plan will need to align with OSHA. Do the research to find out what federal laws can affect you based on the inner workings of your business.
Step Two: Align with local emergency departments
Local agencies like fire departments, local news and emergency weather services will most likely already be ahead of the game. Be sure to abide by these local/national alerts when creating your recovery plan.
Step Three: Establish an emergency response team
If you can, create a team that solely focuses on disaster relief. This way they can iron out details you may not be able to always see while focusing on the rest of the important details of the company.
Choosing to be proactive can be your saving grace when tragic events strike. Do not become a part of the tragic statistics that can cause your business to fall because you were not prepared. Simple and easy steps that you put into place for your company will be the best decision you make.