Creating a Disaster Plan for Your Business | SERVPRO® of Garden Grove/East Anaheim Central

1/24/2019 (Permalink)

Creating a Disaster Plan for Your Business

Who but Mother Nature could throw everything from floods, hurricanes and tornadoes to wildfires and earthquakes at us, proving that nothing is safe from her wrath? Preparation for a multitude of destructive scenarios is the key to rolling with the punches, so to speak.

Being prepared for these situations involves creating a natural disaster plan for your business. This blog will lay out some aspects to consider when designing that very important disaster plan.

Where to Start With Your Disaster Plan

There are many things you will need to consider when developing a disaster plan for your business. Included in those considerations should be:

1. How to protect your employees
2. How to secure your assets
3. How to get business up and running again

Many checklists have been made available through sources like the Red Cross, FEMA and Ready.gov that can offer information that will help you identify areas that need to be included in your natural disaster preparedness plan. These sources will also help you see just how prepared you truly are.

Employee and Visitor Safety

Protecting employees and visitors should be top on your list when making a disaster plan. If a disaster were to strike without warning, that plan should address procedures and safety measures for employees and visitors to follow at a moment’s notice.

All evacuation routes and exits from your facility should be clearly marked. Set up an area that can serve as a shelter space, consider installing emergency lighting, and have volunteer staff designated as “safety wardens” properly trained and ready to guide and assist in all emergency efforts.

When picking out a shelter space, the ideal location would be a basement or storm cellar in the event of tornadoes or other high-wind situations. If there is no basement space, use a small interior room, closet or interior hallway on the lowest level of the building.

Ways to Protect Your Assets

If your business is located in a brick and mortar location, you will need to make mindful choices about how to protect the assets on the inside. If there is equipment or merchandise, there could be thousands of dollars at risk in the event of a natural disaster occurs.

Always have a comprehensive and up-to-date inventory of these items, and, if possible, take photographs prior to a disaster as this is always helpful if insurance claims will have to be made. If you keep your assets stored on a computer server, take the steps necessary to ensure that your backup system is doing regular backups and utilize a cloud storage system, which cannot be damaged.

If you own your building, you can talk with a contractor about areas that could use improvement and upgrading with regard to structural integrity. The contractor will show you possible areas that need safety upgrades and advise on any areas that may fail during certain weather situations.

Starting Business Back Up

It is entirely possible that when a natural disaster occurs, your business will be shut down and inoperable due to damage and you will lose profits every day you remain closed. Setting aside an emergency fund for these situations will help with any additional costs that are not covered by your insurance.

Putting together a list of contractors who will be available for construction repair work and knowing which cleanup and restoration service will be available to quickly respond to your emergency situation can give you peace of mind.

With SERVPRO® of Garden Grove/East Anaheim Central, you can count on us to get to the disaster faster and make it "Like it never even happened." Our training and expertise have prepared us to help with water damage, storm damage, fire damage and mold remediation quickly and effectively.

Knowing what to do when disaster strikes your business is of the utmost importance. When it comes to the cleanup and restoration aspects, depend on SERVPRO® of Garden Grove East/Anaheim Central to be there for you.