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Get Down To Business Before A Storm Hits

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The Tampa Tribune

Published: June 1, 2008

Want your company to survive hurricane season? Then start planning now.

•Develop a disaster plan and update it regularly.

•A good plan should address the basics of your business, such as how to keep key operations going and how to back up vital records.

•A plan should include emergency contact information for your employees and major vendors.

•The plan does no good if it's sitting on a shelf. Make sure employees know what they're expected to do.

•Need help crafting a plan? The Institute for Business and Home Safety Web site, www.ibhs.org, offers an "Open for Business" tool kit.

Protect Vital Operations

•Figure out how to secure your inventory and equipment in case you have to evacuate.

•Identify the operations that must continue to keep your company afloat, and assign primary and secondary backup locations for those operations and workers.

•Consider pacts with similar companies in a different region that could help serve your key customers.

Be Safe

•Identify how employees will be protected or evacuated.

•Consult governments and emergency personnel to identify circumstances that would require your staff to evacuate.

•Consider consulting safety experts if the company handles potentially dangerous items such as welding material, high-pressure gases, toxic chemicals, paint or high-voltage equipment.

Communicate

•Distribute information about how employees would contact the company during a disaster, where employees should meet, and how to contact vendors and customers. Check regularly to keep phone numbers up-to-date.

•Set up alternative lines of communications in case phone and Internet services fail. Consider safe places where employees could meet.

Back It Up

•Identify the company's vital records, such as customer lists, production schedules, lists of hazardous materials, an employee roster, bank account numbers, and contact information for lawyers, accountants, bankers and insurance agents.

•Keep copies of those records in a remote location. Record where that information is stored to help those involved in recovery find it. For help identifying key records, contact the Association for Professional Records Managers at www.arma.org.

•Back up vital computer records. This may be as extensive as hiring a data vault service or as simple as backing up data on portable devices such as jump drives.

•Make copies of recent sales information, such as customer receipts, in case your business interruption insurance requires you to share information about sales.

•Keep these items ready for a move: blank company checks, purchase orders, other important business forms and extra cash for emergency purchases.

Get It Insured

•Evaluate your business coverage and ask such questions as: Has your business grown or added assets, equipment or real estate? Do you need business interruption insurance that provides cash in times of disruption? How would you pay bills and payroll if revenue stopped?

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