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Disaster Planning: Are You Prepared for the Worst?

You'd like to think it won't happen to you, but the reality is that disasters can happen to any company, anywhere, and usually without warning. Disasters come in all sizes and shapes, from hurricanes and earthquakes to fires, floods, utility failures, theft, vandalism and even the death of a key person. Could your organization survive? It depends on how well prepared you are.

Certainly insurance is a key part of risk management, but only a part. Even though you may have plenty of coverage, a natural disaster, accident or even criminal act that causes property damage to your place of businesswhether you work from home or from a commercial officecan devastate your bottom line. Property insurance may pay to repair the physical damage and business interruption insurance may replace lost income, but if you can't operate for any period of time, your reputation for reliability will suffer and you'll probably lose clients.

The responsible thing for you to do for your companyand the employees and customers who depend on itis to put together a comprehensive disaster plan. It should be written downit won't be effective if it's just in your head. Copies of the plan should be maintained in your office and in the personal possession of key people in your organization.

Begin planning by tapping into community resources. Your local utility companies can help you develop a plan for dealing with power, water and telephone outages. The Red Cross and your local emergency management agency can help with other aspects of disaster preparedness. Even your insurance agent and/or insurance carrier will probably be happy to help you.
The general areas your plan should cover include:

Communications. Include current contact information of all employees as well as critical outside resources, such as insurance companies, suppliers, regulatory agencies, technical support services, etc. If you use a speed dial function on your telephone system, print out those names and numbers and include them in your plan or store them in a safe but accessible place; if these people are important enough to your operation to be programmed into your speed dial, they're important enough to be contacted in an emergency. Your plan should also discuss how employees and customers will be kept informed during a disaster.

Staff responsibilities. Establish a chain of command and clearly articulate who is responsible for what during an emergency. This will avoid duplication

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