The Small Business Administration has some suggestions to help you keep your business assets, employees, and records safe in a disaster:
Get more information on the SBA's Disaster Preparedness page, which includes a Disaster Preparedness Guide for Small Business Owners.
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- Develop an emergency response plan for your business. Find evacuation routes and establish meeting places. Make sure all employees understand the plan beforehand. Keep emergency phone numbers handy. Write down everything and distribute it to each employee. Then talk about it at least once every six months as a reminder.
- Designate a contact person to communicate with other employees, customers, and vendors and to serve as a point of contact with information about recovery, relocation, and other issues. Make sure that person is equipped with vital phone numbers, and remember that cell phone coverage may be sporadic in a disaster.
- Make sure you have adequate insurance coverage, particularly business interruption coverage to keep cash coming in to pay bills during the time your business is shut down.
- Back up important business records. Store backups in a different location or in a secure storage vault. Even a bank vault may not be safe, as bank vaults can be flooded or destroyed in a disaster. Include daily, even hourly backup as part of your business routine. Online backup can be the safest, as long as you can get back on the Internet quickly.
- Create a "disaster survival kit" for your business, including flashlights, portable radios, extra batteries, first aid supplies, non-perishable food, bottled water, basic tools, plastic sheeting, garbage bags, cash, and a digital camera to take pictures of the damage. Store kits in several locations in your business building, and let employees know where to find them. When the lights go out or employees are trapped in a building, they need to know where to go to get their hands on these survival kits.
Get more information on the SBA's Disaster Preparedness page, which includes a Disaster Preparedness Guide for Small Business Owners.
Back to Before and After a Disaster