We have created a Small Business Preparedness Checklist to help you get started:
Excel Spreadsheet Version (editable)
To make your business more resilient to disasters, consider these cornerstones of preparedness:
- All employees should be personally prepared, so everyone can devote time to saving/restoring the business rather than being concerned about home and family
- Offsite or cloud-based backups of all your business data so you won’t lose essential information due to power outage or computer failure
- Protection of your physical inventory – keep vehicles, computers, products out of areas that could flood, and protect these items from leaky roofs or windows
- Make sure you know what your insurance policies will cover. Look at disaster clauses in your policies and leases. Talk to an agent about business interruption protection (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_interruption_insurance)
The following are excellent resources to help businesses and non-profit organizations prepare for disasters:
Recommendations:
- Make preparedness a priority and a core value of your business, endorsed by management
- Reward employees who accomplish personal and worksite preparedness milestones
- Choose a theme and get everyone on board—does not matter which “brand” you choose. just get everyone prepared