Does Your Business Need a Disaster Plan?

12/20/2021 (Permalink)

Keep everyone safe when a disaster occurs in Pueblo, Co.

Have you noticed how Mother Nature keeps throwing natural disasters such as floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, wildfires, and earthquakes at our Pueblo, CO commercial? The key to being able to fight back is being prepared for a multitude of worst-case scenarios.

Being prepared for those scenarios in your home as well as your business involves creating a natural disaster plan. In this blog, we are going to discuss some aspects to consider when designing a disaster plan for your business.

Why Disaster Planning?

There are many things to factor in when you are putting together a disaster plan for your business.

Included in those considerations are the following:

1. Keeping your employees protected
2. Keeping your assets secure
3. Getting your business back up and running again

Many sources such as the Red Cross, FEMA, and Ready.gov have prepared helpful checklists that can guide you in identifying areas that need to be included in your natural disaster preparedness plan. These sources are also useful in measuring just how prepared you truly are.

How to Protect Employees

Protecting the human aspect is the most important consideration if a disaster were to strike without warning. You must have a plan that lays out procedures and safety measures for employees and visitors by making sure evacuation routes and exits from your facility are all properly marked, ensuring that there is a designated area that can serve as a shelter space, possibly considering the installation of emergency lighting, and creating a volunteer staff to serve as “safety wardens” who are properly trained and able to guide and assist with all emergency efforts.

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

Asset Safety Is Key

There are thousands of dollars at risk in assets and merchandise even if your business is located in a strong and sturdy brick and mortar location. You will have to make mindful choices about how to protect the assets on the inside.

It is a good idea to compile a comprehensive and up-to-date inventory of these items, and having photographs prior to a disaster whenever possible is always helpful when filing insurance claims. When you have assets that are based on a computer server, take necessary steps to ensure that the regular backups are being performed and look into storage systems such as cloud storage options that cannot be damaged.

Contact a contractor to help you uncover areas that may need structural integrity upgrades if you own your building, and have the contractor walk you through possible safety upgrades and advise on any areas that may not hold up in certain weather situations.

How to Get Back to Work

After a natural disaster occurs, it is quite possible that damages will force you to close your business down while repairs are being made. Every day you remain closed is another day you lose money and profits. It is a good idea to have a “rainy day” fund set aside to help out with any additional costs that are not covered by your insurance.

Knowing what to do when disaster strikes your business is of the utmost importance. When it comes to the cleanup and restoration aspects, call SERVPRO of Pueblo and we will there for you.