In the past few weeks we’ve had devastating fires all over the country. Businesses like yours have been lost. And, alarmingly, this appears to be happening with increasing frequency and ferociousness.
In that regard, I’m repeating an updated 8-point disaster preparation plan I first offered some time ago:
- Establish responsibility for developing a plan. In many small businesses this will inevitably be the owner.
- Identify the essential services and functions you’ll need in case of an emergency.
- Identify the skills at your disposal that might be needed in an emergency.
- Identify the types of potential emergencies.
- Prepare a plan for each type of potential emergency,
- Review the plan to make sure that all possible aspects have been addressed.
- Review the plan with employees and/or your preparedness team (if you have one).
- Photograph every square inch of your premises (equipment, fixtures, furniture, inventory) and store the record (e.g. USB stick) safely off site. You will need it if you have to prepare an insurance claim.
If you choose not to plan in detail, at least do #8. I can assure you that when filing an insurance claim after a disaster, your memory is no match for a photographic reminder of what has been lost.
And again, like all other plans, once prepared it should be revisited and updated regularly rather than being left to gather dust somewhere.