HURRICANES IN THE ATLANTIC
It's Not Too Late: Tips for Preparing Your Business and Community for Hurricane Season 2008
Hurricane forecasters are predicting another above-normal hurricane season, producing 15 named storms, 8 hurricanes and 4 intense hurricanes in 2008. It is never too late to protect your business, family, and community from the damage these storms may cause.
Determine Your Risks
Even if your business is not in a hurricane-prone area, there are other risks that can strike quickly and with little or no warning. Even if your business is not destroyed, customers and supplies may not be able to get to you, and power outages can affect your daily business operations. Forty-percent of small business owners never recover from a disaster. It's not too late to prevent yourself from being one of them.
Prepare and Protect Your Business
Find out which natural and technological hazards can happen in your area. Get information about how to prepare your employees and clients to respond to possible hazards and provide help. Network with others who have or need to develop risk or contingency management plans. Attend seminars and get information from local risk management associations or chapters Consider both no-cost and low-cost ways to prepare your business and employees. Low-cost solutions could include identifying two or three contractors or supply sources for emergency plywood window coverings, or to calculate the cost of business interruptions for one week, one month and six months. Low-cost solutions could be to purchase a first aid kit and bottled water to store for emergency use, or to provide First Aid and CPR training for all of your employees.
Disaster Recovery Begins Before a Disaster – Steps To Building a Disaster Plan
No business should risk operating without a disaster or business continuity plan. Those that are unprepared often have no plan or backup system.
When you start to develop your disaster plan, consider three subjects: human resources, physical resources and business continuity. Think about how a disaster could affect your employees, customers and workplace. Think about how you could continue doing business if the area around your facility is closed or streets are impassable. Think about what you would need to serve your customers even if your facility is closed.
Once these three areas are assessed you can form the information into a disaster plan suited to your business.
Assess Your Human Resources
Here are some suggestions your may want to consider:
• Keep phone lists of your key employees and customers with you, and provide copies to key staff members.
• If you have a voice mail system at your office, designate one remote number on which you can record messages for employees. Provide the number to all employees.
• Arrange for programmable call forwarding for your main business line(s). Then, if you can't get to the office, you can call in and reprogram the phones to ring elsewhere.
• If you may not be able to get to your office quickly after an emergency, leave keys and alarm code(s) with a trusted employee or friend who is closer.
• Install emergency lights that turn on when the power goes out. They are inexpensive and widely available at building supply retailers.
• Use UL-listed surge protectors and battery backup systems. They will add protection for sensitive equipment and help prevent a computer crash if the power goes out.
• Purchase a NOAA Weather Radio with a tone alert feature. Keep it on and when the signal sounds, listen for information about severe weather and protective actions to take.
• Stock a minimum supply of the goods, materials and equipment you would need for business continuity.
• Consult with your insurance agent about precautions to take for disasters that may directly impact your business. Remember, most policies do not cover earthquake and flood damage. Protect valuable property and equipment with special riders. Discuss business continuity insurance with your agent.
• Keep emergency supplies handy, including:
- Flashlights with extra batteries
- First aid kit.
- Tools.
- Food and water for employees and customers to use during a period of unexpected confinement at your business.
Assess Your Physical Resources
Prevent or reduce disaster damage in your facility by taking precautions, such as:
• Back up computer data frequently throughout the business day. Keep a backup tape off site.
• Bolting tall bookcases or display cases to wall studs.
• Protecting breakable objects by securing them to a stand or shelf using hook-and- loop fasteners.
• Moving to lower shelves large objects that could fall and break or injure someone.
• Installing latches to keep drawers and cabinets from flying open and dumping their contents.
• Using closed screw eyes and wire to securely attach framed pictures and mirrors to walls.
• Using plumber's tape or strap iron to wrap around a hot water heater to secure it to wall studs.
You should also consider having a professional install:
• Flexible connectors to appliances and equipment fueled by natural gas.
• Shutters that you can close to protect windows from damage caused by debris blown by a hurricane, tornado or severe storm.
• Automatic fire sprinklers.
Assess Your Business Continuity Plan
Here are some questions to consider:
• Could your business continue to operate if your building was destroyed?
• Can you operate from an off-site location?
• Can your business meet any financial obligations it may have if business were interrupted, and for how long?
• How would your contractual agreements be affected?
• How will an interruption of supplies or product distribution affect your business?
Businesses Protecting Their Families
Business owners and employees have the responsibility of protecting their families as well as their employees from disasters. Some ways to develop a disaster plan for your family include to:
• Meet with your family and discuss why you need to prepare for disaster. Explain the dangers of fire, severe weather, and earthquakes to children. Plan to share responsibilities and work together as a team.
• Discuss the types of disasters that are most likely to happen. Explain what to do in each case.
• Pick two places to meet:
- Right outside your home in case of a sudden emergency, like a fire.
- Outside your neighborhood in case you can't return home.
• Have a family communications plan. Ask an out-of-state friend to be your "family contact." After a disaster, it's often easier to call long distance. Other family members should call this person and tell them where they are. Everyone must know your contact's phone number.
• Discuss what to do in an evacuation. Plan how to take care of your pets.
Make a Family Checklist
• Post emergency telephone numbers by phones (fire, police, ambulance, etc.).
• Teach children how and when to call 9-1-1 or your local Emergency Medical Services number for emergency help.
• Show each family member how and when to turn off the utilities (water, gas, and electricity) at the main switches.
• Check if you have adequate insurance coverage.
• Get training from the fire department for each family member on how to use the fire extinguisher (ABC type), and show them where it's kept.
• Install smoke detectors on each level of your home, especially near bedrooms.
• Stock emergency supplies and assemble a Disaster Supplies Kit.
• Take a first aid and CPR class as a family.
• Determine the best escape routes from your home. Find two ways out of each room.
• Find the safe places in your home for each type of disaster.
Practice Your Plan
• Quiz your children every six months or so about your family plan.
• Conduct fire and emergency evacuations.
• Replace stored water and stored food every six months.
• Test and recharge your fire extinguisher(s) according to manufacturer's instructions.
• Test your smoke detectors monthly and change the batteries at least once a year.
More information on preparing your businesses and families from hurricane season can be found by visiting: http://ibhs.org, http://www.redcross.org, and http://www.fema.gov
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