Emergency planning can be the difference between fortune and misfortune! With all the crazy weather happening lately in California I thought this would be an ideal post today for BizBen blog readers:
By all accounts, California businesses fuel an economy that ranks near the top of the world, ahead of all but a few nations. According to the California Technology, Trade & Commerce Agency, California’s gross state product of more than $1.35 trillion in the year 2000 not only ranked fifth in the world—behind only the gross national products of the U.S., Japan, Germany and the U.K.—but also represented nearly 14 percent of the U.S. gross national product that year. Keeping the front door of a business open and maintaining the state’s leadership in the worldwide financial arena takes more than wrestling with the economy. Earthquakes, fires, floods, plagues and acts of terrorism can all slam the door shut on the most robust of businesses and undermine the economy unless businesses are prepared, say state and federal officials.
“Businesses that plan for disaster can expect less property damage, economic loss and down time than those that do not,” advise federal and state emergency preparedness officials. “It's a good reason to include disaster preparations in the normal course of business planning,” say Mike Hall of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and Henry Renteria of the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (OES).
Businesses should consider several elements in preparing for a disaster. It’s important to protect the staff, building, data and inventory of a company during a damaging event. It’s also critical to prepare a plan to continue operations after large-scale destruction.
A good plan may include relocating to a different site; preserving employee, customer and vendor records; and operating efficiently with a smaller staff of key individuals because of a diminished workforce. “Businesses need their legs solidly under them when disaster strikes, and they need regular staff training to make sure everybody knows their role,” says Hall.
Internet resources are available to help with disaster planning. FEMA provides a step-by-step approach to emergency planning, response and recovery for companies with case studies in the business library at
www.ready.gov.
OES offers detailed information about family and business preparedness at
www.oes.ca.gov.
The U.S. Small Business Administration's (SBA) Web site,
www.sba.gov, has disaster preparation tips and a list of topics business owners should consider in planning.
The Institute for Business and Home Safety,
www.ibhs.org, developed an Open for Business Toolkit in the programs section of its Web site. This kit provides the means to develop both property protection and business continuity plans for small business owners.
An important part of any business plan is adequate insurance to cover damage from perils such as fire, flood, wind and earthquake. A good Internet resource is the Insurance Information Institute at
www.iii.org.
“One of the key post-disaster benchmarks is how quickly businesses are back in operation,” says Renteria. “Companies that are able to continue operations and support the rebuilding efforts of government will be the engines of recovery in California.”
Posted on February 26, 2008 | 
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