By Chuck Ross
If anything good can be said to have come out of Hurricane Katrina, it could be the hard-learned lesson regarding the importance of emergency planning–not just for governmental bodies, but also for individual business owners. As another hurricane season begins, experts urge contractors in all locations to consider what they will do to keep their employees safe and their businesses alive in the face of a natural or manmade disaster.
"It's not a matter of 'if'; it's a matter of 'when,'" says Carol Chastang, a spokesperson for the Small Business Administration's Office of Disaster Assistance, predicting the likelihood that a business owner might face unpredicted interruptions of unknown duration. "Ideally, the business has a plan in place."
Plan essentials
Such a plan should begin with ensuring your business has adequate insurance coverage, Chastang says. She suggests that as a business owner, you consider business-interruption insurance along with traditional damage and liability protection to ensure working capital is available to meet cash-flow needs. Then you should ensure you have contact information on hand for all employees, suppliers and creditors. Procedures also should be in place for backing up all necessary electronic data and storing those backups where they will be safe from harm.
"We've seen a proliferation of groups offering backup servers," says Wendy Rose, spokesperson for the Institute for Business and Home Safety. "Or it could be something as simple as a disk you can back up and store at least 50 miles from your current location."
It's easy to see how having important financial and employee information available in an emergency could help your business get up and running as soon as possible after a disaster. Experts add that not having and following such a plan could set you up for problems with your insurer after a disaster. If steps could have been taken to prevent financial damages–such as canceling deliveries before an approaching hurricane hits–you may have trouble receiving compensation for those losses from your insurer, according to Heather Pinder Rodriguez, an attorney specializing in construction law in the Orlando office of law firm Holland & Knight.
Starting the effort
Developing a plan doesn't have to be an overwhelming process, Rodriguez says. She suggests smaller businesses start with a small-group brainstorming session to identify key elements, for which individual employees can then take responsibility. Larger businesses may need a more formal approach, she says.
Don't forget your surrounding community when developing plan specifics. Including provisions that could help neighbors recover quickly, too, could make for grateful future customers. For example, having extra equipment, such as generators and chain saws on hand could enable you to provide assistance to others that will be remembered long after storm clouds have passed.
Finally, remember that any plan is only helpful if you're willing to use it when the need arises. Waiting too long to act when advance warning of a possible threat is available could be just as dangerous as having no plan at all, experts say.
"You don't want to respond too early, but we also have to remember, what's a couple days of lost business if the hurricane does come?" Rose says. "If it misses you, just be glad it did."
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