| In the face of a disaster, keep one thing in mind: | | | | emergency contact and employee numbers. |
| If you can live through it, so can your business - | | | | 5. Back up your data daily. Keep a copy offsite or |
| most of the time. But you need to plan ahead. | | | | in a fire- and waterproof safe. |
| Sadly, most small and home-based business | | | | 6. Regularly update your insurance info: equipment, |
| owners won't do that. It's a tragic way to reduce | | | | inventory, etc. Keep a copy of this offsite (or in a |
| the competition. But if you choose to prepare for | | | | safe) as well. |
| disaster, you'll still BE the competition! | | | | 7. Look for fall hazards: piled boxes, overhead |
| The enhance your chances of still being around, | | | | materials, and so forth. Rearrange to protect |
| you need to create a disaster preparedness plan. | | | | yourself and your people from unnecessary harm. |
| Even something very simple could help greatly. | | | | 8. Don't let debris, empty containers or recyclable |
| The most important aspects of your plan are to | | | | materials pile up. |
| make it practical and easy to maintain. | | | | 9. Avoid overstocking flammable items, such as |
| A good disaster preparedness plan starts with | | | | fuel or materials with a rapid flash point (such as |
| disaster prevention. General prevention is mostly | | | | loose paper and cardboard). |
| good common sense. Natural catastrophes such | | | | 10. Use appropriate safety containers for |
| as wildfires, major storms and earthquakes can | | | | flammable items. |
| quickly convert your office or facility into a | | | | 11. Establish a firebreak around your facility if |
| danger zone if you're not prepared. But most of | | | | possible, and internal firebreaks as well, such as a |
| the events that destroy businesses never make | | | | ten-foot perimeter around propane tanks if you |
| the news -- things like on-site accidents and small | | | | have them. |
| fires that happen somewhere every moment of | | | | 12. Keep tree branches trimmed back from |
| every day. | | | | structures, equipment and inventory. |
| Those things are certainly disasters. But there's an | | | | 13. Try to separate equipment, inventory, and |
| even worse disaster that happens later if you | | | | storage items in order to mitigate the domino |
| aren't ready: the unnecessary demise of your | | | | effect of fire spreading to all areas of your |
| business afterward. That's the disaster that you | | | | business. |
| can prepare for by planning ahead. | | | | These suggestions are just a sample of what you |
| Disaster prevention steps | | | | can do to avoid unnecessary damage. Walk |
| Here are some basic steps for safeguarding your | | | | through your office or facility and imagine what |
| employees and business from unnecessary | | | | could happen if it was suddenly hit by a fire or |
| damage: | | | | flood. Your common sense will guide you to |
| 1. Pay attention to public warnings. Don't | | | | create a good disaster prevention plan in order to |
| second-guess evacuation orders. Better to err on | | | | minimize your exposure to devastation. |
| the side of caution. | | | | (For more information on preparing your business |
| 2. Establish emergency evacuation procedures. | | | | for surviving and recovering from disaster, please |
| 3. Keep fire extinguishers and first aid kits on hand | | | | see the expanded article series at the website |
| and check them regularly. | | | | listed below.) |
| 4. Keep a cell phone programmed with | | | | (c) 2005 Michael Riley. All rights reserved. |