Preparing: Policies & Procedures
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor, only 25 percent of U.S. companies plan for disasters and most companies that experience a major disaster go out of business within five years. Regardless of what type of disaster affects your business, it’s important to have policies and procedures in place before an emergency occurs.
Policies and Procedures that Can Help Prepare the Workplace
- Review, update and store all insurance policies, emergency evacuation procedures, current list of employee names, emergency procedures and all other pertinent documents in a fire proof safe or container that you can easily take with you during an emergency.
- Write a disaster recovery plan. Create a disaster recovery team, a committee of key personnel who can maintain the plan and all the necessary documents.
- Establish or review insurance coverage for your business. Find out if the insurance covers loss of personal property, loss of revenue, general liability, destroyed documents, debris removal and any other expense related to disaster recovery. Also, consider coverage for other emergencies like crime and kidnapping liability.
- Inventory and photo-document your business’ contents before and after an emergency to prove your losses.
- Plan for alternate space following a disaster. Often businesses are forced to relocate their office either temporarily or permanently.
- Back up all computer data and store important records and documents off site.
- Create a plan for returning to business as usual.
- Write procedures for the disbursement of funds to pay payroll, rent or other expenses during an emergency.
- Establish an employee assistance program to help employees recover financially following a disaster.
- Write a succession policy for your business that describes the chain of command during a disaster.
By creating and establishing policies and procedures before the emergency arrives, your business will be able to return to normal operations more quickly.
