There is no proper estimate to how many small business owners have lost everything due to a disaster occurring. However, the worse thing is that almost, if not all, of them aren’t able to get back on their feet and start all over again due to various reasons. Sometimes they just don’t have the money, other times they have lost all of their valuable resources, or other times they have lost a lot of necessary information without which they can’t continue operating. Whatever the reason is, one thing is for certain – this is something that no business owner wants to experience for themselves.
Finding a solution
But there is a solution to this problem and that solution is to prepare a disaster plan for your company. Since you can never be too certain when a disaster might occur, having a backup plan is always a must. Any solid small business disaster plan should consist of three very important components – protecting the human resources, protecting the physical resources, and planning for the business continuity. Without those three being properly prepared you are doomed to lose everything.
How to develop your disaster plan?
If you are a small business owner, then most likely the thing that you want to protect the most is your human resources. When you have employees working for you, you need to make sure that you have prepared a detailed plan to estimate how long will all of them be unable to work after a disaster occurs, what kind of compensation you will offer to them while they are away from work due to the disaster, and how will they receive their payment if it happens so that banks and computer systems are currently not working. Think about this thoroughly and prepare a well devised and thought backup, because you never know when you might need it.
In addition to thinking about what they will do after the disaster, you also need to be prepared about what you are going to do if the disaster occurs during working hours. Saving all of them should be your top priority and so you need to think of proper ways that you can provide them with easy access to emergency exits, food and water storage, as well as a safety place where they can stay for longer periods of time. Sometime the most reasonable solution is to get away from the building, but other times you might be forced to stay inside for days, and you need to consider both options when devising your plan.
When it comes to properly protecting your physical resources, it is a slightly more complicated task since it is highly dependent on different factors. First of all, it’s important whether you own the building or you have it on lease. If it has been leased you will need to work with your landlord in order to develop a solid property protection plan in the case of a disaster. Additionally, you should also take some time to develop a separate plan along with your employees about how to protect all of your assets in the leased space you are using. Assets such as computers, printers, furniture, etc. might not be your top priority when a disaster hits but in the end they are also worth money and minimizing your costs is very important, especially if you are still a small business. On the other hand, if you are the owner of the building you should take some time to consult with an architect and/or engineer about what the building’s capabilities are in a disaster so that you can develop a more reasonable plan to protect it and yourself.
Conclusion
Having your employees present during an unexpected disaster is a bad thing, because you risk losing both human and physical resources. This is undesired for any kind of business, especially small ones, which is why developing a disaster plan to help your company in a tough time is a must. Take the time to find out more information and contact professionals, so that you can develop a solid and reliable plan that will ensure the safety of your employees, your resources, as well as your own.
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