Prepare Your Business for a Disaster

There are many things a business can do to prepare for the impact of a natural hazard.  Developing an emergency preparedness plan may be one of the most important strategic decisions you can make as a small business owner.

Your insurance company may offer resources

Check with us to see if your insurance company offers resources to help your business prepare for a disaster.

Three questions to ask about your business

1. How vulnerable would your business be if a disaster or other emergency were to occur?
2. Do you have a plan to protect your employees and any others on your premises?
3. Have you provided emergency preparedness training to employees?

The American Red Cross offers free tools that may be useful: www.readyrating.org

Get Your Business Prepared

• Review your policy with us to make sure you understand the nature of your coverage, including the deductibles and policy limits.
• Create evacuation and shelter safety procedures.
• Create backup copies of critical data and programs.
• Train your employees annually in emergency preparedness.
• Protect vital business records. Keep your most important documents in a safe that has been tested and listed by UL (Underwriters Laboratories) as being resistant to fire, heat, burglary tools and torches.
• Create an emergency contact list.
• Learn what kind of emergencies might affect your business.
• Decide ahead of time what you can do if your building becomes unusable.
• Make emergency preparedness part of daily procedures and communications.

Thanks to the American Red Cross and U.S. Small Business Administrating for providing some of this information.