Hurricane season has gotten off to a slow start this year, but the 11 year-long “hurricane drought” recently ended as Hermine blew through Florida and up into Georgia. Experts say that the drought was unusually long, and it was mere luck that there was such a large gap between landfalls.
This means that if you aren’t prepared for these natural phenomena you are making a huge gamble. When they do strike they can cause thousands of dollars in property damage and leave individuals, businesses and communities ravaged in their wake.
Another of the most devastating natural disasters is flooding, such as the 2015 “thousand year flood” in South Carolina that left entire areas without shelter, food or water. Is your sawmill or pallet business protected and ready to handle natural disasters when they strike?
In 2004, The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) launched Ready Business to help you to be ready when disaster strikes.
Ready Business assists owners and managers of small and medium-sized businesses in preparing their employees, operations and assets in the event of an emergency. It is an extension of the Ready campaign launched in 2003 to educate Americans to prepare for and respond to emergencies such as natural disasters and latent terrorist attacks.
According to Ready Business, businesses need to be prepared for the impact of these plus many other potential threats, ranging from widespread serious illness like the H1N1 flu virus pandemic to technology-related hazards such as the failure or malfunction of systems, equipment or software.
Here’s a brief look at the five steps Ready Business has outlined for businesses so they can be ready no matter what comes their way:
• Program Management—Get management on board to support the creation of a preparedness program; without good leadership it’s difficult to build a program, maintain resources, and keep the program up to date. Assign key employees and have them organize and meet regularly to develop a plan that includes roles, responsibilities and the goals of the preparedness program.
• Planning—Assess risks by planning for the worst and hoping for the best. With all the hazards in today’s world, it’s important to consider many different threats, and the likelihood they’ll occur. This “all hazards” approach addresses all probable threats that could cause injury, property damage, business disruption or environmental impact. The risk-assessment process should identify threats, hazards and opportunities for hazard prevention, deterrence, and risk mitigation. Do a business impact analysis, using free materials from Ready Business, to identify time-sensitive and critical processes and the financial and operational impacts that could result from disruptions in your business processes.
• Implementation—Identify and assess the resources you’ll need if a disaster strikes. Then write a plan that covers topics ranging from emergency response and crisis communication to employee training and incident reporting.
• Testing and Exercises—Conduct testing and exercises to evaluate the effectiveness of your preparedness program. Make sure employees know what to do. By clarifying roles and responsibilities, you’ll reinforce knowledge of systems and equipment, while revealing weaknesses and resource gaps.
• Program Improvement—Critique testing and exercises and look for other opportunities to improve your program as circumstances change. Also try to learn from incidents that occur within the community to identify the need for program changes, and address gaps and deficiencies through corrective action.
Free materials are available from Ready Business to help you create and implement your preparedness plan at: http://www.fema.gov/media-library/resources-documents/collections/357.
