Preparedness for Disasters in Your Business

by Ronel Forbes

August 12, 2022

As a business owner, you are aware that some obstacles are predictable while others come on suddenly. Allow no natural disaster to catch you off guard.

Here are some disaster preparedness measures you may take to safeguard your assets, safeguard your staff, and restore operations to your organization in the case of a natural disaster.

Insurance

The correct insurance is a crucial step in making sure your company is covered in the case of a natural disaster. Look for insurers that provide a thorough explanation of insurance premiums (the sum an organization pays for an insurance policy), coverage (the amount of risk or liability that an individual or entity is covered for through insurance services), and deductibles when you are conducting insurer research (the set amount that you must pay, in addition to your premium, towards a loss or liability before your insurance company will start paying on your behalf).

Consider cheap, medium, and high premium and deductible alternatives, and thoroughly investigate all of the policy exclusions. It may be tempting to select the insurance plan with the cheapest premium. A lower monthly premium policy will often have a greater deductible, though.

Cash flow can be limited when your company is recuperating from a catastrophe, so a plan with a larger monthly cost and a lower deductible might be a better choice. Examine your financial status and determine what is best for your company before choosing an insurance.

Several insurance products, such as business property and casualty coverage, which includes business interruption insurance, can assist you in rebuilding and recovering financially after a disaster. This coverage is beneficial if an unexpected catastrophe or natural disaster prevents you from conducting business.

Disasters like fires, hurricanes, and other natural calamities can also count as business interruptions. Since agents are specialists in the kind of coverage you require, think about hiring one as opposed to purchasing directly from an insurer.

Utilize these methods for disaster planning to safeguard your staff from the unexpected

Your top goal should be to ensure everyone on site, both employees and visitors, is safe:

Plan and mark the facility’s exits and evacuation routes in advance.
Install appropriate exit signs and emergency illumination to help people find their way in the event of a power outage.
Establish “safety wardens” among the staff to oversee and aid in any emergency operations, including routine exercises. To reinforce proper reaction times and answers, businesses should hold emergency training drills with all personnel as frequently as necessary.
Identify suitable refuge areas in your building, such as a basement or storm cellar, for emergencies that may call for them. If your building doesn’t have a basement, go to the middle of a tiny interior space on the lowest level that isn’t near any windows or exterior walls, like a closet or interior corridor. Make sure areas are free of anything that can restrict their capacity or safety.

Create a corporate disaster plan to protect your assets

Protecting your vital corporate assets is an essential part of effective disaster planning. Your facilities, tools, software, and data may be among them.

There may be steps you can take to protect your facilities from natural catastrophes, depending on where you are located:

To explore risk reduction construction methods for your building or workplace, speak with a licensed constructor.
You might wish to look at locations where you could temporarily shift your activities if a calamity occurs as an extra precaution.
Keep a complete, current inventory of the supplies and machinery used by your company. Think about taking pictures or videos of these items and storing the photos and inventory files offline.
Implement frequent backup methods for important software and data to assist ensure that your company keeps access to the necessary digital infrastructure.
Check out these Philippine Government.-provided business readiness checklists for natural disasters. You can get assistance from the Department of Trade and Industry(DTI) to get ready for a specific calamity.

Make a backup set of financial documents

Important business papers may get damaged, misplaced, or destroyed during a disaster. You may guarantee quick access to the documents required for loan applications in the event of a disaster by storing all of your important financial and business records on the cloud or an external hard drive situated in a location outside from your organization.

The cloud, which allows you to store digital files on a server connected to the internet, is a superior alternative for safeguarding your company’s data and can enable you to access projects or documents remotely even after a disaster. Keep duplicates of your insurance policy in the same cloud, just to be safe.

It’s a good idea to choose with a provider that stores this data on servers in a location other than the one where your business is based. This will guarantee that your records won’t be lost in the event of a major catastrophe (such a flood or hurricane).

Conclusion

Although living within your means can be difficult, you’ll be glad you did it when the inevitable rainy day comes and the overall effect on your financial wellbeing is modest.

Concentrate on altering your thinking. You are the only one who can actually rely on to get you out of difficulties.

Don’t rely on your friends, family, the government, insurance, or even just luck. Everyone can experience bad things, so focusing on your financial well-being should be equally as important as taking care of your physical wellbeing.