05/ 27/ 2008
by Charles R. McConnell
How do you anticipate the unanticipated? The problem is, you don't. In fact, the only thing you can do is imagine a worst-case scenario and assemble a commonsense plan to follow in case the unthinkable happens.
There are two important parts to any disaster plan: emergency preparedness and providing for business continuity. The purpose of disaster planning is to minimize the damage wrought by any disastrous occurrence while ensuring timely resumption of normal business activity. Each business's circumstances are unique, so there's no one-size-fits-all plan that will provide everything every company needs.
A company's disaster plan is a user's guide to preserving the organization, so to be useful it must be created before disruption occurs. In the event of a significant emergency it's essential that all employees know where they should go and what they should do. Emergency preparedness must be built into the culture of the organization, and for this purpose the plan must address training for all employees, including:
- Individual roles and responsibilities
- Information about threats, hazards and protective actions
- Notification, warning and communications procedures
- Emergency response procedures
- Evacuation, shelter and accountability procedures
- Location and use of emergency equipment
- Emergency shutdown procedures
A large part of developing a disaster plan is thinking ahead about what could go wrong and making contingency plans to address those situations. But you can't plan for every possible scenario, so the next best option is creating one plan that addresses all risks. In identifying the risks, consider:
- What kinds of emergencies have occurred in your community? (for example, fire, natural disasters, accidents, etc.)
- What can happen because of your location? (for example, proximity to flood-prone areas, hazardous material presence, etc.)
- What emergencies might be caused by employees?
In spite of all the possibilities implied in those risks, there are just four scenarios to plan for:
- Services (power, transportation, etc.) are temporarily disrupted.
- One or more departments or areas in your space become temporarily unusable.
- The entire building is destroyed.
- The geographic area is rendered uninhabitable for an unknown amount of time.
The more important elements to consider in developing a disaster plan include:
- Creating a comprehensive document retention program, including policies that designate what to keep on hand and what to store offsite. Financial records, customer files and personnel information will all be critical in recovering from a disaster.
- Knowing your physical plant in detail. Create a site map indicating all utility services and controls, storm drains, sewer lines, floor plans, alarms, fire protection systems, exits, stairways, escape routes, hazardous materials and high-value items. This should include examining your physical plant for weaknesses. For example:
- Is emergency lighting checked regularly?
- Do stair treads have reflective glow-in-the-dark strips to aid in dark exits?
- Do electric door locks have manual bypass locks?
- Are fire extinguishers easily accessible and checked regularly and do people know how to use them?
- Are emergency exit routes posted and publicized?
- Identifying all emergency contacts, including local police and fire departments, utility companies, electricians, plumbers, emergency enclosure providers, building managers, etc.
- Conducting a comprehensive risk analysis to identify credible threats that could cause disruption of business. Some risks are found within, for example, many businesses use hazardous chemicals. Other risks are external; the potential may include fire, water damage, explosion, loss of power and disaster. Risk analysis identifies possible threats and considers ways of reducing them. While you can't prevent a disaster, you can plan what to do if one occurs. List the possibilities: hurricane, flood, fire, terrorist attack or other threat. There are organizations that can help with the risk evaluation process, and most insurance brokers can recommend experts as well.
- Providing a business impact analysis to determine how long the business could survive without its regular income stream.
- Ensuring that the business is appropriately insured. Review current coverage in light of a potential catastrophic event. Be mindful of exclusions in policies; for example, what would happen if you were denied access to your premises by civil authority? Also, look seriously at business interruption insurance. Terrorism coverage was formerly included in all forms of insurance. However, since 9/11 it's more commonly offered separately.
- Updating your personnel manual to reflect new realities such as emergency closing policies, workplace safety and other emergency procedures.
- Creating a system for communicating with employees, including a phone tree that defines who calls whom. While everyone should know to call 911 in an emergency, you should still maintain a list of other emergency numbers.
There's no completely reliable way to anticipate the unanticipated. However, treating potential business emergencies as unlikely threats can turn out to be a serious--if not fatal--error for the business.
