Can Your Business Survive?

I picked up this checklist at a recent meeting. Although it was developed as a very basic list to encourage businesses to prepare for disaster, it can just as easily be used for personal preparedness.

• Do you know what kinds of emergencies might affect your facility (home)?
• Do you know what you will do in an emergency situation?
• Are you ready for utility disruption?
• Do you know what you will do if your building/plant (home) is not accessible?
• Do you know what staff, procedures, and equipment are absolutely necessary to keep operating?
• Do you have back-up plans for those operations?
• Do you have an evacuation and shelter-in-place plan?
• Do you have a plan to communicate with employees (family members) before, during, and after an incident?
• Do you have copies of building and site maps with utility and emergency routes marked?
• Are your employees (family members) trained for medical emergencies?
• Have you practiced your disaster plan recently?
• Do you practice and coordinate with other facilities (families) in your community?
• Have you reviewed your disaster plan and supplies in the last 12 months?
• Have you conducted a room by room walk through to determine which large items could be strapped down in preparation for an earthquake or similar event?
• Do you encourage employees (each family member) to have a personal emergency supply kit and a family communications plan?

Simple, but it is often the simplest things that get overlooked. If you answered no to any of these questions for your family and/or your business, start today to get prepared for a disaster.