The best time to respond to a disaster is before it happens. A relatively small investment of time and money now may prevent severe damage and disruption of life and business in the future. Every area in the country is subject to some kind of disaster - flood, hurricane, earthquake, ice storm, and landslide, to name a few.
Even man-made disasters, such as oil spill, civil unrest, and fire can devastate the surrounding neighborhood and economy. Even though an area has never been damaged before, there is no guarantee that it will not happen tomorrow. A good example of disaster striking was when, a few years back, in Loonkaransar Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federations’ chilling center was badly affected by cloud burst. This chilling center is in a desert where chances of flood were as good as sun rising from the west. But cloud burst broke that myth and the whole area was submersed in water for almost a month.We need to ask ourselves: what if the worst happened? How would it affect my business and my family? Would we survive if the business were closed down for weeks, months, or perhaps my entire revenue season? What can I do to make sure we survive? Be a little pessimistic now, and assume it can happen to us. To rest a little more easily in the future, we need to develop a disaster plan for our business now.
i.Managing and Operating
a Small Business
Designing a Plan
We need to put together a Disaster Planning Toolkit to identify the hazards we may face, plan for and reduce the impact of disasters, identify ways we might be able to keep our doors open after a disaster hits, and put together insurance,disaster supplies and the things we can do to make our business more disaster resistant.
ii. Safety and Rescue
We should always keep in mind the safety of our employees in a situation of disaster. The rescue of employees to a safer place needs to be the foremost thought in case we are hit by a disaster. We also need to develop contingency plans to remain in operation if our office, plant, or store is unusable. Could we operate out of our home or a nearby storefront? Could we quickly transport critical items such as plant machinery, equipment, and raw material etc.? Could we save replaced equipment and reactivate it in an emergency? Could we store inventory, equipment, and supplies off-site? Examine the possibilities, make a plan, and assure that we and our employees know what to do during emergency.
Keep an extra of any hard-to-replace parts or supplies on hand. Store them off-site. If this cannot be done, work with suppliers in advance to assure a secure and adequate supply. Store several days supply in a place that is not vulnerable to the same disaster as our facility. Be sure to keep this auxiliary supply up-to-date. Make upgrades now that would prevent possible future damage.
Strengthening exterior walls, adding a retaining wall, or shoring up a creek bank are relatively minor projects in comparison to losing the building to flood waters.
We also need to purchase a backup generator to maintain full operations or critical functions such as refrigeration, lighting, security systems, and computer control in the event of a power failure. We need to have back-up vendors and shippers in place in case our primary ones are disabled. In addition, we need to guard against loss of our customer base by diversifying our product lines, sales locations, or target customers.
iii. Computer and Paper Files
We need to make backup copies of all critical records such as accounting and employee data, as well as customer lists, production formulas, and inventory. In addition, we need to keep a backup copy of our computers basic operating system, boot files, and critical software. We should store a copy of all vital information on-site and a second in a safe off-site location and make it a critical
part of our routine to regularly back up files.Also, we should keep invoices, shipping lists, and other documentation of our system configuration off-site so we can quickly order the correct replacement components. We need to take care of credit checks, purchase accounts and other vendor requirements in advance so that the vendor can ship replacements immediately.
We need to protect all computer and phone equipment through power and phone lines. A power surge through a telephone line can destroy an entire computer through a connected modem. We should invest in a surge protector that has a battery backup to assure that systems keep working through blackouts. In addition, we need to maintain an up-to-date copy of phone numbers, computer and Internet logon codes and passwords, employee phone numbers and other critical information in an accessible location. Also, we need to develop an employee ‘telephone tree’ to rapidly contact employees in an emergency.
iv. Insurance Coverage
We need to review our current insurance coverage. Is it enough to get our business back in operation? Will it cover the replacement cost of vital facilities?We need to make it a regular annual procedure to review and update insurance.Also, we should remember that insurance on mortgaged property probably only covers the lender with nothing left over for us.
We should be aware of our contents insurance. Does it cover the replacement cost of critical equipment? We should also know what our insurance does not cover. Most general casualty policies do not cover flood damage. Many require additional riders for windstorm, sewer backup, or earth movement. We need to consider adding coverage for likely perils, especially flood insurance. Also, we need to consider business interruption insurance that assists us with operating needs during a period of shutdown. It may help us meet payrolls, pay vendors,and purchase inventory until we are in full operation again. Also we need to be prepared for the extraordinary costs of a disaster such as leasing temporary equipment, restoring lost data, and hiring temporary workers.We should not assume that, just because it never happened before, it never will.Flooding patterns are changed by development: water, which runs off new streets and parking lots, may overwhelm nearby streams and surrounding land. Landslides and sinkholes may develop because of distant earth movement, natural or man-made. The creek by our building may be a tiny, placid stream that has never flooded, but a downpour may change it into a destructive torrent that destroys our building foundation. Therefore, we should always plan for the worst.
Even man-made disasters, such as oil spill, civil unrest, and fire can devastate the surrounding neighborhood and economy. Even though an area has never been damaged before, there is no guarantee that it will not happen tomorrow. A good example of disaster striking was when, a few years back, in Loonkaransar Rajasthan Cooperative Dairy Federations’ chilling center was badly affected by cloud burst. This chilling center is in a desert where chances of flood were as good as sun rising from the west. But cloud burst broke that myth and the whole area was submersed in water for almost a month.We need to ask ourselves: what if the worst happened? How would it affect my business and my family? Would we survive if the business were closed down for weeks, months, or perhaps my entire revenue season? What can I do to make sure we survive? Be a little pessimistic now, and assume it can happen to us. To rest a little more easily in the future, we need to develop a disaster plan for our business now.
i.Managing and Operating
a Small Business
Designing a Plan
We need to put together a Disaster Planning Toolkit to identify the hazards we may face, plan for and reduce the impact of disasters, identify ways we might be able to keep our doors open after a disaster hits, and put together insurance,disaster supplies and the things we can do to make our business more disaster resistant.
ii. Safety and Rescue
We should always keep in mind the safety of our employees in a situation of disaster. The rescue of employees to a safer place needs to be the foremost thought in case we are hit by a disaster. We also need to develop contingency plans to remain in operation if our office, plant, or store is unusable. Could we operate out of our home or a nearby storefront? Could we quickly transport critical items such as plant machinery, equipment, and raw material etc.? Could we save replaced equipment and reactivate it in an emergency? Could we store inventory, equipment, and supplies off-site? Examine the possibilities, make a plan, and assure that we and our employees know what to do during emergency.
Keep an extra of any hard-to-replace parts or supplies on hand. Store them off-site. If this cannot be done, work with suppliers in advance to assure a secure and adequate supply. Store several days supply in a place that is not vulnerable to the same disaster as our facility. Be sure to keep this auxiliary supply up-to-date. Make upgrades now that would prevent possible future damage.
Strengthening exterior walls, adding a retaining wall, or shoring up a creek bank are relatively minor projects in comparison to losing the building to flood waters.
We also need to purchase a backup generator to maintain full operations or critical functions such as refrigeration, lighting, security systems, and computer control in the event of a power failure. We need to have back-up vendors and shippers in place in case our primary ones are disabled. In addition, we need to guard against loss of our customer base by diversifying our product lines, sales locations, or target customers.
iii. Computer and Paper Files
We need to make backup copies of all critical records such as accounting and employee data, as well as customer lists, production formulas, and inventory. In addition, we need to keep a backup copy of our computers basic operating system, boot files, and critical software. We should store a copy of all vital information on-site and a second in a safe off-site location and make it a critical
part of our routine to regularly back up files.Also, we should keep invoices, shipping lists, and other documentation of our system configuration off-site so we can quickly order the correct replacement components. We need to take care of credit checks, purchase accounts and other vendor requirements in advance so that the vendor can ship replacements immediately.
We need to protect all computer and phone equipment through power and phone lines. A power surge through a telephone line can destroy an entire computer through a connected modem. We should invest in a surge protector that has a battery backup to assure that systems keep working through blackouts. In addition, we need to maintain an up-to-date copy of phone numbers, computer and Internet logon codes and passwords, employee phone numbers and other critical information in an accessible location. Also, we need to develop an employee ‘telephone tree’ to rapidly contact employees in an emergency.
iv. Insurance Coverage
We need to review our current insurance coverage. Is it enough to get our business back in operation? Will it cover the replacement cost of vital facilities?We need to make it a regular annual procedure to review and update insurance.Also, we should remember that insurance on mortgaged property probably only covers the lender with nothing left over for us.
We should be aware of our contents insurance. Does it cover the replacement cost of critical equipment? We should also know what our insurance does not cover. Most general casualty policies do not cover flood damage. Many require additional riders for windstorm, sewer backup, or earth movement. We need to consider adding coverage for likely perils, especially flood insurance. Also, we need to consider business interruption insurance that assists us with operating needs during a period of shutdown. It may help us meet payrolls, pay vendors,and purchase inventory until we are in full operation again. Also we need to be prepared for the extraordinary costs of a disaster such as leasing temporary equipment, restoring lost data, and hiring temporary workers.We should not assume that, just because it never happened before, it never will.Flooding patterns are changed by development: water, which runs off new streets and parking lots, may overwhelm nearby streams and surrounding land. Landslides and sinkholes may develop because of distant earth movement, natural or man-made. The creek by our building may be a tiny, placid stream that has never flooded, but a downpour may change it into a destructive torrent that destroys our building foundation. Therefore, we should always plan for the worst.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.