Is Your Workplace Prepared To Recover From A Disaster?
Natural disasters pose many challenges to your business. From earthquakes to hurricanes, they have a significant impact on all workplaces if they were to happen. They are devastating, thus having plans in place and being prepared can lead to a quicker recovery, loss of profits and reduced disruption. Here is some information about preparation tips if your business might experience a workplace disaster in the future.
An Established Disaster Plan
Establishing a disaster plan assists a workplace prepare for natural disasters by outlining the steps needed to take before, during, and after an event. This ensures the protection of employees, customers and assests. The plan should include emergency contacts, backup plans, evacuation procedures and backup plans for critical systems. By having them readily available, businesses can respond effectively and quickly to minimize damage and ensures a faster recovery.
Assign a Disaster Team
An assigned disaster team during recovery is an effective way to ensure an efficient and coordinated response after a natural disaster. The disaster team should be made up of personnels from different departments within the organisation. The team should also be trained on the disaster plan and procedures, and have clear roles and responsibilities. The disaster team should be responsible for
- Coordinating with external agencies and organizations
- Communicating with customers, employees, and stakeholders to keep them informed of the situation, and if there is any necessary actions required
- Coordinating cleanup and restoration for affected areas
- Create a plan for resuming normal operation
Review the Business’s Insurance Coverage
It is important for a business to value their insurance coverage during recovery to ensure that the company can receive the necessary financial assistance and is adequately protected. During natural disaster recovery, the business should,
- Take inventory of any damage or losses, and document them with videos and pictures
- Notify their insurance company as soon as possible
- Work with their insurance adjuster to assess the extent of the damage and prepare a reimbursement claim
- Review the claim and ensure it covers all losses before signing the,
A business should also consider the need for business interruption coverage. Especially if the company has only one branch, it will not have a regular revenue stream coming in until business is back to normal.
Establish Top Management Authority
It is important to have a team or someone to make tough decisions early on in the recovery process. One of the areas of weakness in the recovery process is not having management with the authority to make some of these important decisions. In addition, businesses should also appoint a second in command with full authority in case the original person in charge is unable to head the recovery effort.
If you want to make sure that your company is ready for business continuity after a natural disaster, make sure a disaster response plan is in place and regular drills have been conducted with the staff. Communication with a disaster recovery service provider is also important to minimize the recovery period in the event of a major incident.