Business Continuity and Risk Management Matters

Mitigate Property Damage and Risk

Continuity planning can be time consuming, and you might even think it isn’t necessary. Maybe you have had a loss before and feel as though “it can’t happen again, right?” Maybe you are too busy running your business to even think about planning for property damages.

The problem with this way of thinking is when the loss does occur, you aren’t ready. The importance of a plan that is prepared, refined,implemented, and maintained can not be measured. It could mean the difference between staying open for business or closing your doors for good.

Have a Plan

There are countless resources available for free online to get you started with business continuity planning. Just do a quick search and you will find dozens of government and non-profit organizations who focus on helping businesses prepare for disasters. These programs are simple to use and are a great place to start. Here are a few things to consider when creating your plan:

Human life and safety comes before any building needs
Photograph and take videos going through your building at least once a year to show pre-loss condition – this is always recommended but rarely done. Be proactive!
Identify the people, places, providers, and programs essential to run your business. What roles, and/or property, if lost, would impact your ability to provide your customers with goods and services?
Consider who and what is necessary to restore critical operations. Prioritize the need to restore each function of your business after a disastrous event. Now be creative and think about how you would run your business if one or more of these operations were hindered by property loss.
How much money do you lose per hour when essential operations are rendered useless or damaged beyond repair? Can these functions be outsourced while mitigation and rebuild take place?
Locate your most value assets and have a plan in place to secure or remove these in the event of a sudden loss.
Train your employees on how to make your work space disaster free – encourage your employees to be visual and aware of possible fire and safety hazards in their work space
Test safety equipment – Fire extinguishers, fire alarms, sump pumps, back up generators etc.
Choose a disaster recovery partner who is familiar with your business and disaster plans. By having a qualified company ready to respond if you do experience a loss, you can get Back in Business faster. Once the loss happens, time starts ticking.