Business Emergency Safety

Are you an entrepreneur? You may be in the early stages of drafting a business plan, or hiring your 50th employee, or very likely somewhere in between. As an entrepreneur, you’re willing to take risks but when it comes down to it, you’ve invested a lot in your company—your brainchild—and you’ll do a lot to keep it safe.

Preparing for disasters is an important step in building a business plan, so today we encourage you to consider your plans for an emergency—especially if you have employees who are counting on you.

After all, a plan will help you and your employees stay safe during an emergency, and avoid or minimize wasted time during a disaster when every moment counts. It will also help you recover operations fully and quickly.

Here are a few basic steps you can take towards having a complete emergency plan for your organization:

• Develop an emergency preparedness plan that addresses the immediate safety of all personnel. You’ll want to provide in-house emergency supplies and kits for your team.
• Identify and assess the risks of your business.
• Determine how you can reduce your risk. This means developing strategies to reduce potential impacts. You’ll want to back up documentation, understand your insurance needs, communicate with suppliers and vendors, prepare contingency plans, and encourage your employees to prepare personally.
• Develop your business continuity plan. This includes a business impact assessment and steps to reduce exposure to these risks. In creating this continuity plan, you’ll want to consider all of the unique characteristics of your business and address each. Then you’ll also want to test your business continuity plan by preparing exercises and simulations. It’s best to think of this plan as constantly evolving to become stronger.

Thanks to the City of Vancouver, many emergency preparedness resources are right at your fingertips, so please check them out! Even if you’re not from the area, you’ll be able to apply many of the tips to your situation. And if you’d like to view a sample emergency and business continuity plan, see here!

We’d love to know how you’re preparing your business for emergencies, so please feel free to contact us or leave a comment below.

 -Article contributed by Sophie Wooding – Avid gardener and cyclist in Victoria, BC and Content Writer for Frontier.io