When disaster strikes, you want your business to be able to bounce back quickly and efficiently. Since September 11, 2001, much has been written about emergency management. Due to those happenings, companies should be more diligent in understanding the significance in implementing a plan to keep their organization running after a disaster. Here, we will identify some key tips for businesses to follow that have a single facility or distribute products from a single location.

What will be needed to revive the operation?

• Management and leadership
• A physical facility
• Equipment
• Processes and procedures
• People
• Accounting, payroll, finance, etc. (the information systems)
• Sales and distribution
• Whatever existed before the disaster

What are some of the essentials?

• Plans of the building, flow charts, processes
• A list of essential machinery, where to obtain it, approximate cost, and delivery time
• Plans for any specialized machinery and information on availability
• Who are the essential employees and what will be necessary to retain them?
• Can the existing foundation be used to rebuild and will there be environmental issues?
• How will sales and marketing be impacted – what will the customers need?

Businesses should draft a plan that includes the following items:

• Flow chart that highlights what to do and when to do it
• How to achieve each “to do” item in the flow chart
• Specifies who is responsible for completing the “to do” items
• Identifies key employees who must be retained throughout the recovery
• Establishes a plan to retain and compensate these employees during the recovery

Businesses should store a copy of the entire plan at a secure, off-site facility. Upon completing the plan, the team should conduct a mock disaster recovery to evaluate the plan. Any needed corrections should be made at this time. The plan should be reviewed at least annually to ensure all information, contracts and contacts are up to date. For more information on PMA's Organizational Safety Management Services, go here.