When You Fail to Plan, You Plan To Fail!

It is difficult sometimes to sit down and plan for certain emergencies and disasters. Just by the?nature of them, we may personally never, or rarely, experience them ourselves. We are busy?enough planning things in life that are happening right now! Why would I possibly divert energy to emergency and disaster plans?

Because they don’t always happen to?other?people.

Think of emergency plans as the plan to deal?with the “here and now.” Plans make us think?of how we should handle scenarios in advance,?so when these things are happening we can?fall back on our plan and not rely completely?on thinking in the moment. Stress can cause?mistakes – a plan gives us a roadmap during?a difficult time. Plans also house critical?information in one place such as phone numbers.

Many times disaster events cause emergencies. A flood may cause immediate emergencies and also eventually become a long-term disaster. A disaster plan is often focused on emergencies and recovery.?

Disaster plans involve dealing with the disaster, but also recovering from the event – whether that is a business or just getting your life back on track. FEMA estimates that 40% of small business never recover from a disaster!

Let’s mix the two topics up and list some things to consider in your home or business.

1. Do you have your exit routes mapped and marked?
2. Do you have shelter in place locations mapped and marked?
3. Do your emergency maps include AED locations? First aid kit locations? Fire extinguishers?
4. Are your emergency response personnel identified with up to date contact information (both work hours and after hours)?
5. Are your critical first responders’ phone numbers listed in the plan?
6. Are your critical utility companies listed in your plan with emergency contact phone numbers?
7. How will you communicate to employees during a disaster?
8. Have employees been trained?
9. Have you held drills?
10. Can your business run with people working remotely?
11. Are your servers backed up regularly?

These are just some of the questions that should be answered prior to an event.

Ready.gov is a very helpful website with many resources to help you get started.