September isNationalEmergency Preparedness Month
What if you knew that a 30-minute time investment could make an incredible impact on your business, your life and your employee’s lives? A recent Staples survey found that only half of employees feel their company is prepared for a severe emergency and there’s data that shows that between 40 percent and 60 percent of businesses that have to close because of a natural or man-made disaster never reopen and 90 percent fail if they don’t resume operation within five days of closing. Whether it be a natural disaster, storm, or unexpected emergency, Staples in-house expert Bob Risk, Senior Strategic Safety, Health and Wellness Manager offers these tips to help businesses prepare for the unexpected in just 30 minutes.
- Create an Emergency kit: Use a lightweight duffle bag or a backpack to store key emergency essentials you can grab within minutes. Your safety kit should include:
- Water
- First Aid Kit
- Lighting: Lantern, Glow sticks, Flash lights, Crank Lights
- Spare Clothing in a bag
- Non Perishable Food
- Crank Powered Cell Phone Charger
- A file with a list of emergency numbers, recovery numbers, service master, bank account numbers, check book numbers, insurance policy numbers and any other important information.
- Any Prescriptions you need
- Crank Powered Weather Radio
- Create an emergency contact list and establish a communication protocol for before the emergency, during the emergency, and after the emergency.
- According to a recent survey by staples of more than 400 employees, 38 percent reported that their employer does not communicate safety plans regularly
- Make sure all employees are aware in a timely manner of what to expect in a natural disaster or storm and always test and discuss back-up plans.
- Protect both physical and technological property of your business.
- Be sure to have the proper equipment to ready your office for a storm and to ensure all crucial data is backed up.
- Create an Emergency Social Media Account.
- Before an emergency strikes, make sure your social media accounts are followingimportant officials and organizations. If you don’t have access to television or radio, your social media accounts will be the best way to stay informed, helping you to make educated decisions.
- Utilize the already-existing tools to prepare your business and your employees in advance.
- You can go to people like OSHA, the Small Business Administration, the National Safety Council, FEMA — even the IRS. They all have Web sites that are very beneficial. Their online tools, downloads and representatives run you through various scenarios for protecting and recovering your personnel and financial records, equipment, inventory, etc. At the very least, do your research and get all the contact information you need for the organizations that can help you, like your insurance agent, your attorney, the Red Cross and your Internet provider, etc. Then put that in a safe place — in your phone and a hard copy somewhere safe. That’s just one less thing to do when something bad happens.
It is always easier to prepare for an emergency than having to explain why you didn’t.
