Crises occur every day and often too quickly and too unexpectedly to be
prevented. Some are widespread disasters like hurricanes and tornados
and others are isolated incidents like fire and flood that may affect
only your organization or some of its locations.
Authorities estimate that at least 25
percent of businesses that close due to a disaster never reopen their
doors. Whether large or small, crises, disasters and emergencies have
one thing in common - they test your organization's resolve and your
staff's ability to respond. So what's your best course of action now,
when things seem relatively calm and a crisis doesn't look to be
anywhere on the distant horizon? Plan for one.
Statistically, it is most likely that your
organization will face crises like power outages, fires, floods and
severe storms. For these more common crises, many companies already have
emergency action plans in place that identify key response personnel and
include an established line of communication with local emergency
authorities and a list of contractors who can respond promptly to make
repairs and limit business interruptions.
But today's risk market also emphasizes the
importance of preparing plans that include responses to acts of
terrorism and relatively unknown scenarios such as a flu pandemic. While
most people understand the effects of fires and floods and the
associated recovery process, many have little understanding of the full
impact of a crisis such as a flu pandemic. The World Health Organization
(WHO) estimates that the world may be close to experiencing a flu
pandemic the likes of which we haven't seen since 1918 when more than 50
million people died worldwide.
As such, it makes sense to build
preparations for a flu pandemic into your new or existing emergency
action plan. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
(CDC), a flu pandemic would likely come and go in waves with each wave
lasting six to eight weeks. That means for several months as much
as 25, 50 or even 75 percent of your workforce could be home sick.
Imagine that scenario. Once a few people are
sick, will the remaining staff be willing to come to work? More and more
employees would have to work from home to recover and prevent spreading
the flu. How many employees currently have full remote access? Will your
Virtual Private Network (VPN) have the capacity to handle a 25 or 50
percent increase in its number of users? Can you identify the key
functions you need to keep operating for your company to survive?
In short, would you be ready?
The key to recovering from an emergency -
whether it's a fire, flood or flu pandemic - is how you respond when it
occurs. And for an effective response, you need a proper plan. Emergency
planning is a fairly simple process, but it must be initiated well
before a crisis and requires careful planning as well as ongoing review
in order to be effective. The good news is that you don't have to be a
risk professional or have a risk manager on staff to develop a cogent
emergency action plan. In fact, you can use the four phases of emergency
management (planning, mitigation, response and recovery) as a guide for
developing your organization's plan. Your PMA Risk Control Consultant
can also provide guidance and assistance throughout the process.
Planning
The first phase of emergency management
involves considering the likely and not-so-likely disasters that your
organization may face and which of your operations may be vulnerable to
their effects. You should review your operations to identify the
activities that could be interrupted by the internal and external
conditions resulting from a disaster or emergency. Then take steps to
evaluate each activity and identify solutions to keep them running.
Planning for disasters will provide your staff with guidelines for how
to react to a variety of situations and scenarios.
Other components to consider for your plan
include but are not limited to:
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Identifying key staff who must be available
and accessible when needed
-
Specifications for computer systems needed
for your staff
-
Identifying key customers with whom you will
need to communicate
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Identifying alternate locations from which
you can operate
Mitigation
After identifying and evaluating the
potential impacts of a disaster, the next step is the process of
minimizing - or mitigating - their potential effects on your operations.
Computer system data backup is the most common form of mitigation
practiced by today's businesses. Data backup ensures that work and
important records will not be lost in the event of a failure of a
computer system or even the loss of an entire facility.
Other mitigation efforts include:
-
Operating from more than one office to
provide alternate facilities
-
Generators to provide emergency power to
your facility
-
Agreements with other companies to assist
one another in times of need
Response
The response phase involves putting into
action your plans for the given scenario in order to overcome obstacles
and maintain operations. Deploying key staff to your alternate location,
setting up computers and recovering your backup data will likely be
elements of your response plan. These elements are in addition to the
resources available from your local Office of Emergency Management,
which focuses on assisting the community at large in the event of a
crisis. You should consult with your local emergency managers to ensure
that your plans will work effectively and to uncover potential areas of
collaboration.
Communicating your plan to all of your staff
members is also critical to ensure that everyone understands his/her
role during a crisis. You should test your plan with simulated emergency
exercises to identify any weak areas where adjustments may be needed and
to gauge your response time and effectiveness. The response and
implementation of your plan will help you maintain your critical
operations and serve your customers as you move to the recovery phase.
Consider the case of a meat processing company that needs to manage
occasional recalls. In a recently simulated crisis involving meat
contamination, the company tracked down all of its products along the
East Coast in just a few hours and quickly recalled them. How? By
following its emergency action plan every step of the way.
Recovery
In this final phase you pick up the pieces -
literally - by repairing the damage to your facilities or equipment and
returning to normal business functions. The recovery phase is expedited
and easier when the other elements of your emergency management program
have functioned as designed. Operating from alternate locations or using
partner organizations to fulfill some of your orders will allow your
staff to continue serving your customers while your operations are being
restored to normal.
Ultimately, an effective emergency operations plan will help to ensure
that your organization can survive crises, emergencies and challenges
large and small. Your ability to continue operating in those tougher
times is essential to demonstrating to both your current and prospective
customers that your organization is a first-class operation that will be
there to meet their needs.
Next Steps
If you're already thinking about how you can
get your emergency action plan started, here are a few helpful places to
begin.
-
Review additional information on our web
site at www.pmagroup.com. From
our "Services" menu select "Risk Control Services" for more
information including general risk control services, emergency action
planning assistance and technical reports from The Engineering and
Safety Service.
-
Also via our web site, log into the
Institute for Business and Home Safety (IBHS) to download an
interactive "Open for Business" Property Protection and Planning
Toolkit. According to IBHS, more than 20,000 copies of the toolkit
were downloaded last year alone. And it's available to you for free
through our partnership with IBHS.
-
Contact your PMA Risk Control Consultant who
can help you to address the specific emergency management needs of
your organization and to develop an emergency action plan to meet
them.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES
The American Red Cross
http://www.redcross.org
Centers For Disease Control & Prevention
http://www.cdc.gov
Federal Bureau of Investigation
http://www.fbi.gov
Federal Emergency Management Agency
http://www.fema.gov
National Safety Council
http://www.nsc.org
Occupational Safety & Health Administration
http://www.osha.gov
U.S. Department of Transportation
http://www.dot.gov
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
http://www.epa.gov
U.S. Postal Service
http://www.usps.com
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