Emergency Preparedness for Businesses
"Emergency planning is too expensive..."
While it is true that emergency preparedness can cost your business money, not planning at all can cost your business much more. Take a look at these statistics:
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A company that experiences a computer outage lasting more than 10 days will never fully recover financially. 50 percent will be out of business in 5 years.
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An estimated 25 percent of businesses do not reopen following a major disaster.
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70 percent of small firms that experience a major data loss go out of business within a year.
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Of companies experiencing catastrophic data loss:
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43% never reopened
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51% of companies closed within 2 years
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80% of companies that do not recover from a disaster within one month are likely to go out of business
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75% of companies without business continuity plans fail within 3 years of a disaster
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Companies that aren't able to resume operations within ten days of a disaster are not likely to survive
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Of those businesses that experience a disaster and have no emergency plan, 43 percent never reopen; only 29 percent are still operating two years later
Those are some sobering statistics, but they are just that: statistics. It is human nature for us to say, "That will never happen to me." Just think for a moment 
if it did. The physical aspects of your business are one thing, but what about all of the time, energy, and sleepless nights that you put into building your business' name and reputation. It is impossible to put a monetary value on that, and no insurance company will pay you for the effort you put into your company. This is why planning and preparing for a possible disaster is so important; we want to protect not only the physical part of the business, but the intangible assets as well.
Every day Teton County depends heavily upon local businesses for nearly all aspects of daily life. This dependence will grow exponentially during a disaster when resources are needed for rebuilding and recovery. If Teton County lost one out of every four businesses after a disaster (as the statistics state), it would be catastrophic not only for the economy, but for the residents and visitors of Teton County as well.
"But I'm just a small business..."
Even small businesses should have a plan. And if you are a small business, you probably have just enough to cover your rent and other expenses so you need cost effective ways to plan. Here are several things that you can do for free to get you started:
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Meet with your insurance provider to review current coverage.
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Create procedures to quickly evacuate and shelter-in-place. Practice the plans.
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Talk to your people about the company's disaster plans. Two-way communication is central before, during and after a disaster.
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Create an emergency contact list including employee emergency contact information.
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Create a list of critical business contractors and others whom you will use in an emergency.
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Know what kinds of emergencies might affect your company both internally and externally.
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Decide in advance what you will do if your building is unusable.
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Create a list of inventory and equipment, including computer hardware, software and peripherals, for insurance purposes.
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Talk to utility service providers about potential alternatives and identify back-up options.
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Promote family and individual preparedness among your co-workers. Include emergency preparedness information during staff meetings, in newsletters, on company intranet, periodic employee emails and other internal communications tools.
"What else can I do?"
For more information, visit Ready.gov's business page. There you will find:
If you have any questions about emergency preparedness, planning, or response in regards to your business, contact us in Emergency Management by email or call 733-9572.
