In August 2005, Hurricane Katrina ravaged the city of New Orleans and the adjacent Gulf Coast areas. Homes, businesses and public buildings were destroyed; lives were forever altered. The ensuing FEMA controversy brought to light concerns of emergency and natural disaster preparedness across the U.S.

News reports of recent earthquakes in Southern California, Chile and Haiti have also reached our homes and daily discussions, begging the question: Are we ready for these types of emergencies? Likewise, retailers must ask themselves if they are sufficiently prepared for the worst.

"Since disasters can happen anytime, creating, implementing and supporting a disaster-preparedness plan could spell the difference between saving your business and losing it all," wrote attorney Tami Kamin-Meyer for the National Federation of Independent Business.

Protecting Your Goods

Kamin-Meyer described the work of James Hodge, head of Ohio-based Colley Intelligence's undercover investigation unit. Colley Intelligence, which has offices in both Ohio (where spring tornadoes and winter snowstorms are significant threats) and South Carolina (where hurricanes are common), has disaster plans in place for its employees to follow.

"One of the first steps that must be taken, while sounding simplistic, is a disaster or emergency plan that is simple and effective while allowing each employee to read and understand their role in the emergency," says Hodge.

Hodge recommends that companies consider the following things when putting together a disaster plan:

The placement of valuable hardware in a building's structure

• Hardware should be placed in a central spot of the building, preferably not on a ground floor or in a basement.
• Place hardware in a cement-encased room to help protect it from damage.
• If the building does not offer these safe refuges, place the hardware up off the ground, so at least it's protected from flood.

Protecting hardware from electrical power damage

• All hardware should have Uninterruptible Power Supplies connected to it.
• Surge protectors should be standard throughout the facility.

Protecting Your Investment

Kamin-Meyer also consulted Brad Frick, a Columbus lawyer and businessman who advises business owners that one of the first things to do after disaster strikes is to "contact your customers."

It's important to reassure them that the company is doing everything it can to cope with the situation, Frick adds. If a tenant, rather than the building's owner, takes the necessary actions to assure that a landlord plans to repair structural damage, your company can get back to business.

"I would push my insurance company for a payout as quickly as possible, and contact all creditors to ask for a reprieve or deferral (on paying certain debts right away)," he says.

However, Hodge notes that in the case of Hurricane Katrina, which caused $125 billion in damages, the level of devastation was so great that despite expedient securing of insurance by many claimants, payouts were inevitably delayed and proved to be too little, too late.

Hodge's Four Steps:

1. Preparedness: Company heads must prepare a report of possible or likely disasters based on their geographic location, and the stability of the business and its infrastructure, should disaster strike.
2. Redundancy: It's imperative to train employees on the roles they are to assume during a disaster and in its aftermath. They should also know about and be trained in their co-worker's roles, in case someone is unable to fulfill their duties, he says. "All employee responsibilities need to appear like a web," says Hodge.
3. Implementation: "A company can have the perfect plan for a disaster, but if it's not implemented, the company will be crippled," says Hodge. He also advises businesses to make backup copies of the plan and keep a few offsite.
4. "Perfect Plan" flexibility: Even if a business has created the ideal disaster preparedness plan, trained its employees and provided Life Safety training, "has anyone ever heard of a perfect disaster?" asks Hodge. He urges employees and companies to "have the knowledge and ability to adjust and change their plan, based on circumstance."

- newsletter@iQmetrix.com

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