Disaster Safety Blog

IBHS Reminds Businesses to Maintain Level of Preparedness for Possible Flu Pandemic

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) today issued a reminder to businesses and nonprofit organizations to examine their ability to operate in the event of a flu pandemic. The IBHS reminder comes on the heels of President Obama’s Oct. 25 declaration of swine flu as a national emergency.

The president’s declaration will help doctors and health care providers to more quickly respond if the number of flu cases continues to rise quickly. IBHS recommends specifically that preparations should be made for possible closures or other operational impacts a pandemic could have.

“Early preparation and follow-up reviews of specific risks along with planning well in advance of any potentially disruptive emergency is essential to ensuring continuation of business operations for companies of all sizes,” said IBHS President and CEO Julie Rochman. “IBHS has learned firsthand that the effects of most catastrophes can be managed using thorough, specific advance action plans that include having appropriate policies, resources and contingencies in place.”

IBHS recommends the following five steps for pandemic preparedness:

1. Determine when to curtail employee travel – domestically and internationally.
2. Develop business continuity policies that provide work-at-home options.
3. Evaluate and adapt sick-leave policies to accommodate employees with swine flu as well as those
    employees needing to care for sick relatives. Such employees might need to be on leave longer than the
    current policy allows.
4. Consider the impact a shutdown of public transportation or the loss of basic utilities would have.
5. Pre-determine the point at which the organization would need to close its doors.

IBHS has created a self-assessment tool for business owners and managers to help them rate their readiness for a flu pandemic by answering nine basic questions.

This tool was adapted from the IBHS Open for Business® planning and preparedness program and its suite of free resources. For more information visit the IBHS Web site at: www.DisasterSafety.org.

One year later, economic recovery inches forward on Galveston Island

Hurricane Ike was the worst natural disaster to strike Galveston County since the 1900 Storm. A year after the massive hurricane made landfall there, The Daily News reports on the struggles that remain and the hard lessons learned.

On the Galveston County mainland, life essentially has returned to normal except in a few isolated areas, the newspaper reports.
Galveston Island is a different story. While tourists may notice little change in the city, many businesses have not reopened. And a number of mostly middle-class neighborhoods remain mostly vacant.

Many Galveston homeowners — probably close to one-fifth of the pre-Ike population — have not returned. Some won’t ever come back, the newspaper reports.

The schools have reopened, for the most part, but enrollment, which was declining before Ike, has declined sharply.

Health care on Galveston Island, crippled by storm damage at the University of Texas Medical Branch, is recovering, but it is not back to normal.

The newspaper gave Galveston’s businesses an A for effort and, in many cases, for real success in recovery.

Sadly, the list of businesses that will not reopen after Hurricane Ike is a long one. Most of the failures, frankly, were threatened before the storm, operating on thin margins with inadequate insurance and storm contingency plans, the newspaper wrote.

As Galveston Island celebrates the list of new businesses and those that are recovering, it's important to keep in mind Ike's lessons. 

As Ike, and so many other hurricanes have illustrated, having a crisis response and recovery plan in place before a storm hits can make all the difference. Get started today with help from the Institute for Business & Home Safety's (IBHS) Open for Business® program. Download a free copy of the toolkit and watch videos that will walk you through the planning process.

Keep your business open for business

Disaster preparation is one task that many small business owners know is important, however, they continue to put it off. However, these business owners are courting danger.

Natural and man-created disasters happen daily; many without warning. What would happen if you were only given one-hour to evacuate? Luckily, that is enough time to take care of your company’s most valuable assets, its employees and its data.

Some things to consider when the clock is ticking down:

• Put together a list of contact phone numbers, physical and email addresses for everyone on staff and 
  be sure that everyone has a copy.
• Stay in contact with clients, vendors and customers. What happens to you affects them.
• Back up all computer data on a regular basis. If you can’t back up your data, grab your server and take
  it with you. Also, don’t forget to grab any laptops available.
• Remember to take any important documents that will help you if you have to submit an insurance
  claim. This includes both policies and invoices.
• If possible, turn off utilities before evacuating.

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) has the right tools to help you reduce the potential for loss, should a disaster strike, and reopen quickly should you be forced to close. This creates savings for your business and also benefits your employees and customers who rely on your business being open. Create a business continuity plan today so you can stay open for business.

Plan now so you are prepared later

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) recognizes the importance of business continuity planning. As part of Business Continuity Awareness Week, June 21-27, IBHS would like to offer business owners an easy way to get started with a plan.

Before you start, you need to identify your risks—whether tornadoes, floods, hurricanes, freezing weather, earthquakes, or the “smaller” problems such as loss of basic utilities—and what you can do to protect yourself, your business, and your property. Then, you need to think about what you must do to assure your business’ survival and ongoing viability, i.e. what is most critical and time-sensitive.

Now, you are ready to focus on the construction of your business continuity plan. Here are the main steps:

First, record basic information:
1. Employees, including owners
2. Suppliers and vendors
3. Key contacts

Next, identify:
4. Critical business functions (What is most important to do to maintain an income stream; to keep your
    competitive advantage and reputation; and to meet your legal, regulatory, financial or contractual
    obligations?)
5. Possible alternate locations (Where could your business resume operations if you could not work
    from your existing location?)

Then list what you would need to fulfill your critical business functions at that alternate location:
6. Vital records
7. Critical telephone numbers
8. Critical supplies
9. Equipment, machinery, and vehicles

Identify the items your workers will need:
10. Computer equipment and software
11. Voice and data communications
12. Miscellaneous resources such as office supplies

Once your plan is complete, store it in paper and online copies. Some people keep an extra encrypted backup copy on a computer flash drive on a key chain. Experts recommend updating the plan at least once a year, perhaps on an anniversary date or before storm season.

As a result of your planning process, you may decide to take some immediate steps to reduce the potential for damage from the risks you have identified, i.e. your vulnerability. You may want to install storm shutters, buy flood insurance, stock up on water, purchase a generator, or regularly back up critical information and data, for examples.

IBHS offers several tools to help you understand the ins and outs of planning ahead for a disaster, as well as identify other areas where you may benefit from planning on a day-to-day basis. The Open for Business® program is available in multiple formats and includes resources such as worksheets, checklists and even reminder emails to help you stay on track with your planning. And if planning still seems too daunting of a task, take a look at the Open for Business® Trainers to walk you through the process one step at a time.

Resolve to start planning now, because later may be too late.

The importance of updating

While many companies may have a business continuity plans already in place, when was the last time it was updated?

Many organizations go through the pain of putting a plan together. They may bring in a consultant and spend countless hours filling out questionnaires and risk matrices and sit in meetings that seem to go on for hours. Each department pours over the flowcharts and explanations detailing their processes, checking off their controls or researching alternate site facilities for recovery. In the end it may all look impressive but if the business continuity plan hasn’t been updated to include any new business processes or equipment – or even supply vendor contact info, then it might as well be framed for display.

The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) realizes that this is one of the challenges associated with business continuity management (BCM) and  as part of Business Continuity Awareness Week, June 21-27, strongly encourages business owners to take the time to update their current plans.

The most effective business continuity plans are those which are maintained, updated and tested on an ongoing and regular basis. To assist in this updating process, IBHS has developed a few questions that can help get you started:

1. Do you have one person in charge of BCM? If not, who is responsible for maintaining the plan?
2. How does your organization incorporate new processes, systems (software and hardware) and people
    into the business continuity plan?
3. Does your organization perform self-assessments or audits of the plan?
4. If so, who performs the self-assessment or audit?
5. How often does your organization perform the self-assessment or audit?
6. Has your organization ever conducted a BCM test or exercise?
7. If so, what kind of test or exercise was conducted?
8. When did the test or exercise take place?
9. What was the outcome of the test or exercise?
10. Have you analyzed your supply chain dependency?

IBHS offers Open for Business^®, a collection of business protection planning and educational tools that were designed for small and medium businesses to reduce the potential for loss in the event of a disaster, and to help reopen quickly afterwards. The variety of easy-to-use tools include tips to identify hazards, worksheets to help develop a property protection and recovery plan, and education to organize your business to become more resilient. Click here for additional information regarding Open for Business^®.

Is Your Business Ready for Disaster? Take the IBHS Quiz

Communities survive disasters only if their businesses survive.  But many small business owners are so busy running day-to-day operations that they don’t dedicate any time to prepare for an event that could shut down their business for days, weeks or months at a time.

And it’s not just large-scale disasters that can cause a business to close. Power outages, fires or even gas leaks could limit access to your facility and cause a major disruption.  

To help small business owners do a quick self-assessment, the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) developed 10 Questions: Is Your Business Ready?  By taking the short quiz and then ranking preparedness based on “yes” answers, business owners will learn how disaster-ready they are. As part of Business Continuity Awareness Week, June 21-27, now is a great time for business owners to put a plan in place.

After completing the quiz, site visitors will be directed to the Institute’s free disaster planning toolkit, which will help them take the next step toward developing property protection and continuity plans.

The Open for Business® Toolkit helps businesses reduce the potential for loss should disaster strike and reopen more quickly if forced to close.  It includes materials to help organize the business’s critical information and review its essential operations. 

Be prepared; have a plan

As summer months approach, temperatures continue to rise causing your HVAC (Heating, Ventilating and Air Conditioning) system to work overtime. Have you ever thought about what would happen if your HVAC stopped working and you were forced to close your business while repairs were being made?  

Anything that disrupts operations can mean big trouble for the bottom line or competitive advantage.

As part of Business Continuity Awareness Week, June 21-27, The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) strongly advises business owners and managers to take advantage of free resources that are available to create business continuity plans that can help keep operations running when the unexpected happens. 

IBHS has the right tools to help you reduce the potential for loss, should disaster strike, and reopen quickly should you be forced to close. This creates savings for your business and also benefits your employees and customers who rely on your business being open. Create a business continuity plan today so you can stay open for business.

Who Will Be Open For Business if Disaster Strikes?

Large and small businesses alike are having a difficult time in the current economy and the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) is concerned many may not be open for business if disaster strikes.

According to the Association of Contingency Planners, Business Continuity Awareness Week is June 21-27, and IBHS wants business owners and managers to take advantage of free resources that are available to create business continuity plans that can help keep operations running when the unexpected happens.

In addition to minimizing the impact of severe weather events or problems such as a water main break or regional power outage, business continuity planning requires a thorough assessment of operations, which often yields additional benefits including opportunities to streamline functions or identifying areas for cost reductions.

IBHS outlines the following five steps to begin safeguarding operations:

1. Record basic information for employees, ownership, suppliers, vendors and key contacts.

2. Identify critical business functions (i.e., what is required to maintain income, keep a competitive 
   advantage, and meet regulatory or contractual obligations?).

3. Scout alternate locations (i.e., where is the best site to resume operations?).

4. List what is needed to fulfill critical business functions at an alternate location, including records,
    critical telephone numbers, e-mail addresses, equipment, machinery and vehicles.

5. Identify equipment and services that workers will need, such as computer equipment and software,
    voice and data communications, and required office supplies.

The IBHS Open for Business® suite of resources is available in multiple formats on DisasterSafety.org and includes worksheets and checklists to help with development of your plan.  There also is an online training series for those who prefer being walked-through the process one step at a time, with an option for reminder e-mail messages to keep planning on track.