“Wholistic” Approach to Emergency Preparedness
At any given moment, take a look to your left. Then to your right. If disaster hits right now, one of those people is going to be your “first responder!”
Given what you see, what are your chances???
“We are all in this together.”
Here at Emergency Plan Guide you’ll see our wholistic approach again and again: “We are all it this together.” That’s why we extend our concern beyond individuals to the groups they find themselves in.
In our new book, Emergency Preparedness for Small Business , we point out the many groups connected to a business. Here’s an abbreviated look at some of them, and how they fit into the “wholistic” approach.
Every business community plays a role in YOUR business’s ability to survive a disaster, . . . and needs to be included in your “wholistic” emergency preparedness plan.
Your relationship with each of these groups can impact your brand and your reputation. Your community relationships impact your employees’ skill levels and quality of life. And your communities play a role in your ability to respond to emergencies.
If you’re a business owner or an employee, are you including these communities in your wholistic planning?
What follows are excerpts from Chapter 3 in the book. (More communities are identified there.)
-The physical location
If you are in a business or industrial location your primary official contacts are likely the city government and local fire department. They will be concerned about providing immediate response to the threat of toxic chemicals, fire, flood, etc.
Other nearby businesses will have the same concerns – and will compete for the same official resources.
If your business is located near (or in) a residential area, nearby residents may have additional concerns about safety and security, including the company being prone to looting or other potential lawless activity.
-Employees and their family members
Communications with staff and family members are absolutely critical.
You probably already have an Emergency Contact form for employees. Does it have contact info for ALL family members plus an out-of-area contact? Do you know about special skills employees may bring to the emergency response table?
-First Responders, hospitals and other health care resources
How close are you to fire and rescue installations, hospitals, emergency care facilities? Under normal conditions, how long does it take them to respond to an alarm in your neighborhood?
Within your organization, what medically trained people are available, and what first aid and medical supplies do you have on hand for them to use?
-Utilities
Have you met with representatives of your different utility companies? What is their ability to respond to disruptions? Who in your organization should be trained on utility protocols?
-Telecommunications Companies
What level and type of services do you receive for voice, data, internet, video and restoration services in an emergency?
-Local, State and National Governments
What kind of resources can be mobilized at the local city level to deal with a crisis? The county or state level? How/when could you receive assistance from a National Guard deployment? FEMA?
-Stakeholders
Keeping the various stakeholders (board of directors, financial advisors, etc.) apprised of business conditions is an important management commitment. All stakeholder groups will have questions and will likely demand updates as to the company’s status in an emergency.
-Suppliers and business partners
What contingency plans do your suppliers have in case they run into problems?
-Customers
How will you support customers – local, long-distance, international – if the business is interrupted? How will customers be contacted in an emergency?
-Social Media
We have seen repeatedly how “news” of emergencies spreads dramatically via smartphones. Keeping the company’s messaging consistent to prevent rumors and speculation is a primary requirement in an emergency. Do you have protocols set up?
OK. These aren’t all the “communities” associated with a business. One of the reasons they all need to be considered?
Neighboring business communities may have conflicting interests in a disaster.
Bear in mind that the interests of these different groups can vary greatly.
Most will likely be sympathetic to your emergency situation and even helpful in the recovery process. Others may jump at the opportunity to take advantage of your problems. Still others might feel you were negligent in not taking reasonable or sufficient precautions to protect them from your problem – not to mention protecting your own employees, visitors, etc.
As always, thinking your situation through before an emergency hits will help you anticipate everything that could go wrong – and help you start setting priorities for building the processes and the relationships within the community that will make your response easier and more effective.
You might want to take another, closer look at Emergency Preparedness for Small Business. You can see the entire Table of Contents at Amazon.
Virginia and Joe
Your Emergency Plan Guide team
P.S. We’re not lawyers but we have had enough business experience to be able to warn our readers of some of the legal dangers of not having a business emergency plan. We include those warnings in Chapter 8 in the Book.