Business Disaster Preparedness

Many planning tools have been developed to help businesses prepare for emergencies. Yet, the NFPA 1600 Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs endorsed by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the Federal 9-11 Commission is the baseline planning document. In addition to requiring emergency preparedness supplies on hand, this standard provides guidelines to assess current programs or to develop, implement, and maintain a current program.

To be successful, business preparedness for emergencies requires upper management support. The chief executive or owner sets the tone by authorizing planning to take place and management to get involved. When presenting the "case" for emergency management, avoid dwelling on the negative effects of an emergency (e.g., deaths, fines, criminal prosecution) and emphasize the positive aspects such as.

Helps companies fulfill their responsibility to protect employees, the community and the environment.
Promotes compliance with regulations.
Makes it easier to recover from financial losses, regulatory fines, loss of market share, damages to equipment or products, or business interruption.
Reduces exposure to civil or criminal liability in the event of an incident.
Enhances a company's image and credibility with employees, customers, suppliers and the community.
Reduces insurance premiums.

Making sure your employees are prepared is a key way to reducing the negative effects of an emergency situation. Also consider ways to help employees with their family disaster preparedness planning with emergency preparedness supplies and survival gear. This will increase their personal safety and help your business get back up and running as employees will be better able to focus and carry out their responsibilities at work. One way to accomplish this is to provide survival gear as part of a company reward or recognition program. Corporations and small businesses alike are constantly looking for new ways to improve morale, reduce injuries and worker compensation costs, reduce absenteeism, boost sales, or motivate employees to make productivity suggestions. If you provide such supplies, or make on online store available through your intranet for discount purchases, you will be helping your employees and their families as well.

Additionally, to prepare and train your employees, as required by NFPA 1600, consider encouraging your employees to attend free local Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) training. Contact your local fire department for further information. CERT training provides 24 hours of disaster training and emergency skills, and meets the requirements of NFPA 1600 which requires training to "create awareness and enhance the skills required to develop, implement, maintain, and execute the program." CERT members are trained in disaster readiness, fire suppression, light search & rescue, incident command system protocol and basic first aid.

To support your emergency preparedness plan, GetReadyGear offers several larger quantity survival kits to meet the emergency preparedness requirements of businesses including our 10 person survival kit, 20 person kit and 100 person kit. In addition to this survival gear, you may want to consult with GetReadyGear's Search & Rescue pros on additional items that may be useful to your employees during and after an emergency event. Whether it be a geological, meteorological, biological or human-caused (both accidental and intentional) catastrophic event, we can assist you in determining the proper quantity and make-up of your emergency supplies and survival gear.

For more information about emergency planning for your business, we suggest visiting the following websites:


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