Preparing your business for natural disasters is crucial to ensure its resilience and continuity. Proactive measures, such as securing insurance, documenting assets, and establishing emergency procedures, not only mitigate potential losses but also enable swift recovery, safeguarding both operations and long-term viability in the face of unforeseen challenges.
- Insurance – Ensure you are covered for all natural disasters and that you have adequate cover.
- Have photos/receipts of everything you own (even a video if this is too much to photo individually).
- Make sure your terms of trade are up to date.
- Have proof that work was completed from any previous claims.
- Get regular valuations on any item that may be hard to repurchase or hard to put a value on e.g. jewellery, art, classic cars, inherited items, etc.
- Ensure you and your team have a plan and emergency procedures in case of a disaster. Conduct drills to ensure everyone knows what to do.
- Identify the risks of what could happen and plan ahead for these to reduce their impact.
- Backup data – Back up all important data and store this in a secure offsite location to ensure you can continue operations even if your physical location is damaged.
- Keep contact lists up to date for employees, customers and suppliers so you can still communicate quickly and effectively.
- Have a business continuity plan in place – This should include a list of critical business functions, a plan for relocating employees if necessary, and a communication plan.