It's A New Year

Let's start with introspection. When did you last review your emergency response plan? How about your last evacuation exercise? It is amazing how few businesses

invest in just thirty minutes a year on a practice fire drill. Do your employees know how to safely leave your site if a fire or other disruption blocked the main entrance? Where would you meet and how would you know that everyone was safely out? Local streets and nearby parking lots sound like good assembly points until you realize that you might be evacuating during a fierce storm. When possible, choose an assembly site that is sheltered against the weather.

If forced to leave your worksite on short notice do you have a way of accessing the records and files you need to continue working even if the displacement lasts for days or weeks? If forced to work from an alternative location could you still meet delivery deadlines? Is tele-commuting a viable work strategy? How would you reach employees, clients, and vendors if forced out of your normal work area? What other uncertainties come to mind when you think about your current emergency response plan?

Remember that evacuation isn't always the right response to an emergency. What if the situation called for you to shelter-in-place? Have you ever practiced this scenario?

you deal with a key vendor who failed to deliver on time? What if your computers were infected by a virus? Now, decide how you would deal with these very different situations. While unpleasant to think about, it is much better to develop a response to these challenges now, than have to deal with these same issues in the midst of a crisis. Set a goal to have a mitigation plan for each of these five threats by month's end and meet it!

This is a great time to review your insurance coverage and make sure you understand not only what type of

protection you have, but in what circumstances your coverage might not apply. Ask pointed questions about how long it takes to process a claim. If you needed money within a couple of weeks and, on average, it takes your carrier several months to process a claim - you have a potential problem! Conducting this type of review is one of the most important resolutions you can make!

The last part of the process involves change, which is always difficult.

Hopefully, the introspection and goal setting steps uncovered any key vulnerabilities in your preparations. Look for weaknesses that can be addressed by adopting

new habits. Should you backup your files more frequently

or add a backup capability to some unprotected computers? Could a training class from the Red Cross give you more confidence to handle a life-threatening incident? Would a class on safety procedures reduce the risk of an accident?

Good preparedness, like good health, takes work. Habits

change slowly and require that we pay attention to many
small things, like dating documents 2012, not 2011. But once the change occurs the rewards are clear.

Use this New Year as a time to rethink and rework your preparedness plan. Invest now in preparedness so that when a disaster strikes you will be Ready to Resume.

Happy New Year All!