Why You Should Prepare Your Saugerties Business for a Disaster

12/18/2019 (Permalink)

It's crucial to have an Emergency Plan in place should your business ever suffer a disaster!

Experiencing a disaster as a business owner can be a major issue. There are so many questions about what to do and how to recover, with the priorities being to ensure everyone’s safety and to continue operations as quickly as possible. 

To avoid being overwhelmed and uncertain after a disaster strikes, it’s best to have a plan in place now for how you would handle a disaster that impacts your business. Planning ahead can reduce the damage a disaster causes, keep your staff safer—and most importantly, help you reopen more quickly after the danger passes. Here’s how: 

Reduce the Damage a Disaster Causes to Your Business 

Disasters can cause major damage to businesses even when the owners do everything right. Accidents happen, weather occurs, but a little bit of planning can help reduce the losses:

*Make copies of important documents and keeping them in a secure, offsite location so you don’t lose anything critical due to flooding, fires or other scenarios.

*Creating a technology-focused disaster plan can help you protect any electronics in the workplace and recover your digital files even if your main computer systems are impacted by the disaster. 

Increase the Safety of Your Workplace 

All employers should have a written emergency plan in place and communicate it to staff as well as creating a written one even if they are not required to do so. Train employees on the protocols and procedures of a disaster, as well as assigning people with roles and responsibilities. Ask them for feedback and revisions to help you execute a safe emergency evacuation which will increase the safety of your workplace and make sure that everyone in the building feels prepared and understands how to be safe in extreme situations. 

Decrease the Time it Takes to Reopen After a Disaster 

The most important reason to prepare for a workplace disaster is helping to shorten the time it will take you to reopen. The Small Business Administration states that 25% of small businesses do not reopen following a disaster. If your business is your livelihood, that can be positively devastating. Do what you can in advance to prevent damage and have a plan in place for restoring your property and recovering following the disaster and your business can reopen quicker.

If you’re planning ahead to help protect your Saugerties or Ulster County business from a disaster, give SERVPRO of Kingston/New Paltz a call to learn more about our commercial restoration processes and how we can help you recover quickly.