Better secure than sorry: Protecting your business from potential disaster

With climate change making severe weather conditions more frequent and more intense, there are many reasons to be aware of the potential disasters that could affect you and your company. Similar to how you take precautions to protect your home and family, there are important measures you can adopt to ensure that your business assets, employees, and property are secure and will recover quickly in an emergency.

According to the old saying, "if you fail to plan, you can only plan to fail"--with this in mind, here are some essential steps you can take to safeguard your business and aid in its recovery from the effects of a catastrophe.

Make a team

The first step to create your Business Emergency Preparedness Plan (BEPP) to identify who should be involved in the process of planning. If your company is small and has only one or two employees, it could be you. However, for larger companies, it would be beneficial to have the help of a group of individuals with a strong understanding of all operations in the business. A team of leaders on board in the initial plan is also an excellent way to ensure that the top of the organization is committed to disaster preparation.

Be aware of the dangers

While the vast geography of Canada lets us have unbeatable opportunities to enjoy recreation in the mountains, valleys, forests, rivers, oceans, lakes, and beaches; however, it also means that we are exposed to a variety of various regional dangers. Wildfires, floods, earthquakes as well as landslides, tsunamis, and avalanches are a few of the risks you must be aware of, and knowing which are the most dangerous to your business is the first step in planning for being prepared. Utilize an interactive map to determine which dangers pose the most risk to your company depending on the location you are in so that you can be prepared in advance.

In addition, be sure to review the terms of your insurance policy, and are aware of the limitations of your coverage and the limitations of your coverage, since businesses aren't qualified to receive government financial aid for disasters in the event that insurance coverage was available for a specific event, but you decided not to take advantage of the insurance.

Recognize the risks

Once you have a clear understanding of the kind of dangers your business is confronted with, begin making a regular assessment of the threats posed by any possible effects and start working to reduce the potential risks.

If your company has a physical address that is like an establishment or storefront, this might be as simple as securing shelves, as well as other things that may fall during an earthquake or keeping paper or electrical items that might be damaged due to floodwaters off of the floors or even checking for fire warning or extinguishing equipment.