Is your business prepared for a disaster?

The world watched in shock and profound grief as the tsunami ravaged Japan this past week. Then the realization there were issues with the nuclear facilities because of the earth quake, tsunami and massive damage to infrastructure they caused. The human element in this disaster is apparent and credit the Japanese people for their strength in trying to stoically pick up the pieces of their lives. In fact, I saw a video yesterday showing a group of Japanese children doing school work even though their school was gone – in an attempt to quickly get back to a sense of normalcy.

It made me think – what are those small businesses doing to get back to normal and assist with the rebuilding of their country’s economy. Were they ready for a disaster? How prepared were they for something like this? How about closer to home – is your small business ready to handle a disaster?

The thing about disasters is that no one can predict when they will happen. In the blink of an eye all you have worked so hard for can be gone. If there are any lessons to be learned from the disaster unfolding in Japan is this –are you prepared? If you are a small business owner below is some information that can assist you in preparing for a disaster to make sure your business can get back to business when the disaster is over.

Disaster strikes – rarely: When it does though, proper preparation can save your business.

Safely Store Information: Backup, backup, backup! Any important documents or electronic data for your business should be stored in a portable, fire and water proof safe box.  Insurance documents, legal documents, flash drives with backups of financial records. There are several off sight data storage companies that will automatically backup your data on a schedule you choose. Don’t wait until it’s too late to realize you should have safely guarded this information.

Document: In an emergency or crisis the last thing you need to be looking for is a phone book or numbers for key contacts. Moreover, if your business performs key processes as part of your operations and only you know what they are, write them down and store them for safe keeping.  This way there’s easy access to pertinent information. Your emergency plan can be 5 pages or 5 manuals – it doesn’t matter so long as you or your employees can answer the question – What now?

Review your Insurance needs: You need to be aware of the level of life, liability and property insurance your venture needs. This should be evaluated at least annually. Too many times businesses purchase new equipment but fail to update their insurance for coverage. Following an incident they discover, too late, that their equipment is not covered and they can’t replace it because of costs.

Establish a line of credit: You don’t have to use it but it’s there as part of your recovery plan following a disruption from fire, flood, theft or other occurrence.

We all hope for Japan’s quick turnaround – what happened was truly cataclysmic. What if that happened here, where your business is? Are you prepared?