How Thinking Ahead Can Protect Business Owners From Disaster

A business owner puts all their time, effort and money into what they do and the company they’ve created. A smart business owner will be aware of potential disasters that can ruin their business and take them back to square one. When you’ve invested so much into your organization, it pays to think ahead and take steps to protect what you have built from the ground up.

Plan A

You may believe it will never happen to you but there is no telling when a natural disaster may strike and you will need to quickly get back on your feet. Plenty of planning in advance can help reduce the time it takes to recover from a disaster.

The best way to plan for a disaster is to cover as much ground as possible and determine the highest risks for an individual business. The first step in planning ahead and protecting your company from any kind of disaster is by doing a risk assessment. A business has to think about what emergencies are most likely to happen and their level of preparedness for each possible disaster.

Level of Preparedness

Consider what natural disasters affect businesses most in your region and how they are able to recover from them. Businesses can compare their level of preparedness with other companies and with guidelines provided by the American Red Cross to determine what they need to improve or change.

There are other disasters that could be an issue for companies aside from things like floods, storms and earthquakes. Issues with the plumbing system of a business’s building can be a serious threat to everyone’s health. A business must make sure that their plumbing is up to code and follows the guidelines for health and safety. Backflow is a problem that businesses must plan ahead to avoid because it can create contaminated drinking water and can cause serious illnesses.

Protecting a building from a plumbing disaster can be simple and accomplished by installing a backflow prevention assembly that will prevent any reversal of water flow or contamination. Businesses also must think about getting their backflow prevention checked out regularly through an annual test to ensure that it is working. Plumbing issues and contaminated water can be a terrible threat that could ruin a company if it is not taken care of in advance.

Evaluate

Businesses should evaluate the type of disasters that can occur and come up with an emergency plan that all employees are aware of. Everyone in the company should be trained and ready to deal with anything that could potentially happen. Any steps that can effectively prevent disasters should always be taken when possible. For the disasters that are more unpredictable, employees must have rehearsed the emergency plan a few times so that they know what to do when an emergency occurs.

Some problems like backflow can be easily prevented, but other disasters require more careful planning. The most important thing a business can do in the event of a disaster is be prepared enough to get up and running again in as short a time as possible.