small business disaster plan template

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• For Businesses

Prepare My Business for an Emergency

Businesses can do much to prepare for the impact of the many hazards they face in today’s world including natural hazards, human-caused hazards or technology related hazards.

• Natural hazards could be a flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake or a widespread serious illness such as the H1N1 flu virus pandemic.
• Human-caused hazards include accidents, acts of violence by people and acts of terrorism.
• Examples of technology-related hazards are the failure or malfunction of systems, equipment or software.

DHS/FEMA sponsors a resource called “Ready Business” to assist businesses in developing a preparedness program by providing tools to create a plan that addresses the impact of many hazards. The direction recommended is to adopt a standard for Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs called an “all hazards approach.”

Steps to Create a Business Preparedness Program

To develop an “all hazards approach,” DHS has adopted National Fire Protection Association 1600 (NFPA 1600) as the American National Standard for developing a preparedness program.

There are five steps toward creating a business preparedness program:

1. Program Management

• Organize, develop and administer your preparedness program
• Identify regulations that establish minimum requirements for your program

2. Planning

• Gather information about hazards and assess risks
• Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA)
• Examine ways to prevent hazards and reduce risks

3. Implementation

Write a preparedness plan addressing:

• Resource management
• Emergency response
• Crisis communications
• Business continuity
• Information technology
• Employee assistance
• Incident management

4. Testing and Exercises

• Test and evaluate your plan
• Define different types of exercises
• Learn how to conduct exercises
• Use exercise results to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan

5. Program Improvement

• Identify when the preparedness program needs to be reviewed
• Discover methods to evaluate the preparedness program
• Utilize the review to make necessary changes and plan improvements
• How Do I - For Businesses
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• Small Business Disaster Recovery Plan Template

Small Businesses Should Have a Disaster Recovery Plan [Free Downloadable Template]

No small business owner wants to think about a disaster coming along and wiping out everything they've worked so hard for. But the tragic truth is this: Up to 60% of small businesses never reopen their doors following a disaster, according to the  Federal Emergency Management Agency . 

Have you thought about what would happen if a flood, hurricane, or cyberattack hit your business? Do you have the proper mechanisms in place to recover from such a disaster? If disaster recovery was not part of your business plan, now is the time to develop your strategies.

Download Our Free Disaster Recovery Plan Template

About 75% of small businesses do not have a disaster recovery plan in place, according to  Nationwide . If you're a small business owner who doesn't have the money to hire an external firm to create a plan, you can create your own. Begin by analyzing the following:

• The types of risks that can occur for your company
• The likelihood of each occurrence
• The critical systems/data that could be impacted

This initial analysis will help determine your budget for disaster recovery. To assist you with this process, you can download a  free disaster recovery plan template .

What should be included in a disaster recovery plan?

First, list the following:

• Key personnel contact information
• Insurance information
• Vendor contacts (computer hardware, plumbing, HVAC, etc.)
• Key customer contacts
• Bank and financial information
• Offsite data storage facility

Then, give step-by-step instructions for what to do in the event of a disaster. Include:

• An evacuation plan
• How you will notify employees and customers in the event of an emergency
• Instructions for redundancy (how to access backups for things like power, equipment, supplies, and data)
• A list of the software packages that will be part of the recovery

Last, you may wish to include an appendix of supplemental information such as floor plans, insurance policies, and technology service level agreements (SLAs).

Secure Offsite Storage Now

Identify critical hard copy or electronic data for financials, customers, insurances, vendors, and employees. On a continuous basis, make copies of (or mirror) your data and store it in an easily accessible location that would not be affected by the same disaster.

Small businesses can easily scan their data and store in a cloud environment such as Google Drive or Amazon, which can be inexpensive and easily accessed. Alternately, small businesses can store hard copy reports, magnetic tapes, DVDs, or flash drives off site.

Pay Attention to Security

If your small business stores physical information at a secondary site and/or backup information in the cloud or on an external device, you must consider security. Consider:

• The stored physical information is at risk from theft, accidents, or a natural disaster. Plan for things like door and window security and personnel access. Be cautious of drop ceilings and raised floors, from which intruders can gain access.
• The backup electronic information, whether it's on your own network or a cloud provider’s multitenancy system, may be at risk of a cyberattack. Implement adequate security measures such as an IDS, IPS, honey pots, antivirus software, network segmentations, firewalls, vulnerability assessments, and user education. Ask your cloud provider about the type of network security and disaster recovery initiatives it has.

Plan Maintenance and Awareness 

Once you develop a disaster recovery plan, you must maintain it. To do this, establish a cross-functional team that drives maintenance and awareness initiatives. The team can host brown bag lunches to initially discuss the concept of disaster recovery plans, as well as trends. When there are changes in applicable regulations (e.g., HIPAA), purchases of new equipment, or changes in company direction, the team should evaluate the content of the plan.

Next, the team can invite risk assessments of the plan. If the cost of an external firm to conduct the risk assessment is a barrier, the team can invite employees to critique the plan or even another trusted organization to critique the plan. Last, disaster recovery training of personnel should be done initially and throughout the year.

Hot, Cold, Warm Choices

As part of your disaster recovery plan, you may wish to explore alternative sites to run your business if a disaster displaces you. Explore hot, cold, and warm choices:

• Hot sites are most expensive, as they contain duplicated hardware and processing systems; updates are current.
• A cold site is the least expensive, because it may simply consist of space, phone lines, and furniture.
• Warm sites are in between with pricing and functionality.

Organizations need to consider costs as well as the acceptable delayed operational time.

If cost is a major concern, a cold site may be your only option. If so, contact a leasing firm for pricing. You could also explore other creative avenues that mirror a formal cold site—for example, perhaps you could strike an agreement with a trusted small business peer who would provide access to their conference room or vacant office available if a disaster occurred.

Most small business owners don’t think they will be the victim of a cyberattack or natural disaster—until one strikes. A disaster recovery plan is vital to making sure you can get up and running as soon as possible afterward.

Are you a business owner who wants to complete your degree?

Purdue Global offers  online business degrees , some with with accelerated tracks for working professionals. Earn your  management degree online  or learn more about the  ExcelTrack ®  bachelor’s degree or MBA—and get closer to achieving your goals.

Ellen Raineri, PhD, is a former faculty member at Purdue Global. The views expressed in this article are solely those of the author and do not represent the view of Purdue Global.

About the Author

Ellen Raineri, PhD

Purdue Global delivers a fully personalized, world-class education online that's tailored for adults. We offer 175 programs, including associate's, bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees as well as certificates, in areas such as business, IT, education, health sciences, nursing, criminal justice, and more.

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Small Business Recovery

When a disaster occurs, businesses must take care of their employees’ needs, communicate the impact, address financial matters (e.g., insurance, disaster assistance), restore operations, and organize recovery. Below are resources to help reopen your business and make progress through long-term recovery. 

Top 10 Tips for Recovery

• Implement your disaster plan. Assess damage and consider if a backup location is needed.
• Shift your team and leadership from preparedness to recovery.
• Implement a communications strategy to ensure that the facts go directly to employees, suppliers, customers, and the media.
• Encourage employees to take appropriate actions and communicate.
• Document damage, file insurance claims, and track recovery.
• Cultivate partnerships in the community with businesses, government, and nonprofits.
• Provide employee support and assistance.
• Connect with chambers of commerce, economic development, and other community support organizations.
• Document lessons learned and update your plan.
• Contact the Disaster Help Desk for support at 1-888-MY-BIZ-HELP (1-888-692-4943).

Checklists and Additional Tips

• Responding to Disaster: Tips from the Frontline  – Helpful info-graphic of key items to consider
• A  checklist  for reopening your business after a disaster
• Or, if you want more details, use the original checklist in this ‘ Recovery Toolkit ’, which includes additional checklists 
• Recovery Resources
• The  U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA)  offers low-interest loans and other resources to assist small businesses post disaster. 
• The  Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)  provides updates on current disaster events and assistance for employees who have damage at their homes.
• When Disaster Hits Home: A Story of Resilience and Recovery  – How a business responded both in their community and with their employees.

Below is a list of categories for available recovery resources:

Immediate needs, emergency response & recovery, recovery guidance.

• Financial Assistance / Funding / Taxes
• IT Disaster Recovery

Mental Health

Individual, families, employees and community recovery.

• Google Person Finder  – This app helps people connect with family and employees after a disaster.
• Safe and Well   - Register or search the Red Cross’ Safe and Well listing here.
• Google Public Alerts  – This service allows you to go online to search for the latest information during an emergency, and will disseminate relevant emergency alerts to you when/where you need them.
• Disaster Help Desk for Business  – Provides assistance to businesses struck by disasters across the country. Dial 1-888-MY-BIZ-HELP or 1-888-692-4943 to get help navigating the disaster assistance realm.
• FEMA Text Messages is a service that allows you to use your cell phone’s text messaging capability to receive text updates from FEMA (standard message and data rates apply).To sign up for monthly preparedness tips: text PREPARE to 43362 (4FEMA).
• The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)  – Provides updates on current disaster events
• Ready.gov/business (FEMA)  – Has many business-focused tips and resources on what to do during different types of disasters.
• Disaster Recovery and Continuity Guide  – This guide provides worksheets and question matrices on all things recovery. Starts with basic planning tips, hazard assessment, etc., but the bulk of this guide is in recovery, with useful worksheets.
• Tax Relief in Disaster Situations  – Links to disasters across the US and the resources, information, and tools for each region.
• Hurricane Preparedness for Business: What to do Before, During and After a Disaster  – Use the Recovery Checklist “After the Storm” ( pages 3-5 ) for bullet points of different ideas and issues to consider.
• Helping Families Recovery After Disaster: The Family Financial Toolkit  – As small businesses owners need to also take care of disaster impacts at home, this toolkit provides resources  lessons learned, case examples, etc.
• Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery Checklist for Small Business Owners  – Eleven simple, great tips for recovery.
• Disaster Cleanup  – Tips and resources from the SBA that includes fact sheets and info from CDC, EPA, FEMA, OSHA.
• Business Continuity Plan: Components and Sequencing Description  – A Recovery Plan template with tables, checklists, Yes/No questions, etc.

Federal Financial Assistance / Funding / Taxes

• SBA online loan application  – You are encouraged to apply BEFORE the deadline. There is no obligation to accept the funds, but keeps your options open if needed. 
• SBA Customer Service Center - Call 1-800-827-5722
• DisasterAssistance.gov  – This FEMA site provides disaster survivors with information and services during times of disaster. Programs to assist individuals and homeowners may be useful to your employees. You can register for assistance even if you are not sure you need or want it.
• Disaster Resource Guide for Individuals and Businesses  – Guide to understanding IRS resources available after a disaster, such as claim unreimbursed casualty losses on damaged property; includes forms and numbers.
• Preparing for a Disaster (Taxpayers and Businesses)  – Encourages planning, tips for safeguarding documents, and tracking valuable IRS resources such as completing the  Loss Workbook  after a disaster. 
• Tax Relief for Disaster Situations  (IRS) – After your area is declared a disaster, this page provides tax relief information from the IRS.
• Disaster Assistance for Business  – Overview of all Federal Assistance and resources (ignore Nevada-specific info).
• Disaster Assistance  – Resources available from SBA to businesses, individuals, and families.
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)  – FEMA’s main site has information on what to do before, during, and after disaster.
• IRS Videos on Disaster Subjects  – Informative videos to help businesses that have been affected by disasters.
• US Department of Agriculture (USDA)  – Provides disaster assistance information for farmers and ranchers
• Disaster Recovery Small Business Loan or Grant Program  –How to create opportunities for loans or grants for area businesses.

This is a topic no one wants to discuss; yet it is critical to recovery. There are resources to help minor to severe trauma by allowing people to express their experiences. By ignoring the problem, it may only get worse, and your business may lose key people at critical recovery times. It is better to address issues or needs up front and allow staff to debrief.

• Disaster Distress Helpline  - To reach out for free 24/7 counseling or support, contact the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs’ to 66746. TTY for Deaf/Hearing Impaired: 1-800-846-8517. To see the Red Cross page for this resource click  here .
• American Psychological Association  – Works with the Red Cross on crisis counseling.
• Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)  – FEMA’s main site has information on what to do before, during, and after disaster. To register for assistance, visit  www.DisasterAssistance.gov
• The American Red Cross  – Assists with finding shelter,  loved ones, or other services.

“Keep detailed records of business activity and the extra expenses of keeping your business operating in a temporary location during the interruption period. If you are forced to close down, include expenses that continue during the time that the business is closed, such as advertising and the cost of utilities” -- The Insurance Information Institute

Insurance Help

• Document damage by taking photos or videos. Review your policy, contact your insurance company to file a claim, and document cleanup or repairs with receipts and photos. Get two or more quotes for repairs, check contractor licenses, and document expenses and losses that can be compared with pre-disaster numbers.
• Per the Insurance Information Institute (iii), “Keep detailed records of business activity and the extra expenses of keeping your business operating in a temporary location during the interruption period. If you are forced to close down, include expenses that continue during the time that the business is closed, such as advertising and the cost of utilities.
• 11 tips  on how to work with the insurance company, file a claim, and other items. 
• How to document and calculate loss.  http://bit.ly/1EVGng1
• In the Wake of the Storm: Five Reminders about Your Insurance Coverage  – Great tips post-Hurricane Sandy on filing different types of claims, potential issues.
• Speak UP: How to communicate with your insurance company  – Simple tips on how to work with your insurance company after a disaster.
• National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) Summary of Coverage for Commercial Property  – General information about flood insurance coverage, options, and understanding terms.
• Property Insurance and Disaster Recovery  – An interesting article covering insurance coverage, as well as other things to be aware of during recovery.
• Missouri Small Business & Technology Centers: Insurance Claims  – Great information and tips, step-by-step guide for filing claims, available disaster assistance, etc. (ignore Missouri-specific phone numbers).
• Maximizing Insurance Recovery for Loss Resulting from Tornados and Other Natural Disasters  – Helps insurance policy holders or those seeking insurance to navigate potential issues.
• The Basics of Business Interruption Insurance  – Provides a basic understanding of filing a business interruption insurance claim, document preparation, etc.
• Procedures for Filing Major Loss Property Insurance Claims  – Assistance with filing a claim (ignore Hawaii-specific numbers).
• Flood Insurance Claims Handbook  (FEMA) – Assistance with filing a claim on National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) coverage.

Employee Assistance

• If you don’t have an Employee Assistance Program (EAP), consider starting one.  An EAP will help your business and your employees cope with the aftermath of a disaster.
• An EAP can further aid employees who have experienced trauma from a disaster and any associated losses. This includes helping executives and other company leadership who may have a difficult time focusing during recovery.
• After a disaster employees may experience increased fear, grief, stress, sadness, and anxiety, often continuing for weeks or months. Point employees to your EAP or crisis counselors for assistance. Address all employees by holding a disaster debrief to discuss what happened and what resources are available to them.
• To alleviate stress and minimize confusion, your leadership should communicate with employees about how the company is addressing recovery and what resources exist for employees.
• Continue to update employees on the business’ ongoing recovery.
• Consider ways that your company can help employees’ and their families access medical care, food, housing, and other essentials.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     
• Those hit hardest may not have working phones or the ability to call area resources to find new housing, childcare, animal care facilities, a rental car, or other services necessary to restoring their daily lives. Find or connect employees to needed resources, then share with other employees, customers, and the public.
• Use the human resources (HR) department’s employee hotline, or create one, to take calls regarding employees’ disaster needs. Make sure to keep needs confidential.
• Un-impacted employees are often willing to help fellow employees with caring for pets, carpooling, housing a family, loaning lost equipment like computers or cell phones, and organizing fundraisers to replace lost items.
• Disaster Distress Helpline —To reach out for free 24/7 counseling or support, contact the Disaster Distress Helpline at 1-800-985-5990 or text “TalkWithUs’ to 66746. TTY for Deaf/Hearing Impaired:  1-800-846-8517. Visit  http://rdcrss.org/1hsTafJ .
• A Manager’s Handbook: Handling Traumatic Events  – Discusses Employee Assistance Programs following disaster.  
• IRS: Help During Disasters  – Comprehensive list of resources for employers or employees facing the effects of disaster.

Documentation and Administrative Recovery

• Use photos and videos to document damage to property, inventory, equipment, and other losses. Document all repairs (e.g., boarding up broken windows, holes in a roof). Document the repair and restoration process until normal operation is resumed.
• Make a list of damaged or lost items and, if possible, include date of purchase, value, and receipts.
• Document all extra expenses you incur in the process of resuming operations, including renting equipment (until yours is repaired or replaced), temporarily leasing another location, marketing, and moving expenses.
• File a claim with your insurance company as soon as possible, if needed.
• Ask your insurance agent to review your business to determine what needs to be covered (e.g., loss of net income, operating expenses that need to be paid while closed, or extra expenses incurred afterward) so that you can begin addressing how you will cover it. “How” includes insurance policies, loans, and credit.
• Keep all important documents in one place, backed up, and stored off-site where they are accessible. This will save precious time. Add security (e.g., encrypting) to protect key financial data, bank accounts, etc.
• Copies of documents or information you should have available may vary depending on the type of business, but can include: insurance policies, leases, recent income tax forms, historical sales records, inventory, employees’ computer equipment and software inventory, contracts especially Service-Level Agreements (SLA). You may need to produce copies of some of these documents as part of the recovery. Make sure you do not lose your only hard copies in the process.
• Disaster Relief for Individuals and Small Businesses  – Created after Hurricane Sandy, it provides five steps on how to apply for federal assistance.

Connect with Local Chambers of Commerce

• Your local chamber is a great resource and conduit during a recovery process. Because chambers speak for busiesses, they can advocate for additional outside resources that the community might need. Chambers channel resources and funds that can be of great assistance to impacted businesses. They need to hear about your business’s needs.
• Many chambers have relationships or share space with Small Business Development Centers (SBDC). SBDCs offer free business counseling including guidance after disasters.
• The Disaster Help Desk is a resource available to your business. If this is the first time you are thinking about disaster recovery, reach out for help to ask the questions of what you need to think about, do first, who to call, things to consider, etc. Contact the Disaster Help Desk at 1-888-MY BIZ HELP (1-888-692-4943).
• Local chambers have connections within the local community, in the region, and across the country. These connections can be especially useful in providing help after a disaster.

“Monitor progress on your program and find ways to improve it. Reinforce employees’ participation in, and responsibility for, the overall recovery effort.” -- The Hartford

Celebrate Milestones

• The business recovery process is immense, stressful, and labor intensive. When people are already busy and potentially burdened by recovery efforts, celebrating milestones may seem frivolous. But do not overlook the need to address  employees’ mental health and to remind them that their hard work has purpose, progress is being made, and light exists at the end of the tunnel.
• By reopening your doors, it can encourage other businesses and organizations to recover faster, thereby helping the community as a whole.
• Recovery requires interconnectivity between public, private, non-profit, faith-based, and community organizations at all levels. Celebrate and promote recovery events that provide assistance to individuals, families, businesses, and other organizations in a “together we recover” type of approach. It is a great opportunity to keep the focus on recovery over the longer-term, bring resources to those who need it, and put your businesses in a position of information-sharing that will be remembered by your employees and the community for years.
• Celebrate your reopening and highlight your goods and services as an opportunity to market to potential new customers, especially those waiting on other businesses to reopen. Once you have these new customers, they will likely stay.
• Recovering from a disaster is hard work. Praise, recognize, and reward efforts throughout all levels of the business.
• Handling the recovery well and acknowledging employees’ roles increase company loyalty.
• Highlighting the re-openings of hospitals, schools, iconic community locations like restaurants considered “institutions”, civic spots, memorials, businesses or areas that have prevailed in spite of adverse odds, are all opportunities to tell the story of the community working together and building back better and stronger. This is a way to bring visitors into a recovering community.
• Your human resources department is typically the one that recognizes milestones within the company and can play an important role in recovery by being attentive to the needs of employees by celebrating recovery milestones. The events may be organized in a fun and inviting way and can incorporate employees with non-essential recovery roles so they can participate in the restoration of the business.
• Recognize that there may be employees who are still experiencing difficulties, a personal loss, or need help. You can use milestones to also highlight whichever areas still need assistance.

“Also, as the recovery continues, remember that many staff are either displaced themselves or are sharing their space with the staff who are displaced, making working conditions far less than ideal. Stress levels will be unusually high; therefore, setting a positive tone, recognizing staff accomplishments, and celebrating milestones are more important than ever.” -- Comprehensive Guide to Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Recovery

Practitioner Community

Business Emergency Response Plan Template

Every business should develop and implelement an emergency plan for protecting employees, visitors, contractors, and anyone else on site. An emergency response plan is a written document that enables business to plan for incident response and is included in part of a business continuity program. It should be drafted with known resources available, and include a process for assessing damage, protecting property, and minimizing damage and business disruptions.

More information on emergency response plans can be found at Ready.gov

Emergency Response Plan http://www.ready.gov/business/implementation/emergency

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Article · Jan 28, 2019

9 steps to create a small business disaster recovery plan.

Don’t let a disaster suddenly render your business inoperable. Implement this 9-step disaster recovery plan before it’s too late.

There’s nothing more frustrating than doing everything in your power to be successful, only to see forces out of your control—such as a hurricane, a fire or  cyberattack—suddenly render your business inoperable. What’s worse, disasters can have a devastating impact on small businesses. According to FEMA, between 40-60% of small businesses that suffer a disaster never reopen their doors, and 90% of small businesses that don’t reopen within five days of the catastrophe fail within a year. While larger companies have the time and resources to plan for and survive disasters, many small businesses have no plan in place for such a setback.

Therefore, it’s crucial that small business owners create and regularly update a disaster recovery plan. To avoid a business-breaking catastrophe, think of the following steps as a simple disaster recovery plan template.

1. Create an emergency response plan

When disaster strikes, what’s the first move? What steps should you and/or your employees take in the event of an emergency to stay safe? Once this has been determined, it’s important to decide what employees should do to prevent the loss of assets, inventory, and other property. There should also be a protocol of who to contact and in what order, including the authorities, yourself, and your security team (if you have one). Once you decide on and plan your protocol, assign responsibilities and hold regular training sessions so employees understand their duties.

2. Develop a business continuity plan

As noted above, resuming operations as soon as possible following a disaster should be considered essential.

A business continuity plan typically includes:

• Business impact analysis (BIA): The goal of a BIA, conducted before a disaster occurs, is to better understand the effects of a disaster on your business. For example, what impact will there be as a result of certain types of disruptions? How will the timing of a disruption affect sales? In other words, a fire in a retail store before the holidays will have a much larger impact than one in February.
• Recovery strategies: Based on your BIA, identify and document the resources necessary to lessen the impact of a disaster (e.g., data backups, duplicates of important records, contracting with third-party services that provide emergency relief) and conduct a gap analysis to understand what you need compared to what you actually have.
• Plan development: Develop a framework for your plan, including assigning responsibilities to team members, codifying recovery procedures and developing workarounds for issues that arise as a result of loss of IT infrastructure.
• Testing: Regular testing of business continuity plans is essential. If testing reveals a weakness in your plan, tweak it and re-test until you’re satisfied that your business will be able to resume operations quickly.

3. Review your insurance coverage

Insurance coverage is a must for any company, but not every kind of business insurance will be helpful in the event of a disaster. Review your current policy and ensure there are no gaps in coverage that could prevent you from collecting. For example, you should have sufficient coverage to pay for the indirect costs of a disaster (such as the disruption to your business) as well as the direct costs such as physical damages.

You can typically purchase additional insurance that protects your business against specific disaster risks in your area, like earthquakes or floods. You can also purchase add-ons that cover damages away from your premises, such as to your key suppliers.

4. Stockpile essential supplies

What will you, your employees, and your business need in the moments immediately following a disaster?

First, create emergency supply kits for your employees to grab in case of a disaster that threatens their physical safety, including bottled water, first aid, cash and device chargers.

Secondly, consider investing in backup systems that can get your business up and running immediately, like a secondary source of power or communications system.

5. Compile important contact information

Don’t wait until a disaster happens to hunt for key people and organizations to contact: Create a list now of who you should call after a disaster, including :

• Your local emergency management agencies
• Major clients and customers
• Insurance agents
• Insurance company claim representative

6. Create a communications strategy

When it comes to communicating with customers and clients about the state of your business, take every avenue possible. Go both low-tech – post notices outside your business, place a notice in the local paper, contact clients by phone – and high-tech by posting updates on all your social media channels and via your newsletter.

7. Report losses to the SBA

The Small Business Administration offers advice, access to resources, and aid to small businesses across the country – and that includes in the wake of disasters. Businesses of all sizes can borrow up to $2 million to repair or replace damaged or destroyed real estate, machinery or equipment, and inventory. The SBA also offers Economic Injury Disaster Loans up to $2 million to meet working capital needs. 

If your business is in a declared disaster area, you can start the process of applying by visiting the SBA’s website .

8. Discuss logistics with your suppliers and clients

No business exists in a bubble: Your vendors or suppliers could also be affected by a disaster, disrupting your supply chain. Similarly, if you run a B2B business and act as a supplier to another company, your issues could cause problems for your clients.

Communicate with both ends of your supply chain about their own disaster preparedness and identify backup options so no dependent businesses are left high and dry. Unhappy clients may not return when you get back up and running but may be more likely to do so if you offer an alternative replacement supplier ahead of time.

9. Duplicate and backup records and data

You should have up-to-date duplicates of all your important records, contracts, and documents, and keep them off-site in a safe deposit box or secured in the cloud. Additionally, a backup and disaster recovery (BDR) solution can keep data safe from natural disasters as well as cyberattacks or hardware failure – by providing secure, continuous backup and rapid data restoration onsite and via the cloud. This is a good way to always keep your client’s important and sensitive data safe as well.

As a small business, disaster recovery plans can help to protect and insure yourself from the possibility of disaster. If you believe your business is at particular risk for disaster, you may consider enlisting the help of a disaster recovery consultant.

Investing your time and resources against a threat that may never come may feel like a waste – but each minute you spend preparing for a disaster is an hour you’ll save when issues do arise.

Need disaster recovery help?

Meredith Wood

Editor-in-Chief at Fundera

Meredith Wood is the Editor-in-Chief at Fundera, an online marketplace for small business financial solutions. Specializing in financial advice for small business owners, Meredith is a current and past contributor to Yahoo!, Amex OPEN Forum, Fox Business, SCORE, AllBusiness and more.

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Free Business Continuity Plan Templates

By Andy Marker | October 23, 2018

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In this article, you’ll find the most useful free, downloadable business continuity plan (BCP) templates, in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and PDF formats. Customize the templates to fit the needs of your business, ensuring you maintain critical operations at all times.

Included on this page, you’ll find a business continuity plan template , a small business continuity plan template , a business continuity framework template , and more.

Business Continuity Plan Template

Download Business Continuity Plan Template

Word | PowerPoint | PDF  | Smartsheet

Use this template to document and track your business operations in the event of a disruption or disaster to maintain critical processes. With space to record business function recovery priorities, recovery plans, and alternate site locations, this template allows you to plan efficiently for disruption and minimize downtime, so your business maintains optimal efficiency. This template is available for download in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and PDF formats.

Additionally, you can learn the definition of a business continuity plan, the steps involved in business continuity planning, as well as about the business continuity lifecycle in our article about business continuity planning .

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IT Service Continuity Plan Template

Download IT Service Continuity Plan Template

This template is geared specifically to IT business operations and aims to maintain IT processes despite any possible harmful disruption. Use this template to document recovery objectives, teams, and strategies in order to accurately capture all facets of the continuity plan needed for an IT team. This template is available in both Word and PDF formats.

Business Continuity Framework Template

Download Business Continuity Framework Template

Word | PowerPoint | PDF

This template outlines the structure involved in creating a business continuity plan. It provides an easy, comprehensive way to detail the steps that will comprise your unique BCP. Use this template to plan each phase of a typical BCP, including the business impact analysis, recovery strategies, and plan development. This template can serve as an overall framework for your larger BCP plan.

Business Continuity Program Template

Download Business Continuity Program Template

Similar to the business continuity plan template, this template documents the steps involved in maintaining normal business operations during an unplanned disruption or disaster. Using this template, you can plan out the critical elements needed to continue business as usual, including recovery priorities, backup and restoration plans, and alternate site locations. This template is available for download in both Microsoft Word and PDF formats.

Business Continuity Procedure Template

Download Business Continuity Procedure Template

Much like the business continuity framework template, this template helps users create a thorough, streamlined BCP by detailing the procedure involved in creating and maintaining a plan, as well as implementing one. Use this template to document everything from a business impact analysis to plan development, plan testing, and exercises. Download this template in Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, or PDF to get started.

Business Continuity Plan Template for Nonprofits

Download Business Continuity Plan Template for Nonprofits

In the event of a disruption in business that affects your nonprofit organization, use this template to document a business recovery strategy, identify alternate business locations, and effectively plan for inevitable business downtime. This template is available for download in Microsoft Word and PDF formats.

School Business Continuity Plan Template

Download School Business Continuity Plan Template

Plan for disruptions in regular school activities and operations in the event of emergency or crisis with this helpful template. This template, designed with schools, colleges, and universities in mind, allows you to prioritize operations and responses, identify important phases of recovery, design a restoration plan, and more.

Small Business Continuity Plan Template

Download Small Business Continuity Plan Template

Record your business recovery priorities, identify alternate site locations to conduct business, create recovery teams, and assign recovery responsibilities to specific team members with this continuity plan for small businesses. Ensure that you are able to maintain critical processes and minimize downtime so your business can keep moving forward.

SaaS Business Continuity Plan Template

Download SaaS Business Continuity Plan Template

Use this business continuity plan template to keep your SaaS business productive and efficient, despite any unforeseen events or disruptions. With space to record everything from recovery procedures and strategies to relocation strategies and alternate site locations, you’ll be able to keep business moving and remain productive during a crisis or disruption.

Business Continuity Plan Template for Medical Practices

Download Business Continuity Plan Template for Medical Practices

Identify risk strategies for specific areas of business, like clinical, finance and operations, and IT, designate specific recovery strategies, and prioritize the most important, mission-critical operations for your medical practice with this complete business continuity plan template.

Business Continuity Plan Template for Healthcare Organizations

Download Business Continuity Plan Template for Healthcare Organizations

Some businesses, like healthcare organizations, rely on critical processes and procedures to maintain productivity and keep both patients and staff safe. To ensure these processes are followed — even during a business disruption — use this business continuity plan template to identify all potential risks, create mitigation plans, and assign tasks to key team members.

Activities to Complete Before Writing the Business Continuity Plan

Certain steps can help you prepare to write a business continuity plan. See our article on how to write a business continuity plan to learn more.

Common Structure of a Business Continuity Plan

Every business continuity plan should include certain common elements. See our article on how to write a business continuity plan to learn more.

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How to Create a Disaster Recovery Plan for Your Business

How can you quickly create a disaster recovery plan for your business? These 5 steps will get you started.

Creating A Small Business Disaster Recovery Plan

From storms, fires, cyber attacks, natural disasters, and man-made calamities like data breaches, DDoS attacks, and burglaries, there’s a lot that spells disaster for a small business. And while some businesses have a clear, well-defined disaster recovery plan for a worst-case scenario, as much as 68% don’t. The result of not having a plan can be catastrophic.

In 2019, data is everything and losing your customer or business data can bring your business to a standstill. A standstill many businesses never recover from. According to several sources,  93% of companies without Disaster Recovery who suffer a major data disaster are out of business within one year.

In this article, we’ll take a look at how you can plan for the worst-case scenario and what you should do to ensure you’re ready for anything in the event of a disaster.

Step 1 – Understand The Difference Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Before we dive into what makes a great disaster recovery plan, it’s important to get clear about our terminology. Mainly,  there’s a key difference  between a disaster recovery plan and a business continuity plan.

Business continuity refers to a strategy that makes sure that your business keeps operating no matter what. It ensures regardless of what happens, your business will continue to provide products and services to customers. It’s proactive, looking ahead to what happens and making a plan to keep mission-critical operations functioning.

Disaster recovery, on the other hand, is reactive. It ensures no matter what happens, your business will be able to recover critical data necessary to maintain operations. It ensures your data is backed up in a way that you’ll be able to recover the critical information you need.

Step 2 – Start The Disaster Recovery Planning Process

When you’re  creating a disaster recovery plan for your business  you need to account for every element of your tech ecosystem. Your systems, applications, and data should all be covered. That includes the physical security of your servers and data storage but also anticipating the loss of anything from your physical access to the system, to problems with your setup that would make access to it impossible.

The main issue here is making sure everyone accepts the possibility of the worst-case scenario happening. You need to convince your team that it’s worth planning for when disaster strikes, no matter how remote the possibility.

When it comes to making the plan, start with executive buy-in. Perform a top-to-bottom review of every IT system your business uses and account for every critical business function. Doing this well involves prioritizing cross-functional collaboration, which can only happen if you have executive buy-in.

From there, you need to conduct a thorough analysis of your business processes. You need to know your priorities in the worst-case scenario. What’s critical to your business, and what is most important to have access to if your capability is limited? Knowing your priorities will help you figure out how to protect your business.

Step 3 – Map Out Your Disaster Recovery Strategy

After you’ve analyzed a disaster’s potential impact and understand the threat a critical systems failure presents to your business, it’s time to figure  what to do about it . That involves a balance of budget, resources, tools, and partners.

If you run a small business, the budget is an obvious concern. You need to find solutions that will make sense for your needs while also not breaking the bank.

Understanding how long it will take to get your business back online, as well as the cost, helps you know where to start. Even if you can’t get a particular system working right away, you can let customers know when you expect to get back to normal operating conditions.

Step 4 – Test Your Plan

The final step in any good disaster recovery plan is to do a trial run and see how quickly your team can respond. Conducting a test run can help you understand where you need to make improvements.

Practicing under stressful conditions also prepares your team for a real event. Employees get a chance to go through the motions and train what they’re doing as an automatic response. By the time an actual situation unfolds itself, they’ve practiced enough that everything will go smoothly.

Step 5 – Take These Quick Actions to Get Started Today

In this article, we’ve looked at how you can start putting together a disaster recovery plan that works for your business. In the next piece, we’ll discuss the key technology that makes resilience possible. Before you can do that, you need to know what systems are critical to your operations, how you can prioritize them, and what to do when the worst-case scenario happens.

• Get executive buy-in to create a disaster recovery plan.
• Perform a thorough review of business-critical systems to understand how they could be impacted.
• Prioritize what you need to get up and running first.
• Test your plan before you find yourself in a real-life situation.
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Business Continuity Plan

Business Continuity Planning Process Diagram - Text Version

When business is disrupted, it can cost money. Lost revenues plus extra expenses means reduced profits. Insurance does not cover all costs and cannot replace customers that defect to the competition. A business continuity plan to continue business is essential. Development of a business continuity plan includes four steps:

• Conduct a business impact analysis to identify time-sensitive or critical business functions and processes and the resources that support them.
• Identify, document, and implement to recover critical business functions and processes.
• Organize a business continuity team and compile a business continuity plan to manage a business disruption.
• Conduct training for the business continuity team and testing and exercises to evaluate recovery strategies and the plan.

Information technology (IT) includes many components such as networks, servers, desktop and laptop computers and wireless devices. The ability to run both office productivity and enterprise software is critical. Therefore, recovery strategies for information technology should be developed so technology can be restored in time to meet the needs of the business. Manual workarounds should be part of the IT plan so business can continue while computer systems are being restored.

Resources for Business Continuity Planning 

• Standard on Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs - National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1600
• Professional Practices for Business Continuity Professionals - DRI International (non-profit business continuity education and certification body)
• Continuity Guidance Circular - Federal Emergency Management Agency
• Open for Business® Toolkit - Institute for Business & Home Safety

Business Continuity Impact Analysis

Business continuity impact analysis identifies the effects resulting from disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.

The Operational & Financial Impacts worksheet  can be used to capture this information as discussed in Business Impact Analysis . The worksheet should be completed by business function and process managers with sufficient knowledge of the business. Once all worksheets are completed, the worksheets can be tabulated to summarize:

• the operational and financial impacts resulting from the loss of individual business functions and process
• the point in time when loss of a function or process would result in the identified business impacts

Those functions or processes with the highest potential operational and financial impacts become priorities for restoration. The point in time when a function or process must be recovered, before unacceptable consequences could occur, is often referred to as the “Recovery Time Objective.”

Resource Required to Support Recovery Strategies

Recovery of a critical or time-sensitive process requires resources. The Business Continuity Resource Requirements worksheet should be completed by business function and process managers. Completed worksheets are used to determine the resource requirements for recovery strategies.

Following an incident that disrupts business operations, resources will be needed to carry out recovery strategies and to restore normal business operations. Resources can come from within the business or be provided by third parties. Resources include:

• Office space, furniture and equipment
• Technology (computers, peripherals, communication equipment, software and data)
• Vital records (electronic and hard copy)
• Production facilities, machinery and equipment
• Inventory including raw materials, finished goods and goods in production.
• Utilities (power, natural gas, water, sewer, telephone, internet, wireless)
• Third party services

Since all resources cannot be replaced immediately following a loss, managers should estimate the resources that will be needed in the hours, days and weeks following an incident.

Conducting the Business Continuity Impact Analysis

The worksheets Operational and Financial Impacts  and Business Continuity Resource Requirements should be distributed to business process managers along with instructions about the process and how the information will be used. After all managers have completed their worksheets, information should be reviewed. Gaps or inconsistencies should be identified. Meetings with individual managers should be held to clarify information and obtain missing information.

After all worksheets have been completed and validated, the priorities for restoration of business processes should be identified. Primary and dependent resource requirements should also be identified. This information will be used to develop recovery strategies.

Recovery Strategies

If a facility is damaged, production machinery breaks down, a supplier fails to deliver or information technology is disrupted, business is impacted and the financial losses can begin to grow. Recovery strategies are alternate means to restore business operations to a minimum acceptable level following a business disruption and are prioritized by the recovery time objectives (RTO) developed during the business impact analysis .

Recovery strategies require resources including people, facilities, equipment, materials and information technology. An analysis of the resources required to execute recovery strategies should be conducted to identify gaps. For example, if a machine fails but other machines are readily available to make up lost production, then there is no resource gap. However, if all machines are lost due to a flood, and insufficient undamaged inventory is available to meet customer demand until production is restored, production might be made up by machines at another facility—whether owned or contracted.

Strategies may involve contracting with third parties, entering into partnership or reciprocal agreements or displacing other activities within the company. Staff with in-depth knowledge of business functions and processes are in the best position to determine what will work. Possible alternatives should be explored and presented to management for approval and to decide how much to spend.

Depending upon the size of the company and resources available, there may be many recovery strategies that can be explored.

Utilization of other owned or controlled facilities performing similar work is one option. Operations may be relocated to an alternate site - assuming both are not impacted by the same incident. This strategy also assumes that the surviving site has the resources and capacity to assume the work of the impacted site. Prioritization of production or service levels, providing additional staff and resources and other action would be needed if capacity at the second site is inadequate.

Telecommuting is a strategy employed when staff can work from home through remote connectivity. It can be used in combination with other strategies to reduce alternate site requirements. This strategy requires ensuring telecommuters have a suitable home work environment and are equipped with or have access to a computer with required applications and data, peripherals, and a secure broadband connection.

In an emergency, space at another facility can be put to use. Cafeterias, conference rooms and training rooms can be converted to office space or to other uses when needed. Equipping converted space with furnishings, equipment, power, connectivity and other resources would be required to meet the needs of workers.

Partnership or reciprocal agreements can be arranged with other businesses or organizations that can support each other in the event of a disaster. Assuming space is available, issues such as the capacity and connectivity of telecommunications and information technology, protection of privacy and intellectual property, the impacts to each other’s operation and allocating expenses must be addressed. Agreements should be negotiated in writing and documented in the business continuity plan. Periodic review of the agreement is needed to determine if there is a change in the ability of each party to support the other.

There are many vendors that support business continuity and information technology recovery strategies. External suppliers can provide a full business environment including office space and live data centers ready to be occupied. Other options include provision of technology equipped office trailers, replacement machinery and other equipment. The availability and cost of these options can be affected when a regional disaster results in competition for these resources.

There are multiple strategies for recovery of manufacturing operations. Many of these strategies include use of existing owned or leased facilities. Manufacturing strategies include:

• Shifting production from one facility to another
• Increasing manufacturing output at operational facilities
• Retooling production from one item to another
• Prioritization of production—by profit margin or customer relationship
• Maintaining higher raw materials or finished goods inventory
• Reallocating existing inventory, repurchase or buyback of inventory
• Limiting orders (e.g., maximum order size or unit quantity)
• Contracting with third parties
• Purchasing business interruption insurance

There are many factors to consider in manufacturing recovery strategies:

• Will a facility be available when needed?
• How much time will it take to shift production from one product to another?
• How much will it cost to shift production from one product to another?
• How much revenue would be lost when displacing other production?
• How much extra time will it take to receive raw materials or ship finished goods to customers? Will the extra time impact customer relationships?
• Are there any regulations that would restrict shifting production?
• What quality issues could arise if production is shifted or outsourced?
• Are there any long-term consequences associated with a strategy?

Resources for Developing Recovery Strategies

• The Telework Coalition (America’s leading nonprofit telework education and advocacy organization)

Manual Workarounds

Telephones are ringing and customer service staff is busy talking with customers and keying orders into the computer system. The electronic order entry system checks available inventory, processes payments and routes orders to the distribution center for fulfillment. Suddenly the order entry system goes down. What should the customer service staff do now? If the staff is equipped with paper order forms, order processing can continue until the electronic system comes back up and no phone orders will be lost.

The order forms and procedures for using them are examples of “manual workarounds.” These workarounds are recovery strategies for use when information technology resources are not available.

Developing Manual Workarounds

Identify the steps in the automated process - creating a diagram of the process can help. Consider the following aspects of information and work flow:

Internal Interfaces (department, person, activity and resource requirements)

• External Interfaces (company, contact person, activity and resource requirements)
• Tasks (in sequential order)
• Manual intervention points

Create data collection forms to capture information and define processes for manual handling of the information collected. Establish control logs to document transactions and track their progress through the manual system.

Manual workarounds require manual labor, so you may need to reassign staff or bring in temporary assistance.

Last Updated: 05/26/2021

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Small Business Disaster Recovery Plan Template

What is a Small Business Disaster Recovery Plan?

A small business disaster recovery plan is a comprehensive set of strategies, policies, and procedures that help small businesses and startups prepare for and respond to disasters. It allows the business to maintain operations by minimizing the impact of events such as hurricanes, floods, fires, and other natural disasters. Having a plan in place is critical for any small business to ensure that it can continue to operate as normal, even in the face of a disaster.

What's included in this Small Business Disaster Recovery Plan template?

• 3 focus areas
• 6 objectives

Each focus area has its own objectives, projects, and KPIs to ensure that the strategy is comprehensive and effective.

Who is the Small Business Disaster Recovery Plan template for?

This Small Business Disaster Recovery Plan template is designed for small business owners and managers who are looking to plan and prepare for disasters and emergencies. It will help them to create a comprehensive plan that will help them to identify risks, develop strategies to mitigate those risks, and provide guidance to ensure that the business can continue to operate in the face of disaster.

1. Define clear examples of your focus areas

Focus areas are the main categories that you can use to organize your disaster recovery plan. Examples of focus areas may include areas such as Disaster Recovery, Business Continuity, Employee Safety, Technology, and Operations. These focus areas will help you to organize your plan and to ensure that all areas of your business are covered.

2. Think about the objectives that could fall under that focus area

Objectives are the goals that you want to achieve within each focus area. These should be specific and measurable and should be linked to the overall goal of the business. Examples of objectives may include developing a disaster recovery plan, implementing a disaster recovery plan, establishing safety protocols, and implementing business continuity plans.

3. Set measurable targets (KPIs) to tackle the objective

KPIs, or Key Performance Indicators, are measurable targets that you can use to track success and progress towards an objective. These should be measurable and should be linked to the overall goal of the business. Examples of KPIs may include the number of disaster recovery plans developed, the number of safety protocols implemented, and the number of business continuity plans implemented.

4. Implement related projects to achieve the KPIs

Projects, or actions, are the steps that you will take to achieve each KPI. These should be specific, measurable, and achievable and should be linked to the overall goal of the business. Examples of projects may include creating a strategic plan to prepare for disaster, establishing and documenting a disaster recovery plan, and establishing and documenting safety protocols.

5. Utilize Cascade Strategy Execution Platform to see faster results from your strategy

Cascade is a Strategy Execution Platform that helps businesses to plan, track, and measure the success of their strategies. With Cascade, you can easily create a disaster recovery plan, set measurable targets, and track progress towards your objectives. Cascade helps you to make sure that your disaster recovery plan is on track and that your business is prepared for any disaster or emergency.

• Business plans

Develop an emergency management plan

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Why you need an emergency management plan

• Download our emergency management and recovery plan template

Develop your emergency management plan

In Australia, natural disasters such as floods, fire and even earthquakes can strike without warning. During an emergency, your main aim is to ensure your business continues operating. By carefully researching and planning before an emergency happens, you’ll be ready to act quickly and effectively.

Our emergency management plan template includes 3 plans to help you before, during and after an emergency:

• The continuity plan – helps you prepare your business for an emergency by identifying risks to critical areas and how to best protect them.
• The emergency action plan – helps you and your staff know what to do during an emergency situation.
• The recovery plan – guides your business’s recovery after an emergency.

Download our emergency management plan template

Our template guides you through the process of creating a solid, well-structured emergency management plan that's tailored to your business.

Emergency management and recovery plan template

Our template steps you through the process of creating your plan with links to extra information if you need it.

You may want to check out our tips below before you start.

1. Understand the plan sections

Prepare your continuity plan.

To prepare your business for an emergency, identify critical areas of your business and ways to protect them. Consider the following important areas of your business.

Products or services

List your most important or most profitable products or services. Describe current arrangements to provide each one and what you’d do if these arrangements failed – your back up options for an emergency.

Key customers

List important customers and how you’d contact them in an emergency to tell them what has happened.

Record the insurance policies you currently hold to cover your business risks.

Visit Insurance for more information.

Property and infrastructure

Record how you make your property infrastructure less vulnerable to damage. Is your property secured with alarms, security personnel or video surveillance from unlawful entry? Do you have fire retardant or flood resistant building materials? Are leaf litter, grass and gutters maintained regularly to minimise fire risk?

Business continuity strategies

Identify temporary office accommodation you could quickly access in an emergency situation. Record other strategies you’ll consider to help maintain business as usual. For example, a virtual office service, an e-commerce website or e-marketplace. Visit Buying and selling online for more information.

Staff training

List your staff, their relevant skills and strengths, and any cross-training requirements that would help you to continue business in an emergency.

Information backup

Record how you protect your business information such as customer records, financial records and contact lists. Explain your back up procedures.

Prepare your emergency action plan

You should include the following in the emergency action plan.

Emergency contacts

List your local emergency services numbers and any additional contacts you'll need to phone in an emergency. These should include the local state emergency, police, fire and ambulance services.

Emergency procedures

Briefly outline your emergency evacuation procedures. It may be useful to attach a copy of your detailed emergency procedures and floor plan with the location of emergency exits, emergency kit and safety equipment clearly marked.

Provide a schedule for emergency evacuation drills.

Emergency kit

Record where your emergency kit is located or stored. Make sure:

• your staff know where it is
• it's clearly visible and labelled.

List the contents of your emergency kit and the date each item was last checked.

Emergency team roles and responsibilities

Communication is essential when making emergency planning procedures. Consider allocating a person/people to be responsible for any emergency situation. Set clear roles and responsibilities and provide appropriate training.

Prepare your recovery plan

Complete this section after an emergency happens. You should include the following in the recovery section of an emergency management plan.

Business impact assessment

Assess the damage to your business. List the main damage, its impact on your business, and what you’re going to do about it. Assign responsibility for any tasks you've identified.

Recovery contacts

List all of the organisations or people that will be essential to the recovery of your business.

Insurance claims

List any insurance policies you have claimed for and record discussions you have with insurers about your claims.

Market assessment

Based on your assessment of the damage to your business and/or surrounding area, list any areas of your market that have changed.

Marketing strategy

Detail your marketing strategy after the emergency. If your business is reopening, how will you get the message out? What channels will you use to target customers? Make sure you consider any changes in the market.

For example, you might consider a targeted marketing effort (such as a social media campaign) to let people know your business is reopening.

2. Prepare your supporting documentation

After you‘ve completed your continuity, action and recovery plans, list and attach copies of supporting documentation, such as:

• detailed emergency procedures
• evacuation maps
• insurance information.

3. Review your emergency management plan

Regularly review your emergency management and recovery plan. It's also important to update your plan each time your staff change, or if you move to a new business location.

Practice your emergency action plan with your staff. You may find there are things missing or steps you need to change. This is your opportunity to make sure your emergency procedures are as efficient as possible.

If you’re in an emergency situation, check our page on what to do in an emergency.

Learn more about preparing your business for an emergency..

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