Your business should not be put on the back-burner when instituting an emergency preparedness plan.
If you are responsible for employees, it is your job to make sure your staff members are equipped with the knowledge and capabilities to protect themselves in the face of a natural or man-made disaster. Simply knowing what to do won’t cut it. Your employees need regular training and reminders of standard operating procedures related to your company’s emergency plan.
Why Test Your Plan?
Putting your plan to the test will help you find out if it is ready to stand up to a high-stress emergency. Don’t think of your test in terms of pass or fail, but focus on improving your plan piece by piece for a more effective comprehensive program. There may be simple fixes you are overlooking that can make your plan a bit more stable, which can make all of the difference in a dangerous situation.
How to Test Your Plan
Testing doesn’t have to mean full-blown exercises in which you simulate every possible emergency situation. You have a business to run, and putting that much time into executing “mock” disasters probably isn’t an effective use of time.
Set brief, regular meetings instead. Elicit feedback from your staff to improve you plans, while continually reinforcing their knowledge of procedures, systems and equipment.
Keeping an open dialogue on emergency planning also can make sure everyone is on the same page.
Are You Ready?
Ready Rating is a free American Red Cross service that helps businesses, schools and organizations become prepared for disasters. Members of the program are privy to extensive resources, tools and expert advice that can help them improve their ability to withstand disaster while maintaining operations and keeping their employees and customer safe.
Click here for more information about Ready Rating.