Small Business Emergency Preparedness Checklist

As a small business owner, you should be aware and be prepared for emergencies that could affect your business. A solid emergency plan can give you peace of mind and a greater sense of security.

• Make a list of the vulnerabilities and potential types of disasters (fire, flood, tornado, etc) that can occur and how your business would respond differently to being displaced for a week, a month, or longer
• Determine alternate locations for your business to operate if you are displaced from your current building
• Create and maintain an inventory of property
• Read your insurance policies carefully. Read the fine print so you know what is and is not covered
• Have an emergency preparedness kit ready
• Identify essential staff who are core to the operations of the business and keep a list of their phone numbers (home, work, pager, cell) and e-mail addresses that can be accessed by employees from several locations (home, Internet, etc.)
• Devise an emergency communications plan that outlines how your business will communicate with employees, customers, vendors and other key external contacts in the days following a disaster. Keep duplicates of personnel, payroll, payables and receivables and other essential records at an off-site location
• Determine who will manage the company if key leaders are unavailable

What other checklist items do you recommend?