Legal advice: Emergency planning
It has been a tough month for many businesses and individuals affected by the torrential rain and floods that have covered wide areas of the country. Many will be facing losing homes, businesses and possessions, and I'm sure all will be experiencing bewilderment, frustration, anger, despondency and despair.
My thoughts go out to everyone facing such testing times and I wish everyone well.
But it's got me thinking, and so should it all of us - there but for the grace…
How can we be prepared for these emergencies? What should we be doing? I wrote a short article in the May 14 issue of The Publican about business continuity plans (see link, right) - I wonder how many people read it and did anything regarding their own business? Perhaps there are many people who have escaped the catastrophic effects of the floods because they did consider some emergency planning, business continuity or crisis management and have been able to put their plans into operation.
The maxim 'a business which fails to plan is planning to fail' is never truer than when considering a crisis. A well thought-out business continuity plan will enable you to remain focused and organised in any emergency situation - you'll know what to do when, why and how, and you, your family and your business will benefit.
It is never too late to plan
Think about some generic challenges to business continuity, such as:
- floods
- drought
- large-scale temporary loss of staff
- permanent or long-term loss of staff
- denial of site or geographical area, that is, not being able to get into your building, street or town
- loss of mains electricity
- disruption to transport
- loss of mains water and sewerage
- loss of availability of fuel and oil
- loss of telephone, mobile telephone and computer communications.
Any one of these can create a crisis for a business. But put some or all of these factors together - as has happened in the flooding crisis - and it becomes a really testing time.
To be properly prepared for a crisis you need to think through all the scenarios listed above plus fire, building collapse, explosion, terrorism, fatal accidents, major food poisoning outbreaks etc.
What would you do if any of them affected your business? How would you keep trading?
How would you communicate with staff, customers and suppliers? Who would be making the decisions if you were incapacitated?
If your staff telephone numbers are kept in the office filing cabinet and you can't gain access how will you contact everyone? What about important documentation such as insurance policies and contact details? If you can't get at the information, how will you call the insurer to make your claim?
Some simple advice
- Anything is possible; if it can happen it probably will
- It doesn't only happen to other people
- Being prepared will make a difference.
Make a note of it
- Buy a notebook and record such things as:
- Staff contact details
- Insurance company details, including policy numbers
- Banking details
- Supplier details
- Most important asset and equipment details
- A list of things to do in an emergency
- A list of tradesmen
- A list of local support services (for example, offices to where you could transfer your phone number).
Don't keep the notebook on the premises - keep it at home or give it to a trusted relative, friend or employee to keep safe so that it will be easy to get hold of.
If you have a large organisation you will need a well thought-out plan. We devised and then tested such a plan for a client of ours - it was put into action only one month later as a result of the terrorist incidents in Central London and Glasgow.
We have an email from them which reads: 'Thank you - if you hadn't completed our emergency response plan and tested it out for us, we would not have responded as we did in such a real-life emergency crisis.'
If you need help - do call us!
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Pat Perry is executive chairman of Perry Scott Nash Associates, an environmental health consultancy specialising in health & safety, food safety, fire safety, disability discrimination and other legal compliance issues. It has a wide client base in the hospitality industry and can help with audits, policies, enforcement and legal issues, special projects, trading standards etc.
Contact Perry Scott Nash on 01438 745771 or use the links on the right.
