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By Kitty Boyce
After witnessing the horrible devastation of Hurricane Katrina on TV, I
really began to think about the kinds of things that could happen to my business
to shut it down or possibly put me out of business.
The newspaper said that the government will help these businesses rebuild but
they must have business records. What happens if you don’t have the right ones?
It scares me to think of what would happen.
I contacted our area Red Cross office and joined their Business Emergency
Planning Alliance. They present programs once a month on being prepared for
different kinds of emergencies and provided me with a wonderful manual to help
get my store ship-shape.
The first thing in getting prepared is to develop a written plan. Some
suggestions from the Red Cross in writing your plan include:
Keep phone lists of your employees with you and provide copies to key staff
members.
Arrange for programmable call forwarding for your main business line.
Provide a key employee with keys and alarm codes in case you are not able
to get into the store quickly.
Install emergency lights that turn on when the power goes out.
Back up computer data every day and keep a copy off-site. If you have to
flee, as in the case of a hurricane, take a copy with you.
Use UL-listed surge protectors and battery back-up systems to protect
computers from crashing during a power outage.
Keep a NOAA weather radio with a tone alert feature turned on when there
is a threat of severe weather.
Stock a minimum supply of materials and equipment you would need to
continue business.
Consult with your insurance agent about precautions you can take for
disasters that may affect your part of the country. Remember, most policies
do not cover earthquake or flood damage. Be sure to discuss business
continuation insurance.
Keep emergency supplies like flashlights with extra batteries, first aid
kit, tools, dry food and water handy.
Put together an emergency kit of sensitive business documents so when a
disaster strikes, you can go to one place for them quickly.
Even if you don’t live in a hurricane
prone area, disasters of many kinds can strike any of us. Chemical tanker trucks
can turn over on a road; floods of many kinds can strike; power outages,
brown-outs, or surges can affect daily business operations; wind storms,
tornadoes, or earthquakes can strike quickly and with little or no warning.
Don’t think it can’t happen to you. It can!
Kitty
Boyce, NARTS Vice President, owns The Kids Closet in
Rochester, IL. Kitty has
been in business for
fourteen years and her store is the largest children's resale
store in Illinois.
 
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