Natural Disaster Preparedness for your Business

3/30/2022 (Permalink)

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) states that around 40 percent of small businesses fail to reopen after being hit by a natural disaster. In Kansas, our weather is unpredictable and since we experience all four seasons there are even more opportunities for natural disasters of all kinds to affect our homes and businesses. While reopening a business after enduring a natural disaster is challenging and serious, there are precautions business owners can take to help keep their businesses up and running. 

Using a cloud-based storage system: 

When a flood, tornado, or fire hits, paper copies of insurance policies, invoices, contracts, and even tax documents can get lost or destroyed. Having those critical documents backed up can give you one less thing to worry about during the stress of a natural disaster.  

Create plans for your employees, vendors, and customers: 

SERVPRO of Northeast Wichita offers your business an emergency ready plan, this plan highlights some of the biggest security and safety concerns in your business and allows you to take steps to avoid them altogether. These plans show where the water, sprinkler or gas shut offs are so anyone at your business can have access to that information.  

Run Multiple Drills: 

Practicing an emergency response could save a business thousands of dollars and be the determining factor between a successful recovery and failure to reopen.  

An emergency caused by a natural disaster can be hard to prep for, much less manage. Having steps in place to follow can help eliminate the unknown. SERVPRO of Northeast Wichita can handle any size disaster and has over 1,700 franchises we can call on for back up. Give us a call before disaster strikes and we will create your emergency ready plan as a free service to you and your business. 

Review your Insurance Coverage 

It is good practice to meet with your insurance agent to look into what your current coverage is and what gaps there might be. For example, having business disruption insurance can be invaluable if a disaster is so severe it interferes with your business's ability to operate. Or being underinsured may mean that valuable capital that your business needs to operate might not be able to be restored or replaced in the event of a disaster.

An emergency caused by a natural disaster can be hard to prep for, much less manage. Having steps in place to follow can help eliminate the unknown. SERVPRO of Northeast Wichita can handle any size disaster and has over 1,700 franchises we can call on for back up. Give us a call before disaster strikes and we will create your emergency ready plan as a free service to you and your business.