Preparing for the next disaster

By Nannette Jolivette and Patrick J. Paul

In the aftermath of 2005's tragic hurricane season it became apparent that disaster preparedness needed improvement and thus spawned a wave of reflection on how better planning might have mollified the severe economic and human impact of the most recent hurricane season. More particularly, on Jan. 6 the State of Florida outlined a $565 million budget recommendation for emergency preparedness designed to establish a "Culture of Preparedness." We advocate the same culture of preparedness.

Those businesses that suffered the least during last year's hurricane season attribute their staying power in part to strong supply chain and logistical planning. Although no business can fully plan for defense against all contingent disasters, these minimal advance planning steps should be considered.

The following briefly summarizes certain lessons learned and offers suggestions for how businesses may be better prepared for the next wave of catastrophic events.

Establish a disaster team and plan. In order to be better prepared for future disasters, companies must establish a Disaster Team and clearly identify its functions. This team should analyze your company's vulnerability and hazards and develop a plan to respond to future catastrophes.

Once developed, this plan should be distributed to management personnel and reviewed at least annually to make adjustments to allow for changes in your company's business model as well as to include lessons from most recent catastrophes elsewhere.

The Disaster Team should evaluate the current preparedness of your company and identify those critical services, products, operations and external resources vital to the continued functionality of the business in future disasters. Among other things, the Disaster Team should identify and review internal plans and policies, list potential emergencies and identify both internal and external resources and capabilities.

Elements of a successful emergency management plan. Critical elements of an effective emergency management plan include personnel training, clear communications procedures, life safety education and planning, security measures designed to protect work-product and property, and regular insurance evaluation to ensure maintenance of the most appropriate policies.

Develop and maintain proximate business locations. As a general rule, Dorothy from "The Wizard of Oz" appears to have it right - "be it ever so humble there is no place like home." Developing and maintaining a proximate business location when one's home or place of business has been destroyed is a challenge. However, the challenge is manageable if you prepare in advance to open or expand an office in the city physically closest to the disaster-impacted city.

As a general rule, employees and customers are creatures of habit and prefer similar environments. Thus in the event of necessary relocation, by maintaining operations as close as possible to the impacted area and surrounding employees and customers with a workplace and communication system consistent with that which existed pre-disaster, efficiencies can be greatly improved. In the wake of Katrina and Rita, it became clear that most persons desired to work as close as possible to their homes, making the closest city, Baton Rouge, the most desired.

Create and implement alternatives to obtaining supply and satisfying demand. Many businesses literally "froze" during the most recent hurricane season >> and were unable to obtain necessary products and/or to meet the increased (or ordinary) demands of their customers. Some, however, had established contingency plans and although slowed were able to continue business-as-usual. For example, businesses that were prepared to shift port operations from the Gulf to alternative locations unaffected by the storms were "up and running" more quickly than those that floundered without adequate alternative plans.

Communication. Normal communications are often eviscerated in the wake of a disaster, therefore companies should establish and publish an Internet link or call-in telephone number outside the area code of the disaster area for both employees and customers to call into in the event of a disaster. The alternative area codes should be utilized to address the situation of downed ineffective communications in the area code(s) of the disaster's epicenter. Additionally, employees should be required to provide a land-line telephone number of a relative or friend who is located out of state and who will know how that person may be reached after the disaster.

Computer preparedness. Because computer servers in the disaster-impacted area may be destroyed or rendered inoperable, no emergency plan would be complete without ensuring the existence and maintenance of an independent server in another city. More particularly, a plan should be developed to retrieve hard files. If time permits, crucial hard files should be packed and carried out prior to the onset of the expected disaster. If time does not permit, consider boxing those files in locations away from windows where damage might be more readily anticipated.

In the wake of the disaster, ensure that your company's information technology personnel maintain and update either modifications to the company's existing Web site and/or a new link with disaster updates and effective communication on how service providers can be reached and a timeline for the continued provision of services.

Adaptation. As noted above, no plan can plan for every contingency. Thus it is critical to maintain maximum flexibility and to adapt to unanticipated consequences after the disaster. Customers, clients and even competitors will understand and sympathize with your company's predicament. Working through those issues may serve to strengthen the bond of trust between you.