Mother Nature has been on a rampage for the past couple of months. A series of disasters hit the Gulf Coast, central Mexico, and the Caribbean, leaving devastation and death behind.
With all the disasters occurring, now is an excellent time to consider preparing your earthquake resiliency plan. Since major earthquakes occur in Southern California at an extremely low frequency, it is easy to take the situation for granted and procrastinate on preparation. The last time the region experienced “The Big One” was in 1994 with the Northridge earthquake. However, various news outlets, including The Weather Channel, CNBC, and Newsweek, are reporting that the region is due for a major earthquake.
Earthquakes can strike at any time and can cause severe destruction to your business including injury and/or death within your workforce, broken equipment, and damaged facilities. In turn, these events lead to interruptions in your operations including:
- Service and communication breakdowns
- Lost earnings
- Paying costs insurance does not cover
- Unavailability of employee skill sets
What should you do to prepare for an earthquake?
- Build a disaster supply kit with water, food, a first aid kit, flashlights, and more. A comprehensive list of recommended kit supplies is listed on Ready.gov.
- Secure hazard areas. Repair weaknesses in your office building. Also, make sure to secure bookshelves, desks, cabinets, computers, and lamps to a stable surface. Furthermore, move heavy items on lower shelves and clear boxes away from the exits.
- Conduct periodic earthquake drills. Employees should practice going to a safe area, such as under a desk, then perform the drop, cover, and hold-on movement. Afterward, they should go to a designated emergency exit and be sure to use the stairs instead of the elevator, if applicable.
Also, we recommend creating a disaster response plan that includes:
- Performing a risk assessment to determine your readiness for an earthquake.
- Being able to access employee, payroll, and customer vital data. Store paper documents in fire and waterproof containers. Also, back up electronic documents to the cloud.
- Setting up alternate plans for running critical business functions, including sales, billing, customer support, and employee operations.
- Ensuring employees can have timely access to a temporary office location, laptops, and software. These plans should also include special arrangements for those with disabilities.
- Assigning decision-making roles in the absence of key members of your management team.
- Keeping a list of contacts to call on to fix any service operation interruptions, including property management, utility companies, and any other providers, including SwiftTech Solutions.
- Keeping a list of customer contacts to notify of any impacts on product or service delivery.
We can help your company with earthquake preparation with our business continuity services, which include:
- Business Impact Analysis
- Disaster Recovery Plan
- Business Resumption Plan
- Business Recovery Plan
- Contingency Plan
For more information about our disaster recovery services, please contact SwiftTech Solutions at 877-794-3811 or email info@swifttechsolutions.com.