As Hurricane Earl, a category 3 storm, is predicted to make landfall, Office Depot – a global provider of office products and services – is urging small businesses along the mid-Atlantic coastline to get prepared.
Hurricane Earl is predicted to pass within 50 miles of the Outer Banks of North Carolina early Friday morning, according to the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration. It is the second major hurricane of the 2010 Atlantic season, which experts are predicting to be average, prompting the urgency for timely and thorough preparation of both home and business.
While the most important step in hurricane preparation is to ensure the safety of family and friends, business owners also need to protect their organization and property in order to bring operations up-to-speed as quickly as possible after the storm. Not only is valuable data and property at risk, but also the ability to financially support employees who might not have the ability to endure a lapse in pay due to the storm.
"Heed the advance storm warnings and protect your most important assets: your people and your data," says Bill Gavin, director of global business continuity for Office Depot. "There are simple and affordable steps you can take to protect your business now."
Before a storm, Gavin advises small businesses to take the following steps:
Protect Your People
•Build solid contact lists. Include names and phone numbers of employees, vendors and emergency agencies. Have contact lists stored both inside and outside the salon office and perhaps kept in the possession of two or more trusted managers or staff members.
•Establish emergency communications procedures.
•Organize supplies. Ensure you have sufficient water, food and janitorial products, and that your business has access to cash, generators, batteries and flashlights. Even if a power outage keeps you from operating your tanning equipment, you still want to be prepared to enter the salon to handle any necessary clean-up or troubleshooting.
•Provide employee assistance if possible. Train at least one staff member in CPR and first-aid and, if possible, prepare family disaster kits and alternative family housing.
Protect Your Data
•Make sure your computerized data is safe from the harm of potential outages. Copy electronic data to a USB memory stick, CD-ROM or DVD-R using your PC's optical drive to help the salon to be capable of rebounding faster. Hopefully you have a daily data-protection system in place; however, special precaution should be taken when a natural disaster is looming.
According to The Hartford Financial Services Group, more than 40 percent of businesses that experience a disaster and have no emergency plan never reopen, and of those that do reopen, only 29 percent are still operating two years later.
"If you are a small-business owner, you can't afford not to be prepared," Gavin charges. For more information, and to download Office Depot's free brochure titled, “Expecting the Unexpected: Disaster Preparedness Strategies for Small Business,” visit www.officedepot.com/getprepared.
