Plan for the risks most likely to affect your business
Emergency planning allows you to respond to the events that are most likely to affect your business — such as natural disasters, health emergencies or utility failures.
An emergency plan identifies your biggest risks and describes how your business will respond in an emergency.
An effective plan will use staff input and involve regular drills. It will also be flexible, because even the best plans may be disrupted in an unpredictable emergency.
Planning how your business will respond to emergencies is worthwhile — even if you never have to use your emergency plan.
Planning can:
- save lives, prevent harm and protect property
- give you confidence and peace of mind
- minimise disruption and speed up recovery.
Protect your business with insurance
Insuring your business against relevant risks needs to be part of your emergency planning. If an emergency affects your business, insurance will make the recovery easier and more affordable.
When you buy insurance, you pay premiums in exchange for cover. The cost will depend on the kind of insurance cover, and the size of your business.
In return, the insurance company will help get your business back on its feet after an emergency. For example, insurance may:
- pay for repairs or rebuilds
- organise replacement gear
- cover your lost income.
Knowing you’re covered will give you peace of mind and take a lot of the stress out of an emergency. It also provides security for your employees and customers.
Even if you’re a sole trader or contractor, it makes good business sense to get insurance. Talk to an insurance broker about the kinds of policies that might work for you.
Get back up and running after an emergency
Business continuity planning shifts focus from an active emergency to the next phase — recovery.
It can also be called “contingency planning”, which means having a backup plan in case things go wrong. Think of it like a plan B for your business.
Small businesses can be vulnerable to the disruption of an emergency. Your business continuity plan will help you stay afloat through disruption and get back up to speed faster.
Other benefits include:
- showing investors your business is reliable
- giving your staff confidence
- helping you negotiate lower insurance premiums.
What's next
Health and safety
Intellectual property
IT risks and scams
Understanding customer complaints
Premises and assets
Operations strategy
Running a sustainable business
Manufacturing
Importing
Exporting