This is part 2 of our blog posts on creating emergency plans for your business, inspired by an Emergency Preparedness presentation that I gave for the Business Bootcamp at the Arvada Chamber of Commerce. You can view Part 1 here.
In the first post, we discussed the first step of your emergency plan: collecting your 3 W’s so that you can get the outline for your emergency plan together. Now it is time to craft the actual plan with the team you have gathered. This is the strategy for drafting
Despite the differences in emergencies, all emergencies can be broken down into 4 key stages: (1) Notification; (2) Stop the bleeding; (3) Main Response; (4) Regroup.
In the notification stage, you’re going back to your “Who” from Part 1. This section should include how to notify all of the directly affected individuals and key response team members, along with up-to-date contact information. If teams are not going to be in the same place when you notify them, consider that in crafting how to notify individuals. You should also consider both standard methods of communication and backup methods, particularly if your emergency involves a communication outage. For example, email might be the normal means of communication, but may not be an option if the emergency is related to a data breach. A phone tree may be a good way to communicate, but not in an active shooter situation where quiet is key.
Once the notification process has been set in place, it is time to Stop the Bleeding. Ideally, one person would be responsible for notification and a different person would stop the bleeding. However, sometimes you have to notify the person who is responsible for stopping the bleeding – in a data breach, the owner may not be able to shut off a hacker’s access to the account, but IT would. The “Stop the Bleeding” stage is code for halting the immediate emergency – when applicable and possible. If there is a grease fire in the kitchen, putting out the fire falls in this stage. If an employee is in an accident, getting that employee medical attention is first priority. If money has been taken from the company account, calling the bank and freezing the account should be the first step. Most of this is instinctual, but it can be helpful for this to be one person’s job with an understanding of the very basic steps and information for stopping said bleeding (like where the local hospital is or the numbers for the contact at the bank).
After the immediate emergency has been dealt with, you are now in Response phase. This is often the longest part of an emergency plan. The emergency is still ongoing – you still have a burnt kitchen, are down an employee, or have no more money in your account. Now your team that should be able to get you back into action should do their work. This might be your insurance agent, who can get a restoration company on the line. This might be you going to your employee’s password list, which they have left for you in a secure place. This might be working with the bank or calling the police.
The Regroup phase follows the Response phase. In many emergencies, there is a long chain of Response-Regroup-Response-Regroup before the emergency is finally resolved. Primarily, this phase is for having the response team update the full team and then determining the next response, either according to your plan or as the situation unfolds. The Regroup phase is also when you may need to contact those who will be indirectly affected, to reschedule, check-in, or let them know you have things under control. Do note that in some emergencies (like a data breach), there are time limits in which you need to determine whether notification is necessary and then notify – that should be incorporated into your emergency plan. You will know your final regroup phase is completed when there is no further response that is necessary.
The benefit of putting a response plan in place before this happens is three-fold: (1) if you have spoken with your team in putting the plan in place, you can be sure that tasks are done in the correct order, saving time and money (for example, if you call a restoration team before insurance is involved, will they pay for it?); (2) if you are the employee or owner who is directly affected, you haven’t left others to hunt everything down themselves, increasing response time and effectiveness; and (3) it can have a beneficial anxiety-reducing effect, especially for people who don’t handle unexpected situations well.
Despite having good W’s and a good 4-step plan, unexpected events can still arise. The back of the emergency plan should contain a page or two, written in FAQ-style, of “What Could Go Wrong” and one-liners on how to deal with that. For example, if the passwords are not where the employee said they were or one is out of date. Perhaps an administrative override is possible or a family member may need to be contacted. If it takes more than two weeks to recover the funds, a quick personal loan from an owner may need to be in order or calls to the vendors who have expenses due may do the trick. Sometimes, the question may just be “Call the Attorney” or “Call human resources” and to trust that professional to help with the issue. If that is the case, make sure their contact information is in fact available.
Once your full plan is done, “What Could Go Wrong” questions included, make sure that all relevant team members have access to the plan, can read it, and can update it if things change. Plans should be reviewed at a minimum on an annual basis to make sure that they are not outdated. If backups need to be with offsite team members, it’s best to let them know when the updates are made as well.
With this in mind, you should be ready to tackle your worst, yet still potential, emergencies.
Want help in creating an emergency response plan? Feel free to reach out to us at admin@lawpolaris.com to schedule a complimentary initial consult.
