Create an Action Plan

Exercise your plan. At least annually, exercise your plan to make sure it consistently meets the changing needs of your business. Make adjustments as needed.

Exercises (or drills) provide you an opportunity to identify gaps in your plan and employees’ training when there is NO DISASTER. This allows your company to make and learn from mistakes without the pressure of a real disruption. Not that an exercise can’t be conducted in a way that makes the danger feel real, but there’s an inherent safety net in an exercise that will end when the day is over. Disasters can go on for days, while recovery can take months and years to achieve.

There are four different types of exercises:

• Walk-Through
• Table Top (TT)
• Functional
• Full Scale

All of these are useful, but start with the first two before getting into the last two, which require a more sophisticated level of planning and training. There are programs in your state and with FEMA to help you design these latter two types of drills (see Tools & Resources). The Walk-Through and especially the Table Top (TT) are easier to design and run, and will give you what you need to put your plan to the test. This test is not about passing or failing, but simply about putting the plan into action to see how it works, and then making tweaks as needed. Exercises are supposed to highlight problems and unforeseen issues. That’s how you learn to improve and refine your plan without the trauma of an actual disaster.

The Tools & Resources page has more information on how to run these various types of exercises.

Keep in mind that your plan is never complete. It is a living document that should give you flexibility to operate in the changed environment that a disaster creates. Significant elements that you rely on today may not be available after a disaster. How will you respond? What will your customers do? What decisions will need to be made to adjust your operations in that moment? These real situations are what you build into an exercise scenario, to “walk” participants through the thought processes that they will have to go through during a disaster and see if your plan provides the appropriate guidance. If there are any gaps, revise your plan and then educate your employees on the changes.

Last but not least, don’t forget to include your executives. If you want to maintain support for your disaster effort, you will need to keep them engaged and demonstrate how you are progressing. Besides, they will need to make decisions in a disaster situation, and thus need to think through the process by which they would make those decisions. Executive participation in drills could even help you get more support, and possibly funding, for your preparedness efforts.

Testing Your Disaster Recovery Plan (view slides)

(Note: a “disaster plan” can be called by different names, but ultimately refers to the same basic thing)

The best way to measure your business continuity and disaster preparedness plan is to put it in motion and test it. This is a great way to show management, employees, clients, and prospects you have ensured business as usual, no matter what. View these slides from the Small Business Administration and Agility Recovery to learn about the basics of testing your disaster plan and some best practices including:

• Reasons for testing
• Testing options
• Defining the scope of your test
• Written plan validation
• Improving recovery efficiency
• Minimizing downtime
• Protecting the bottom line

Keep your plan updated annually or more frequently if there are significant changes to your business. Some elements of your plan, such as your contact lists, will require more frequent updates. The best solution is to institutionalize these updates so they are always performed. Many businesses have had major failures because key parts of their plan were out of date.

Employee training also needs to be updated annually. Make sure the training provided is consistent with the latest plan documents and with the equipment that is available (first aid supplies, light search and rescue tools, etc.). Even if you haven’t had staff turnover, people need refreshers to help them get more comfortable with what is expected of them and ensure that they react correctly when a real disaster strikes. You can use your plan as a quick-reference guide, but during a disaster is not the time for employees to be reading the plan for the first time.

Set your annual updates to the clock changes in the spring and fall when batteries must also be replaced in smoke detectors. Some businesses tie their updates to audits, as that is the time that employees are reviewing their processes and operations. Select what works best for your business but try to stay away from annual deadlines such as tax season, end of the calendar year, vacations, and major holidays.

When a disaster strikes, follow the plan.

Immediate Response
Care for anyone with injuries immediately, but know that you may not be able to get them to a hospital for a while depending on the disaster. What do you have in place to help them in the meantime?

Here are some other actions you may need to take following a disaster:

• Contact your insurance company
• Redirect phone lines (where they will get answered?)
• Set realistic time frames (this includes when you will update the current information)
• Communicate with all employees, customers, vendors, suppliers, key contacts, and possibly the media
• Designate a spokesperson(s) (only they will speak on the company’s behalf, so all employees should know who they are and direct all media inquiries to them)
• Show consideration for employees (they may be experiencing great personal hardships while also trying to work)

Continue to follow your plan, but be flexible and adjust as needed for things that fall outside the plan. As your business goes forward, consider applying for federal assistance, if needed and if it’s made available. Also, document lessons learned as you go, while everything is still fresh in your minds. By doing this, you can readily update your plan after the crisis.

Shift to Recovery

Once the immediate life safety issues are addressed, the focus shifts fully to recovering the business. First, contact your insurance company to make a claim. Take photos and videos to document any damage before cleaning anything up.

The next step is when you would walk through a decision tree – best if established before the disaster – to help you determine your next steps.

Here are examples of some of the questions your plan might ask in a decision tree, regarding building access:

• What is the current situational status (sit stat)?
• Do you have access to your building?
• If not, how long will it be until you do? Is that acceptable?
• Can you relocate a part (or all) of your operations temporarily?
• How will you notify your employees and suppliers of the relocation?
• Who are you coordinating with in local government?
• How long will it take to set up operations?

Although every disaster unfolds differently, similar issues typically need to be addressed, such as access, data recovery, and communications, just to name a few. Once you have built your plan, you will be better prepared to think through these decisions based on priorities you have explicitly identified.

During recovery, the theme is “flexibility in the changed environment.” Disasters bring change, and businesses will need to adapt to this ‘new normal’ in order to survive.

This can be a tough time for businesses financially. In some cases, it may be unclear when revenue will start flowing again, so creative solutions must be sought. If the disaster in your area receives a Presidential disaster declaration, this authorizes federal disaster assistance funds to be made available to businesses through the US Small Business Association (SBA). The SBA has an easy, no obligation application that can be completed online, in person, or over the phone. See the webinar below for more information.

At the local level, sometimes Chambers of Commerce and community foundations can be conduits to recovery or bridge funds coming from corporations or outside agencies wanting to help. Make contact and see what assistance may be available to you.