Businesses can do much to prepare for the impact of the many hazards they face in today’s world including natural hazards like floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes and widespread serious illness such as the H1N1 flu virus pandemic, and human-caused hazards such as accidents, acts of violence and acts of terrorism. Technology-related hazards are also something to prepare for, which include the failure or malfunction of systems, equipment or software.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the American Red Cross both have excellent resources to assist business in their preparedness efforts.

FEMA has developed a five step preparedness program for businesses that includes creating a preparedness plan to cover all facets, conducting a business impact analysis, guidance on implementing and testing plans, and information on how and when to review and update plans.

The American Red Cross has created the Ready Rating Program, a free preparedness program to help evaluate and improve emergency preparedness levels. This program uses a guided checklist to ensure that businesses assess their current preparedness level correctly and provides guidance on the steps they should take next.

Free viewers are required for some of the attached documents.
They can be downloaded by clicking on the icons below.

Acrobat Reader Flash Player Windows Media Player Microsoft Silverlight Word Viewer Excel Viewer PowerPoint Viewer