Small businesses make up 99% of all U.S. businesses and employ 50% of the private sector's employees. The United States Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) reports that 40% of businesses never recover immediately after significant natural disasters. While Emergency Action Plans (EAP) are required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), FEMA also reports that 62% of businesses don't have an emergency plan in place.
Disaster types include:
natural disasters like earthquakes, floods, tornados, and hurricanes,
health disasters like the 2020-21 coronavirus pandemic,
human-caused disasters like workplace violence, and
technology-related disasters like network, power, and equipment outages or failure.
While it's impossible to prepare for every potential disaster, businesses are encourages to take an "all-hazards" approach to planning, starting with the most likely disasters - natural disasters. FEMA provides valuable step-by-step "Ready Business Toolkits" to help business leaders prepare for common natural disasters (in English and Spanish). Each toolkit is organized as follows:
Identify Your Risk
Develop A Plan
Take Action
Be Recognized and Inspire Others
Access FEMA's Ready Business Toolkits below by selecting the type of natural disaster below:
Other helpful and free resources to help businesses prepare for disasters include:
Take a business preparedness assessment provided by the Red Cross
Conduct a risk assessment to identify potential hazards and the impacts a disaster could have on your business
Download the continuity planning suite of resources
Create a crisis communications plan
Plan ahead to recover lost data after a disaster
Seeking financial assistance after a disaster
Planning for wildfire evacuations
Planning for severe winter weather
The R in R72 stands for Readiness & Recreation. R72 products, like the R72 Grab&Go Vest + Modular Bags and the R72 Modular First Aid Kit, are designed to help individuals, families, and businesses of all sizes prepare for the worst so that everyone can live our best lives.
Consider R72 your partner in emergency preparedness!
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