Business Management
CSIA
csiaonline.org
27
CSIA
27
CENTRAL STATES INSULATION ASSOCIATION
continued on pg.28
communication protocols, evacuation routes, 
and procedures for protecting employees, 
customers, and assets.”
A well-designed plan will help a company not 
only preserve assets during a disaster but also 
return to commercial viability sooner. “Getting 
back into business quickly after an incident 
can translate into goodwill with customers,” 
said Justin Kates, an emergency management 
consultant.
Recovery procedures must be tailored for 
each operation. “It’s tempting to download a 
boilerplate plan from the Internet and call the 
job done,” said Kates. “But a general, all-
purpose plan reflects neither the risks specific 
to an enterprise, nor the special mix of available 
resources.”
Conversely, a tailored plan will ensure that 
employees make the right moves when 
disaster strikes. That’s important, because 
the emotional impact of a serious event can 
make it hard to think clearly. “People often 
become paralyzed when disaster strikes,” said 
Rebecca Rice, an assistant professor of crisis 
communications at the University of Nevada. 
“Too often, they have no idea what to do.” 
Assess risks
A successful recovery plan starts with a 
thorough risk assessment that identifies a 
company’s unique vulnerabilities. What hazards 
are most common in the area? Is the company 
facility located in a floodplain? Near a local 
highway where trucks with hazardous materials 
go by? In a fire-prone region?
Help with identifying local risks is available from 
the Federal Emergency Management Agency 
(FEMA). “A good, free and easy tool for doing 
a basic risk assessment for your location is 
FEMA’s National Risk Index,” said Kates. “You 
can search your address online and assess 
your area’s overall disaster risk level, as well as 
the most likely categories of events.” (An online 
search tool is at www.fema.gov. An interactive 
risk index map is available at https://hazards.
fema.gov/nri/map ).
Businesses can also seek advice from 
their county or city offices of emergency 
management, which often post lists of a 
region’s salient threats. “Local agencies often 
have area-specific emergency management 
plans that highlight issues otherwise 
overlooked,” said Rice. “They can serve as 
useful starting points.”
When identifying common risks, it’s wise to 
look beyond the walls of the enterprise and 
consider how damage to suppliers can trickle 
down to local operations. “It’s important to 
consider how your business will be affected by 
transportation and supply chain interruptions,” 
said Bornemann. 
Bonus tip: When identifying risks, keep in mind 
that even small-scale events can wreak havoc. 
“A burst water pipe can cause costly water 
damage,” said Bornemann. “A flu outbreak can 
affect every worker assigned to a facility.”
Get resources
Once the most likely disasters are identified, the 
business should create a plan for maintaining 
its most important business activities, from 
receiving and filling orders to collecting 
amounts due.
Once again, help is available from outside 
sources. “FEMA has established a website 
called Ready Business (ready.gov/business) 
with templates and tools that walk a business 
all the way from developing an emergency plan 
to preparing employees so they’re ready to get 
back to work after a crisis,” said Kates. The 
organization maintains a website, and has local 
emergency management offices that can be 
helpful.
The Small Business Administration (SBA) 
also has a web page dedicated to business 

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