When Lightning Strikes!
The Newsletter for Ready Rating Members
April 2016

Basic BC Planning on a Budget

Cost management is always a top concern for any organization. This is true even for important functions like emergency preparedness. While essential, comprehensive business continuity (BC) planning can seem like a complicated and resource intensive process: conduct a business impact analysis, develop a plan, test the plan, train staff, etc. However, that does not have to be your BC reality.

For a business on a budget, BC needs to be pragmatic and grounded in practical considerations. Taking the following three steps can help you prepare with minimal impact to your bottom line.
 

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Training your staff for the unexpected
As the owner, manager, or a representative of your organization, you have taken some steps to prepare your business for an emergency. You have joined the American Red Cross Ready Rating® Program and may have even created have an Emergency Action Plan using the Emergency Action Template Generator. But is the rest of your organization ready? Training staff for the unexpected can be critical to making sure your business is truly prepared.



Take 10 to 15 minutes to ask your staff the right questions (Do you know where the Emergency Action Plan and contact list are? What would you do if...?). Staff need to understand if a certain time of year is critical to your business or community: end-of-year, holiday season or tax time; seasonal weather risks like hurricanes, tornadoes, winter storms, or flooding. Most importantly, make sure that each staff member knows his/her role in a crisis.
 
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Help Keep your Employees and their Families Safe! 

The all-inclusive Emergency App from the American Red Cross provides people with instant access to emergency alerts, life-saving information, and ways to contact family and friends in one free, easy-to-use app for smart phones and tablets.
 
The Emergency App is a single ‘go-to’ source for everything from home fires to hurricanes. It includes content from a group of award-winning Red Cross apps with additional information about what to do in case of 14 different types of emergencies and disasters. Users can customize more than 35 emergency alerts based on their location and where loved ones live.

Other important features include:

  • Emergency first aid information for situations such as heart attacks, heat-related emergencies as well as water safety information;
  • Preloaded content so users can access guidance from Red Cross experts even without mobile connectivity;
  • A single map with open Red Cross shelter locations and weather information;
  • A home fire section with detailed prevention and safety tips as well as Red Cross “After the Fire” information;
  • “Make a Plan” feature to help families plan what to do and where to go if a disaster strikes; and
  • The ability to easily toggle between English and Spanish.

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