Protecting your Business

 

  • After considering the potential impact of a hurricane on your business, you should consider what mitigation measures you should take to protect your business.
  • Mitigation is defined as "any action that reduces or eliminates long-term risk to people & property".
  • The focus of protecting your business should be on reducing your vulnerability to a hurricane.

Frequently Asked Questions:

What are the various forms of mitigation I can employ to minimize the vulnerability of my busines to a hurricane?

There are various forms of mitigation that you can employ to minimize your vulnerability. Among them are:

Structural mitigation

  • Hardening structures to be more damage resistant
Non Structural mitigation
  • Reducing the likelihood of adverse effects on people and property within structures

Business continuity

  • Protecting key business processes which will allow continued operation in a degraded or limited mode after a disaster.

Nontraditional mitigation

  • Things like having lease provisions that do not limit my ability to move if the building is uninhabitable or to make quick repairs.

Management Mitigation(Smart Business practices)

  • Diversify customer base
  • Diversify location of inventoru and other assets
  • Protect electronic and hard copy data/information
  • Multiple Outlets
  • Multiple locations
  • Catalog/call-center/e-business

How can I protect my property?

Among the types of mitigation you can employ to protect your property are:

  • Roof improvements
  • Structural Reinforcements
  • Tie-downs for Roof Mounted Air Conditioners
  • Shutters/Break Resistant Glass
  • Garage Door Braces
  • Improve or Clean Out Drainage systems
  • Exterior improvements

How can I minimize the impact of a hurricane on my overall business?

Among the ways you can mitigate the impact on your overall business are:

  • Insurance - property, casualty and business interruption insurance cannot bring a business back into business, but it can help owners protect their equity and open their options after the cleanup.
  • Data back up
  • Hot sites/cold sites
  • Protection of vital records

How can I protect against human impacts?

Human impacts can be minimized though such things as:

  • Training and Education
  • Employee Assistance Programs
  • Creating a safe working environment
  • Having open lines of communication with employees

 

 Hurricane Planning Directory: