Natural disasters like wildfires, hurricanes, floods, and tornados can devastate a home building business. In fact, 25% of companies that experience a disaster never reopen. Recent examples include unprecedented flooding in Houston that affected commerce worldwide, and the lingering effects of Hurricane Sandy, even three years into the recovery.
It’s imperative for builders across the country to create disaster recovery plans that will help to limit disruption and restore critical services as soon after a disaster as possible. There’s no one-size-fits-all-plan for disaster recovery, but there are some best practices that can guide you in your planning, says Jay Shelton, senior vice president of risk management at Assurance, a Schaumburg, Ill.-based insurance brokerage.
Here, BUILDER talks with Shelton about how to create and implement a plan to safeguard employees and the business itself.
What should a disaster
plan include?
First, a company must understand that a disaster plan is a living document and
must be maintained and updated periodically to ensure the plan can be executed
when a disaster occurs. The midst of a disaster is not the time to update phone
numbers and other essential information. It’s important to clarify the various
disasters that can be encountered given the season, location and other outside
elements. Some common disasters to be prepared for are fire, hurricane,
tornado, earthquake, flooding or even a cyber-breach.
Creating a comprehensive business continuity plan addresses steps specific to your organization and areas of risk. A few examples include utilities backup, mutual aid, disaster recovery services, data backup, as well as internal and external communication procedures.
What are the top
considerations for disaster recovery planning?
A disaster restoration and continuity plan is designed to help get your
building process back in order with a clearly laid out strategy. Here are a few
recommendations that may help when putting together your continuity plan:
--Set goals for what
you want to accomplish within your plan. For example, establishing answers to
questions like: “Where do we relocate?” and “Who should I partner with?” is a
great start.
--Seek out a reputable
disaster restoration company that offers disaster and continuity planning. Set
up pre-arranged agreements that outline the priority of service and assessment
of emergency equipment needed, so when the restoration company responds, they
will have all the necessary equipment and personnel.
--Develop an action
plan for each type of disaster. This helps a potential contractor understand
what’s needed and how to begin work immediately following a disaster. Many
contractors will do a survey of the property and gather information such as
number of entrances, exits, elevators and more. They’ll then know what type and
how much equipment to bring after a particular catastrophe.
--Ensure everyone
involved, from management to maintenance, is familiar with and understands the
plan that’s been made.
--Testing is essential
to ensuring that the disaster and continuity plan actually works, it’s aligned
with current operations and will address all areas of response. The plan should
be tested at least annually, but recommended seasonally as cold and hot weather
present a wide variety of issues that could be missed.
How can a builder test
the plan?
There are several types of tests that should be considered. Each business needs
to evaluate which best fits their current situation, but I usually recommend
two specific types of tests that should be run in combination with each other.
Tabletop exercise basically walks through a disaster response with all parties involved in a conference room. Each person is responsible for outlining their specific response and how it coordinates with others. During the exercise, the scenarios can be changed or other unexpected issues can be introduced and the response discussed. A major issue with only running tabletop exercises is that it does not reflect real world situations that arise during a disaster, but it is cost effective and can highlight coordination issues.
A physical disaster response drill is time-consuming and costly but it is the closest replication of how the response plan will work. It not only will test operational coordination but also the physical placement and operational capabilities of the equipment. Things like are the hoses long enough will be exposed during this drill.
Why do home builders
need a disaster plan?
For many home building businesses, preparing for catastrophes doesn’t always
take company precedence. Most owners would agree that disasters and emergencies
pose a great risk to their operations, and yet the effort to plan and prepare
is an afterthought. According to the Institute for Business and Home Safety, an
estimated 25% of businesses do not reopen following a major disaster. A
precautionary conservation program can be applied to minimize equipment
breakdown and resulting work stoppage, as well as keep your company in
business.
