What To Do When Disaster Strikes At Your Business

Disasters can happen anywhere and at any hour. You hope your business never has to deal with one, but you have to be prepared for them. Knowing what to do when disaster strikes at your business can mean the difference between bouncing back to a normal status quo or facing weeks to months of delays in dealing with things.

Stop The Disaster

A small fire might be something you can put out, and a burst pipe might be something where you can cut off the flow of water. Don't try to be a hero, but if you can contain a disaster, do it. Otherwise, get everyone to safety first and just let things play out from a safe distance.

Make Sure Everyone Is Okay

Before you worry about your business or the property involved, be sure everyone is okay. Check on everyone on your team to make sure they're alright, and verify that any guests or visitors are also still okay. If the disaster involves others, whether it's a driver who accidentally hit your store or someone else, you need to be sure they're okay, even if they might have caused all this.

Summon The Right Responders

You might not need EMTs if no one is hurt, and not all disasters mean calling in a fire truck. However, many disasters will require some kind of assistance. For instance, if you get flooded, you will need to arrange for commercial water damage restoration to get your business back to the way it was.

Close

If your business is open to the public, then you shouldn't be right now. Make sure your customers are all okay if they were present for the disaster, but once you do that, send them on their way. Having them around right now is just asking for trouble down the road.

Document Everything

Your corporate insurance will need as much documentation as possible to process a potential claim, and you might even need this evidence to fight off frivolous lawsuits from customers and employees alike. At the very least, use this documentation to figure out what happened so you can learn how to prevent or minimize it in the future.

Getting Back To Business

Depending on the severity and nature of your business disaster, your location might be partially or even totally shut down for a while. If you keep your calm and manage everything the best you can, then hopefully it won't be long before everything is back to normal.