Business Preparedness

It's not a matter of if disaster strikes, but when. And when it does, will you be ready? Racine County is not immune to emergencies and disaster situations. By taking some simple steps, you can prepare your place of business for emergencies.

Open For Business-EZ

There are a number of good planning guides out there to assist businesses including the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety's (IBHS) Open For Business-EZ (OFB-EZ), a free business continuity tool designed to help even the smallest businesses focus on planning for any type of business interruption, so they can quickly re-open and resume operations following a disaster. With its non-technical language and streamlined layout, any business owner can create an easy-to-use recovery plan tailored to the individual business, providing confidence if the worst occurs. Business owners create their own business continuity plan using the program's eight modules.

 Download the OFB-EZ Toolkit (PDF).

Download the OFB-EZ Toolkit Individual Forms

Federal Emergency Management Agency Resources

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has also put together some useful resources:

  • Prepare For Emergencies (PDF): Learn how to prepare for emergencies now.
  • Business Continuity Plan (PDF): A business continuity plan that includes recovery strategies to overcome the disruption of business should be developed.
  • Business Impact Analysis Worksheet (PDF): A business impact analysis (BIA) predicts the consequences of disruption of a business function and process and gathers information needed to develop recovery strategies.
  • Continuity Resource Worksheet (PDF): Business continuity impact analysis identifies the effects resulting from disruption of business functions and processes. It also uses the information to make decisions about recovery priorities and strategies.
  • Emergency Response Plan (PDF): Plans to protect people, property and the environment should be developed. Plans should include evacuation, sheltering in place and lockdown as well as plans for other types of threats identified during the risk assessment.
  • Emergency Response Plan Resources (PDF): Resources are needed for all phases of preparing your business including prevention/deterrence, mitigation, emergency response, business continuity, crisis communications and disaster recovery.
  • Insurance Discussion Coverage Form (PDF): Inadequate insurance coverage can lead to a major financial loss if your business is damaged, or operations are interrupted for a period of time.
  • Program Coordinator Committee Worksheet (PDF): Key employees should be organized as a program committee that will assist in the development, implementation and maintenance of the preparedness program.
  • Risk Assessment Table (PDF): Consider the different types of disasters that could impact your company and the likelihood that they might occur.