Small Business Week: Prepare Your Business for Emergencies

It’s Small Business Week. Make sure your business or non-profit organization is prepared for emergencies.

• Know the local hazards, such as fire, flooding, winter weather, or loss of utility service; and how they could impact your organization’s ability to function.  
• Have a Continuity of Operations Plan and keep it up to date. You can download a Continuity of Operations Toolkit with step-by-step planning information, templates and checklists. 
• Be familiar with the City’s Emergency Evacuation Routes. If your organization is located in a high-rise office building in Center City or University City, know the building’s evacuation plan and the High-Rise Office Building Rallying Points for Center City and University City.
• Prepare to Shelter-in-Place with this Guide for Preparing a Shelter-in-Place Plan in the Workplace.
• Communicate your emergency procedures to your employees and practice your plans. Ensure that you have methods in place to stay in contact with employees during an emergency.
• Encourage your employees to prepare for emergencies at home, so they are able to respond to your organization’s emergency. Download the Ready Philadelphia Emergency Preparedness Brochure or visit the What to Have in Your Head, Your Home and Your Hand pages of the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management website.
• Sign up for ReadyNotifyPA, the region’s emergency text and email alert system, to receive emergency messages directly to your text or email enabled device.
• Register with the Corporate Emergency Access System (CEAS), a pre-event credentialing program in Philadelphia that authenticates critical business employees for access to restricted areas following a disaster or serious emergency. 

For more information, visit the Ready for Businesses page of the Philadelphia Office of Emergency Management website.