Disaster Plan

HR in NY · May 2004

Does anyone out there have a disaster plan that they would like to share? We are trying to put one together and I thought if I could look at someone else's it would be useful. Thanks as always for your help.

Balloonman · May 2004

What type of facility are you? Industry? Building lay out?
I have evolved my disaster plans into a format I call the Rainbow Flip Chart.
I will take a picture of it and send it to you if you give me your email. The issue is that during an emergency no one has the presence of mind to look through a binder to try and find what to do. The flip chart, hung on the wall or put in a vehicle, has a different color for each category, Introduction, Hazardous Material Spill, Catestrophic event, Theft, OSHA Inspections, Tornado Emergency Procedures, Auto Accident, Employee Injuries, Call list.
No thinking, just flip to the page, and it walks you through what to do.
My $0.02 worth!
DJ The Balloonman

marc · May 2004

A company I worked for 5 years ago did this and while I no longer have a copy of the plan, I remember that it can be quite involved depending on how far your company is willing to go to become involved in all of the things your local government is already doing. Disasters come in many sizes and your preparation will largely depend on many factors. How close are you to emergency services? What level of response can you rely on from other emergency services, such as fire, medical, and police? Are you just thinking about automatic power and information back-up for your technology systems? Are you willing to be a site where the injured are kept or an overnight shelter? Are you just thinking about a company phone tree to notify EEs about various situations? Disasters that happen while you are open are quite a bit different than those that happen while you are closed.

Floods, earthquates, wildfires, terrorist attacks all have different levels of response - that is why these plans are difficult to cut and paste, each industry is different and each company's place in disaster response and recovery is unique.

Other forumites probably have more help to offer than I do, good luck.

deniseE · May 2004

Ours spans five written binders!!! We started by looking at the agency in terms of Essential and Nonessential. What departments would need to be functional, no matter what and what would they need.

If you're just starting, this is a way to make it more manageable. Consider where you would set up a temporary office, where supplies would come from, and essential functions that may be able to be outsourced (like payroll). What functions could be silent for a period of time? Pre-determine what that time frame is.

We broke functions down into categories, and gave them time frames. For example, within an hour of disaster, so and so is responsible for determining the level of disaster. Create a communication tree so that people know what needs to be done and who will be responsible.

And never ever forget the entry level ee's. Depending on the kind of disaster, say a fire, you don't want the ee's milling about outside talking to every TV station with a camera and audio equipment. We conducted training so that everyone in the building would be aware that a plan existed and where their department fell into the plan.

HR in NY · May 2004

Wow, I knew this would be involved, but I didn't realize to the extent. We are a food distributor with about 100,000 square feet of Warehouse space with includes dry, cooler and freezer space. We have another 7,000 square feet of office space. All in the same building. My e-mail address is [email]pdusharm@ginsbergs.com[/email]. I will gladly except any ideas. This looks like a hugh project. I will have to take it step by step. Any guidelines that you can share would be helpful. Thanks as always for your help.

Disaster Plan

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