Preparedness Gaps

• 44% of Americans do not have a first-aid kit.
• 48% of Americans do not have emergency supplies.
• 42% of Americans don’t know the phone numbers of immediate family members.

Improving the Speed of Recovery

In order to return to normal as soon as possible after a disaster, communities need businesses open and employees at work. That’s why it’s vital that you work with employees, especially any that are essential for business continuity and resilience, to develop a family preparedness plan.

Most of the 48% of Americans without emergency supplies think it’s a good idea to have supplies and a plan, but they keeping putting it off. By incorporating family preparedness into the culture of preparedness you promote for the business, you provide people with information and a framework to make emergency planning a priority at home and at the office.

5 Ways to Encourage Employees to Develop a Family Emergency Plan

1. Hand out checklists that employees can take home to make sure they have everything needed in an emergency.
2. Distribute information about family preparedness as part of new employee orientation and post useful links on the company intranet.
3. Conduct a lunchtime training session about family preparedness, where people can ask questions and share ideas.
4. During your annual (or more frequent) business continuity planning review, send a reminder to employees and include the checklists and links. Remind everyone to inspect family go-kits for expired items.
5. Ask any employees who are essential to your business continuity plan to confirm that they have a family plan and emergency supplies.

Strengthen your business continuity planning by encouraging family preparedness for your employees. Everyone will be better off for it.

Contributing Author

Lilly Harris is the CEO of MSA, Inc., a small, economically disadvantaged, woman-owned small business that delivers expertise and knowledge in Professional Services, Systems Test Evaluation and Support, and Emergency Management to more than thirty federal and commercial clients.

About Richard Serino

Richard Serino was appointed by President Obama and confirmed by the Senate as the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s Deputy Administrator in October 2009. In this role, he works directly with Administrator Craig Fugate to promote the “whole community” approach to emergency management, which seeks to build, sustain, and improve the Department’s capacity to prepare for, protect against, respond to, recover from, and mitigate all hazards. Since joining FEMA, Mr. Serino has traveled all over the country to communities affected by disasters to hear directly from survivors, and build relationships with whole community partners. During his tenure, he has seen flooding throughout the Midwest, fires in Colorado and Texas, tornadoes that devastated Joplin, Missouri, tsunami destruction in the American Samoa, and the Hurricane stricken areas in the south and along the east coast.  Additionally, he spends time traveling to each of FEMA’s ten regional offices.

Mr. Serino strives to improve FEMA programs and emergency management by hearing directly from disaster survivors, communities, and FEMA employees. These improvements are focused on emphasizing financial accountability, improving the use of analytics to drive decisions, advancing the workforce, and fostering a culture of innovation. Under Mr. Serino’s leadership, FEMA has championed initiatives such as FEMA Corps, FEMA Stat, the FEMA Think Tank, a detailed budgetary process, and a Disaster Workforce Transformation.

Mr. Serino brings 35 years of state and local emergency management and emergency medical services experience to his position at FEMA. Prior to his appointment as Deputy Administrator, he served as Chief of Boston EMS and Assistant Director of the Boston Public Health Commission. In that role, he bolstered the city’s response plans for major emergencies, including chemical, biological, and radiological attacks. He also led citywide planning for H1N1 influenza. Mr. Serino has served as an Incident Commander for over 35 mass casualty incidents and for all of Boston’s major planned events, including the Boston Marathon, Boston’s Fourth of July celebration, First Night, and the 2004 Democratic National Convention, a National Special Security Event.

Since 1998, Serino has been a National Faculty member for the Domestic Preparedness Program. He was an original contributing member for the Defense Department’s Domestic Preparedness Training Program and Metropolitan Medical Response System. Serino has been involved, since its inception, with the Lessons Learned Information Sharing www.llis.gov  network for emergency responders. As a consultant to the Pentagon and the Defense Department, Serino served on the 9/11 after-action team to assess medical consequence management policies and procedures.  Serino attended Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government Senior Executives in State and Local Government program in 2000, completed the Kennedy School’s National Preparedness Leadership Initiative in 2005, and  graduated from the Executive Leadership Program, Center for Homeland Defense and Security at the Naval Postgraduate School.

In May, states across the US experienced major flooding and record-breaking tornadoes plowed through cities and towns. In June, wildfires devastated Arizona. In April, newspapers and news channels were consumed with the Boston bombing. In every case, local businesses were impacted – and in some cases destroyed – in the aftermath of the disaster.

With disasters—manmade and natural—on the rise worldwide, and local businesses increasingly impacted by what happens around the globe as much as what happens down the street, business continuity planning is more important than ever.

Some Businesses Won’t Survive

Local businesses are the economic backbone of their communities. When they have no plan to guide recovery efforts after a disaster, the effects of lost wages and services ripple through the entire community, and the impacts keep piling up after the crisis.

Following a major disaster, local businesses that aren’t prepared continue to suffer. According to a study by the Institute for Business & Home Safety, 25% of local businesses never reopen. For those that do, reopening quickly is essential to survival. More than 80% of businesses that take more than 10 days to resume operations will close within one month.

Some Businesses Will Thrive

Nobody would hope for a disaster to boost the local economy, but experience shows that they often do. The effect is so significant that local economies are often overrun by outside businesses seeking to get their hands on valuable contracts. Often, these companies bring in their own outside workers that have no ties to the community. If your business can weather the storm, it will help your bottom line and benefit local workers and families.

Preparation is Key

Business continuity planning can help your business weather the storm—or anything else that comes along. The basic steps are relatively easy, but many businesses never get around to thinking about them until it’s too late.

• Identify key stakeholders.
• Prioritize critical functions.
• Plan to restore functions following a disaster. Consider the following:
  • Establish orders of succession
  • Develop crisis communication plans
  • Design an IT disaster recovery plan
  • Define organizational roles & responsibilities that will take effect during the disruption

Benefits Beyond Survival

As you develop a business continuity plan, you’ll take a closer look at your organization and its priorities. Often, stakeholders uncover ways to streamline or improve operations as a byproduct of disaster planning.

Disasters may be devastating, but planning is good for business. Get started today!

Lilly Harris
CEO
Man-Machine Systems Assessment

Lilly Harris is the President and CEO of Man-Machine Systems Assessment. MSA is an Economically Disadvantaged Woman-Owned Small Business with 23 years of government contracting experience. MSA is passionate about our Warfighters and the preparedness of our nation. MSA works diligently to evaluate defense systems, ensure continuity of operations and support mission critical programs that are aligned with our passion and mission. 

Visit: www.msaincorp.com

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