HURRICANE INFO CENTER

1. Catalog your business items
2. Review insurance coverage
   • Meet with your insurance provider to review current coverage for such things as physical losses, flood coverage and business interruption.
   • Understand what it covers and what it does not.
   • Understand what your deductible is, if applicable.
   • Consider how you will pay creditors and employees.
   • Plan how you will provide for your own income if your business is interrupted.
   • Find out what records your insurance provider will want to see after an emergency and store them in a safe place.
3. Secure your equipment
   • Conduct a room-by-room walk-through to determine what needs to be secured.
   • Attach equipment and cabinets to walls or other stable equipment.
   • Place heavy or breakable objects on low shelves.
   • Move workstations away from large windows, if possible.
   • Elevate equipment off the floor to avoid electrical hazards in the event of flooding.
4. Prepare for utility disruptions
   • Plan ahead for extended disruptions during and after a disaster. Carefully examine which utilities are vital to your business’s day-to-day operation. Speak with service providers about potential alternatives and identify backup options.
   • Learn how and when to turn off utilities. If you turn the gas off, a professional must turn it back on. Do not attempt to turn the gas back on yourself.
   • Consider purchasing portable generators to power the vital aspects of your business in an emergency. Never use a generator inside as it may produce deadly carbon monoxide gas. It is a good idea to pre-wire the generator to the most important equipment. Periodically test the backup system’s operability.
   • Decide how you will communicate with employees, customers, suppliers and others. Use cell phones, walkie-talkies or other devices that do not rely on electricity as a back up to your telecommunications system.
   • Plan a secondary means of accessing the Internet if it is vital to your company’s day-to-day operations.
   • If food storage or refrigeration is an issue for your business, identify a vendor in advance that sells ice and dry ice in case you can’t use refrigeration equipment.
5. Secure facilities, building and plants
   • Identify what production machinery, computers, custom parts or other essential equipment is needed to keep your business open.
   • Plan how to replace or repair vital equipment if it is damaged or destroyed.
   • Identify more than one supplier who can replace or repair your equipment.
   • Store extra supplies , materials and equipment for use in an emergency.
   • Plan what you will do if your building, plant or store is not usable.
   • Consider if you can run the business from a different location or from your home.
   • Develop relationships with other companies to use their facilities in case a disaster makes your location unusable.
   • Identify and comply with all local, state and federal codes and other safety regulations that apply to your business.
   • Talk to your insurance provider about what impact any of these steps may have on your policy.
6. Cyber security
   • Protect your data and information technology systems.
   • Back up your computer data.
   • Develop an emergency communication plan.
7. Have disaster supplies on hand
   • Flashlight and extra batteries
   • Portable, battery-operated radio and extra batteries
   • First-aid kit and manual
   • Emergency food and water
   • Nonelectric can opener
   • Essential medicines
   • Cash and credit cards

• Baby food and diapers
• Blankets, pillows and/or sleeping bags
• Cards, games, books
• Drinking water
• Eating utensils
• Extra batteries
• Favorite toy or blanket
• First-aid kit
• Identification and valuable papers
  (such as tax bills, drivers licenses, utility bills, insurance papers, home inventories, important telephone numbers etc.)
• Medicine
• Nonperishable food
• One flashlight per person
• Toiletries
• Do not bring pets, firearms or alcohol