Could Your Small Business Survive A Disaster?

EMERGENCY planners are targeting smaller businesses to help them put in place processes to enable them to survive a major for disaster.
Oxfordshire County Council’s Emergency Planning Team is joining forces with South Oxfordshire District Council to host a special meeting on Monday, November 27.

The aim is to pass on recognised ways for businesses to put processes in place to help them survive any kind of emergency. This in turn helps communities to return to normal as soon as possible.

The meeting will take place from 2pm to 4pm in South Oxfordshire District Council’s offices in Crowmarsh, and is aimed at smaller businesses, 80% who generally fail to survive a major incidence like flooding or terrorist attack.

Emergency Planning Officer, John Kelly, said: “Many of the larger businesses will already have business continuity plans in place but we are aiming this presentation at the small and medium sized enterprises. Often they are too busy dealing with the day to day realities of commercial life to give time to disaster recovery preparation.

“Many of these businesses have still to consider plans for their survival after a major incident. Recent disasters such as Buncefield in Hertfordshire and the flooding in Carlisle show that small businesses are most at risk after a major incident.

“Statistics from previous terrorist bombings show that 80% of small businesses do not survive a major incident. Large businesses are able to move their production or sales to other outlets and survive.

“We will also be advising delegates on the plan for dealing with a flu pandemic, which from recent government advice could have an attack rate of 35% on staff in the worst case.”