March/April 2005
What if a fire ripped through your scrap facility, burning your maintenance shop and destroying processing equipment? How about if floods caused by a hurricane submerged your yard during the night, destroying your truck fleet and mobile equipment? Or what if an ice storm knocked out your power for a week? What would you do?
If you don’t know the answer, you have bigger problems than you think.
No one likes to think about, much less plan for, an emergency or crisis situation. The truth, however, is that companies that plan for disasters stay in business, even after a major loss. In contrast, companies that refuse to plan for the unexpected will sooner or later be added to a long list of failed businesses that couldn’t recover from a
disaster.
Protect What Can’t Be Insured
How important is your company’s reputation, your relationship with the community, or even your market share? Chances are they’re the most important parts of your business. When you have a major loss, the longer you stay out of operation, the tougher it is to keep key employees and stay ahead of your competition. A company that succeeds in recovering from a disaster is one that has both a plan and a quick response to a crisis. Studies have shown that public companies that recovered successfully lost, on average, about 6 percent less of their market capitalization and recovered much faster than companies with no plan in place.
Where Do I Start?
A quick search on the Internet provides many choices of high-dollar disaster planning software. While these packages have value, they can be overwhelming. The best way to start developing a disaster plan is simply to think the unthinkable. Have your management team ask tough questions such as: What incidents could stop our business from operating? When is the worst time of day/week/month/year they could happen? Remember, disasters don’t always happen on sunny afternoons during the week.
Once your team has come up with a comprehensive list of worst-case scenarios, narrow the list by assessing the probability of each event—for instance, a yard located next to river has a high probability of flooding. Then formalize a disaster plan to address the events with the highest probability.
The main objectives of your disaster plan should be to (1) minimize the financial and public-image impact of any disaster on your firm and (2) return your company to normal operations quickly, efficiently, and safely.
Components of a Disaster Plan
Top management must be committed to both the development of the plan and the execution of the plan’s elements should a disaster occur. Everyone at the company must be informed and involved. You need internal support from key areas such as finance, operations, and safety. Seek out external resources such as public relations professionals, fire and rescue services, legal advice, or firms that specialize in catastrophe management. These resources can make it easier to handle an emergency situation and give you peace of mind that you have a partner who is an expert in the field.
Of course, every plan must have some basic elements, including:
• a statement of purpose;
• a list of your firm’s response team;
• a list of key community contacts;
• site assessments;
• a neighborhood survey;
• key communicators for your company should a disaster occur;
• an emergency command center;
• procedures for protecting and capturing corporate data; and
• an outline of the insurance claims process to follow after the disaster.
Don’t Let It Happen to You
If you need motivation to create a disaster plan, just talk with anyone who has experienced a disaster but didn’t have a plan. Not having a plan can devastate a company’s financial health. Also, a damaged public image due to inaction or inappropriate action during a disaster can take years to fix—if ever.
To learn more, attend the disaster planning workshop on Friday, April 15, at the ReMA convention in New Orleans. The session, presented by ReMA Resources and RecycleGuard, will feature a panel of experts and will cover the most important areas of disaster planning. You’ll gain the necessary knowledge, tools, and resources to start constructing an effective plan. As a bonus, you’ll have a chance to win a $100 American Express gift certificate.
—Monica McNally, senior vice president of RecycleGuard/Willis of New Hampshire Inc. (Portsmouth, N.H.)
The information contained in this document has been prepared and/or assembled by Willis RecycleGuard for informational purposes only and is not intended to provide legal advice. Readers should not rely on this document or act upon any of the information contained in this document without first consulting competent legal counsel.
What if a fire ripped through your scrap facility, burning your maintenance shop and destroying processing equipment? How about if floods caused by a hurricane submerged your yard during the night, destroying your truck fleet and mobile equipment? Or what if an ice storm knocked out your power for a week? What would you do?