EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT & RECOVERY

Business Topics – Emergency management & recovery | business.gov.au

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In Australia, natural disasters such as flood, fire and earthquakes can strike without warning. Your business is critical to your financial wellbeing and could also be a necessary service to your community, so it’s important to protect what you can in times of crisis.

• Step 1 – Prepare
  You can’t prepare for all possible risks to your business, but some targeted research and planning can give it the best chance against the most likely emergency situations.
  • Plan for emergencies
    Emergency management planning is more than just planning for natural disasters – it can help your business survive through any emergency situation. Know your business’ strengths and weaknesses and put strategies in place to adapt it to any scenario.
  • Protect your business
    Now that you’ve identified the risks to your business, it’s the time to start mitigating them. It’s hard to predict what will happen in the future, but you can make changes now to help protect your business later.
• Step 2 – Take action
  Information on how to take action in an emergency and maintain business as usual to protect your business operations.
  • Act in an emergency
    In an emergency, the most important thing to do is ensure the safety of yourself and your employees, then protect your business and assets as much as possible.
  • Maintain ‘business as usual’
    Your main aim is to ensure your business continues operating throughout any emergency. By carefully researching and planning your options before an emergency situation, you can act quickly and easily.
• Step 3 – Recover
  The emergency situation has passed – now you need to find out how to assess the impact, recover cash flow, seek help and restore your business.
  • Assess the impact
    Find out how your business has coped with the emergency. Assess every aspect of your business including physical damage and market impacts, and work out what it means for the future of your business.
  • Boost your cash flow
    Your business’ recovery may depend on how much cash you have available. Fortunately, there are a range of options available to increase your cash flow.
  • Communicate
    After the danger has passed, your first phone calls should be to your insurance provider and any financial institutions or other debtors you make regular payments to.
  • Seek help
    In the confusion and chaos following an emergency situation there are a number of tough issues that arise, and often you may need to seek help. You can seek help from a number of sources.
  • Restore your business
    Once your finances are in order and you’ve planned a way forward, restoring your business can be a lot easier.