Preparing your business for an emergency

Emergencies such as fire, flooding, or power cuts can happen when you least expect them. For small and medium-sized enterprises, the impact can be serious. It is natural to focus on day-to-day priorities, but taking time to plan for what you would do if something went wrong can make a big difference.

By planning ahead and building resilience through business continuity management, you can:

  • protect your staff
  • keep your business running
  • recover more quickly from disruption

Six steps to get started

You can begin to strengthen your business by following six simple steps:

  • Know your business
    • Understand what you do and what your key products or services are
  • Assess your risks
    • Think about what could disrupt your business, such as power cuts, flooding, loss of staff, or supply chain issues
  • Develop a strategy
    • Decide what needs to be done and who will do it if something happens
  • Write your plan
    • It does not need to be complicated, but it should be clear and accessible
  • Test your plan
    • Practise so you and your staff know what to do
  • Review regularly
    • Update your plan as your business changes

Questions to consider

As you plan, it may help to ask yourself:

  • Is your business the main source of income for you and your family?
  • Does your insurance cover all the risks you have identified?
  • Could you still trade if you could not access your premises?
  • Would you lose important information if your computers were damaged or stolen?
  • Do you have a plan if key staff are unavailable?
  • Would your customers wait for you to reopen if you had to close for a month?

If you answered 'no' to two or more of these questions, your business could be at risk from disruption.

Why business continuity matters

Business continuity management is about protecting the things your business cannot do without, such as staff, premises, and IT systems. Having a plan helps you to:

  • identify risks your business may face
  • put measures in place to keep operating if normal conditions are disrupted

Stay prepared and informed

See how you can build personal resilience before an emergency, including creating a grab bag and knowing who to contact, on our preparing yourself and others for an emergency page.

Remember, if you need urgent support, help is always available. Call 999 in an emergency or 101 for non-urgent situations.

For trusted updates and local information during an emergency, visit our staying informed in an emergency page.

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