Many business owners in PA spend tremendous amounts of time, money and effort making their business ventures successful, only to neglect disaster preparedness. Many companies exist for years with no damage resulting from a disaster, and no business insurance claims ever filed. However, it may only take one major disaster to destroy the business you have worked so hard to build, which is why having insurance to cover things such as business interruption is so important.

Statistics compiled by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) reveal that 25 percent of businesses do not reopen following a major disaster. That is why a disaster plan is so important. The SBA has some recommendations for a basic disaster plan.

•    It may be wise to have a safe place in your building designated where employees may congregate during an emergency.

•    You may need to have evacuation routes planned for employees and customers.

•    You may want to keep regularly updated emergency contact information on each of your employees.

•    It may make sense to have an alternate person who may be in charge during an emergency should the regular manager be unavailable.

•    You may want to have a plan in place for quickly contacting customers and suppliers following a PA disaster or national emergency, and establish a temporary worksite for business continuity.

You may want to make sure you have your business insurance agent’s contact information stored in your phone for easy access. It is important, following a disaster, to begin the claims process quickly in order to get your business back up and running as soon as possible. Make sure as part of your disaster planning that you have the right insurance policies, and that they are kept up date, and provide adequate coverage limits.