Are You Prepared?

With all the tectonic activity going on in Japan people are thinking about their own families and businesses.

In Shoreline we have a wonderful resource called CERT (Citizen Emergency Response Team). CERT is sponsored by the City of Shoreline and the Shoreline Fire Department.

"CERT is about readiness, people helping people, rescuer safety, and doing the greatest good for the greatest number. CERT is a positive and realistic approach to emergency and disaster situations where citizens can make a difference. Following a major disaster, Fire, Medical and Police emergency responders will not be able to meet the demand for their services. People will have to rely on each other for help in order to meet their immediate life saving and life sustaining needs."

For businesses it is a worthwhile investment to send one or more of your employees to CERT training. The wealth of knowledge and experience they obtain will allow your business to reduce its risk in the event of a disaster.

Another risk factor for businesses lies with dependence on one key employee or key distributor. In the event that employee or distributor can no longer function the ability of your business to continue to exist would be at risk. 

Do some research to find other distributors you can call on. Establish a relationship and if possible divide your reliance between the two distributors. If you have one key employee you are dependent upon, or if you are that key person, find someone you can mentor and start passing on the knowledge to that individual so they can take over if the need arises. For many small business owners mentoring other employees also sets the stage for being able to take a vacation once in a while or reducing your own work load so you can put energy into more long term planning for your business.

It is OK to over prepare. It is being unprepared that can have lasting consequences.