In just a few short weeks the North Atlantic Treaty Organization(NATO) summit will be descending upon the city of Chicago.Whether your business has customers, employees, suppliers orproperty in the Windy City, the summit could impact youroperations.

Businesses face a host of risks like office occupation andraids; denial of access to places of business; employee andcustomer injury; and physical-property damage.

Zurich has released a whitepaper, now available on Twitter@ZurichNAnews, to help businesses craft a NATO-risk action planthat addresses advance planning as well as organizationalperformance once a disturbance begins. Your plan should addresseverything from communications to emergency evacuations tonecessary staffing levels.

Lessons gleaned from this whitepaper can be applied by riskmanagers with operations in any city facing a major event.

The following goals should be at the center of any emergencyplan:

• Employee and customer safety should be your first priority.Employees are a company's most valuable asset. Evaluate staffingneeds and promote safety. Constant communication, accommodatingemployees and visitors, and securing the property where yourbusiness resides will help keep your people at the forefront ofyour plan.
• Maintain business continuity. Businesses should revisit theirbusiness-continuity plans to ensure that contingencies exist for:not being able to freely access their place of business; key staffbeing unable to get to work; information lost because of poweroutage or if a network goes down; suppliers unable to deliver.
• Have immediate access to your repair and claims contacts.Verify coverage, limits, conditions and deductibles. Be prepared toact immediately to repair any physical-property damage to preventadditional loss.
• Have one person monitor social networks. Social networks suchas Twitter and Facebook can be important sources for up-to-date information onwhether trouble's brewing—and where. Designating one person to thistask will help create a clear communication channel.