It is National Preparedness Month (NPM), and this year's theme focuses on being disaster-ready: “Be disaster aware, take action to prepare.”

According to The Ready campaign, which spearheads NPM, the U.S. experienced 24 earthquakes, 392 severe storms, and 132 significant floods between 1980 and 2010. Since 1980, there have been seven major terrorist attacks on U.S. soil, according to CNN. Technological and accidental hazards, including nuclear power plant failures, hazardous material incidents, and blackouts, can happen without warning and disrupt a business.

Natural or man-made disasters like these can spell the end for up to 40% of business affected by them, says the Insurance Information Institute.

The number one concern for any business owner during a disaster is protecting their employees and customers during and after the event. But disaster preparedness can also help them get their business back on its feet faster once a disaster or emergency event is over.

NPM is an initiative by The Ready campaign with the intention of keeping families and businesses aware of the risks they face and how to be informed and prepared for what to do in the event of an emergency or disaster. Click “next” to read Ready.gov's four tips to prepare a business for an emergency.

Be informed.

One of the best ways to prepare for a disaster is to be informed about your community's disaster and emergency plans. Find out what are hazards that are most likely to affect the area, and assess the risks and impact these hazards would have on your business. A proper risk assessment and insurance can help businesses get back on their feet after a disaster fast.

Another important course of action is to find out how to be alerted of emergency situations. You can find out what kind of alert systems are in place in your business' area by checking with FEMA's Integrated Public Alert & Warning System Authorities.

It is also important to learn where the closest short-term and long-term shelters are to your business. The length of time you are required to shelter may be short, such as during a tornado warning, or long, such as during a winter storm or a pandemic. It is important to keep your employees safe in a shelter until local authorities say it is safe to leave.

Stay informed about what your business' community's plans are by asking local officials questions like:

What hazards are most likely?
How will I get alerts and warnings?
What is the advice and plans for sheltering and evacuation?
Are there emergency contact numbers I should have for different situations?
Are there opportunities for preparedness education and training?
Does my community have a plan?

Once you know what preparation plans are in place in your business' community, you can create a site-specific plan for your workplace.

Make a plan.

When creating a disaster plan for a business, owners should take an “all hazards” approach. While it is important to prepare for hazards that are most likely to hit (i.e. preparing for a major weather event like a severe hurricane if you live in an area that is prone to hurricanes), the probability that a specific hazard will impact a business is hard to determine. That's why business owners should consider many different threats and hazards and the likelihood that they will occur.

Prevention and risk mitigation should be developed as part of the planning process. Threats or hazards that are classified as probable, and those hazards that could cause injury, property damage, business disruption or environmental impact, should be addressed and properly insured against.

Items to address include physical assets like buildings, information technology, utility systems, machinery, raw materials, and finished goods that could be affected or lost in any kind of disaster. Look for vulnerabilities like deficiencies in building construction, process systems, security, protection systems and loss prevention programs within your business, and address any weaknesses to ensure the severity of damage to these systems when an incident occurs is as low as possible.

Business owners should create a range of plans and make them easily accessible to their employees, so they can stay informed and aware during an emergency situation as well. Types of plans to have are:

An emergency response plan to protect people, property, and the environment. This plan should include evacuation, sheltering, and lockdown protocols, as well as plans for other types of threats identified during risk assessment.
A crisis communications plan to communicate with employees, customers, news media, and stakeholders.
A business continuity plan that includes recovery strategies to overcome the disruption of business.
An information technology plan to recover computer hardware, software, connectivity, and electronic data to support critical business processes.
An incident management system to define responsibilities and coordinate activities before, during, and following an incident.
A training program to train people with a defined role within the preparedness plan to do their assigned tasks. All employees should be trained.

Employers should conduct testing and exercises to evaluate the effectiveness of the preparedness program and make sure employees know what to do or if there is room for improvement in the plan.

An employer should also include employee assistance and support in their business preparedness plan to encourage employees and their families to develop their own family preparedness plans, to support the employee's needs following an incident.

Build a kit.

Having a kit of basic supplies in your business to protect employees during a disasater is important. Food, water, and other supplies are essential to have on hand in the event that a disaster prevents you and your employees from being able to leave the worksite for an extended period of time. It is important to have enough supplies for everyone to be able to last at least 72 hours.

A basic kit would contain the following items:

One gallon of water per person per day, for drinking and sanitation.
At least a three-day supply of non-perishable food.
Battery-powered or hand crank radio and an NOAA weather radio with tone alert, and extra batteries for both.
Flashlight and extra batteries.
First aid kit.
Whistle to signal for help.
Dust mask to help filter contaminated air and plastic sheeting and duct tape to shelter-in-place.
Moist towelettes, garbage bags, and plastic ties for personal sanitation.
Wrench or pliers to turn off utilities.
Manual can opener for food.
Local maps.
Cell phone with chargers, inverter or solar charger.

Kits should be stored in a well-protected but easily accessible place within the workplace, and should be maintained regularly.

Employees should be encouraged to make their own preparations, making sure they have food, water, and other necessities like medicines in their own kits. Keeping comfortable walking shoes at work is also a good idea, in case an evacuation requires walking long distances.

If a vehicle is an employee's “workplace,” make sure to take proper preparedness steps for that situation, as well. A kit of emergency supplies should be kept in vehicles and include extra supplies like:

Jumper cables.
AM/FM radio to listen to traffic reports and emergency messages.
Cat litter or sand for better tire traction.
Shovel.
Ice scraper.
Warm clothes, gloves, hat, sturdy boots, jacket and an extra change of clothes.
Blankets or sleeping bags.
Flares or reflective triangle.

Get involved.

As a business owner, get involved in the preparation process as much as possible. Having firsthand knowledge of your business' disaster preparation will give you an advantage when a disaster strikes.

It can also help to get involved with disaster preparedness efforts within your workplace's community. Getting trained in and volunteering with a Community Emergency Response Team, Medical Reserve Corps unit, and/or other Citizen Corps Partner Programs can give you an upper hand in aiding your own business during an emergency.

Being part of the community planning process and joining a preparedness project can also provide a wealth of experience to help you build your business' plan.

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