The safety professional working for a small to midsize business (SMB) is often tasked with developing emergency response and business continuity plans for the protection of staff and facilities. These plans predict likely hazardous events and describe the steps that the SMB can take to protect itself and its employees from the immediate threat.
In order to be most effective, the next generation of emergency response and business continuity plans should go beyond simple evacuation plans. These plans should be specific, tailored to the SMB's operations and encompass all facets of the business. Safety professionals charged with this duty need to be aware of the true responsibility they are taking on. They need to think long term—not just about protecting operations in the here and now. Today's emergency response and business continuity plans should include procedures necessary to recover critical functions to help get the business back up and running if a loss should occur in the future.
