How to Protect a Business from Fire and Other Disasters

12/2/2021 (Permalink)

Disaster Preparation

This is a common question, but it has a disappointing answer. Try as you might, you cannot protect a business from a major disaster. This would include major fires, earthquakes, floods, tornadoes, and other natural disasters. This is not to say that you cannot be prepared. Disaster preparation falls into two categories.

Keep Small Problems Small

Fire preparation is a perfect example of this. The business should have professionally installed smoke, fire detectors, and alarms connected to the nearest fire station. These should be on battery backup along with emergency lighting to help with the evacuation. It should have sprinkler systems in common areas where paper, plastic, and other combustible materials could catch fire. It should have special fire suppression systems in computer rooms and anyplace where there are motors, generators, air conditioners, or any other heavy electrical equipment. Implementing all these prevention measures will minimize fire damage and hopefully allow the business to continue operating after an incident.

Have a Recovery Plan

Every business should do disaster planning. If a business decides that it will cease to exist after a major disaster, then that’s the plan. You will find that most businesses do not have a comprehensive plan. Many have looked at setting one up with the best of intentions, but the costs are prohibitive. They finally decide on backing up the computer systems nightly, sending one copy off-site weekly, and figuring the rest out if the disaster happens. Fortunately, the fire preparation measures above are usually enough to minimize the most common form of disaster, fire.

Recovery

The end of the disaster marks the beginning of the recovery. If the disaster was a fire, then this is when you get to see how well the fire preparation measures worked. Regardless of what type of disaster the business experienced, much of the recovery is the same. A qualified specialist from Fullerton, CA, will need to be brought in for the cleanup and restoration.