As we all now know too well, unplanned events can have a serious impact on your business. Preparation for these business interruptions helps to mitigate risk and allows business owners to sleep soundly at night, as they know that – should a problem strike – a plan is in place to bring equilibrium back to business operations.

Good contingency planning is careful to balance between over-preparation for something that may never happen and adequate preparation so that a business may respond quickly and effectively to a crisis. Some areas of vulnerability include:

• Terrorist, Disgruntled Employee, Vandalism, Theft, Looting, Forced-Entry, Vehicle Intrusion
• Water, Fire, Smoke, Wind, Earthquake, Landslide
• Asbestos, Lead, Mold
• Biological/Trauma
• Fuel, Chemical, Glass.

Adequate planning also identifies the probability of an event and correlates it with is possible impact:

• Low impact/low probability – Risks in the bottom left corner are low level, and you can often ignore them
• Low impact/high probability – Risks in the top left corner are of moderate importance – if these things happen, you can cope with them and move on. However, you should try to reduce the likelihood that they’ll occur
• High impact/low probability – Risks in the bottom right corner are of high importance if they do occur, but they’re very unlikely to happen. For these, however, you should do what you can to reduce the impact they’ll have if they do occur, and you should have contingency plans in place just in case they do
• High impact/high probability – Risks towards the top right corner are of critical importance. These are your top priorities and are risks that you must pay close attention to

This is just the beginning of a very detailed and custom-tailored analysis of your business and how to prepare for unexpected “surprises” that can seriously compromise your business operations. Want to know more and have San Diego Flood Restoration complete a free contingency plan for your business? Please contact Tom Frederick at (888) 247-3651 or visit their website at sandiegofloodrestoration.com.