Read about the seven most common natural disasters and how you can protect your business from them, whether you’re an SMB or a large corporation.
Natural disasters are usually associated with people and communities. However, it’s easy to forget that natural disasters can also have a huge impact on businesses, causing physical and financial damages that are often very difficult to recover from.
As a business owner, you are responsible for protecting yourself from natural disasters and dealing with them accordingly if you’re ever impacted by one. This way, you can ensure your business continues to prosper with minimal disruption.
So, what are the seven most common natural disasters? More importantly, how can you protect your business from them? Keep reading to find out.
- Lightning
There’s a misconception out there that lightning doesn’t strike that often: but this isn’t true.
Lightning is one of nature’s most common natural disasters. It destroys houses, roads, forests, and businesses, too. Essentially, lightning doesn’t discriminate.
There are around 3 million lightning flashes every day. This is a lot, and there’s no guarantee that it won’t one day strike your business. If it does, then some of the potential consequences can include:
- On-site fires
- Damaged facilities
- Loss of inventory
- Production delays
- Short-term and long-term closures
If lightning was to strike on the ground surrounding your business building, then it can also cause untold damage, such as shattered concrete. This is why you should click here to get professional asphalt pavement services. Asphalt is known for its durability and is a great way to better protect your business premises from the potential of a lightning strike.
- Earthquakes
Next, there are earthquakes.
Some countries, such as the UK, don’t tend to experience earthquakes.
However, other countries, such as China and Turkey, regularly experience earthquakes. This is why their business owners must take extra precautions to protect their businesses, as you never know when an earthquake might strike.
Usually, earthquakes cause some form of damage no matter how much you do to protect your business. Despite this, it’s still recommended that you install foundation bolting and use cripple wall bracing so that your building walls are less likely to move and shake. Also, it’s a good idea to have an earthquake survival kit to help protect employees and customers inside your building when an earthquake strikes.
- Pandemics
Only a couple of years ago, the global COVID-19 pandemic struck. Not only did this change most people’s lives, but it also had a devastating impact on businesses, causing hundreds of thousands of companies around the world to go bankrupt and permanently close.
Knowing that it’s possible for another pandemic to happen in the future, it’s important that your business takes the right precautionary steps. Primarily, the focus of the plan should be on remote work (i.e., how your employees are going to work from home). On top of this, you should also think about PPE and other important factors if your business has essential employees who’ll still be required to come into work.
- Wildfires
Wildfires are becoming increasingly more common, especially in countries like Australia and the US.
As a result, businesses are having to be extra smart to stay safe. This includes having a clearance zone around buildings as well as removing trees that are close to the premises so that the fire can’t keep spreading to the point where it reaches the front door.
If your business ever receives a notification about a wildfire that you’re close to, evacuation should be the number one priority. After all, nothing is more important than the health and safety of employees inside the building. Plus, this makes life much easier for firefighters if a wildfire ever does reach your business building, as they can quickly get to work on reducing the fire without having to be concerned with getting people out first.
- Floods
Floods remain one of the number one natural disasters around the world.
The worst thing about flood water is that once it reaches your business, it can easily get inside and completely damage your stock and resources. Even if your company is insured against floods, this is still something that you won’t want to deal with — especially if it means you have to temporarily shut down. No business wants to stop trading, so make sure to flood-proof your building’s most sensitive areas.
- Snowstorms
Snowstorms are extremely common during the winter.
When snowstorms are really bad, they can cause damage to business properties and also prevent employees from being able to come to work. In a nutshell, it’s your worst nightmare as a business owner.
Because snowstorms are so unpredictable, you need to have a plan in place for when they happen. As mentioned earlier, a remote work plan will be key to this. In many cases, just because employees can’t physically travel to work, it doesn’t mean they can’t do the work from home using their PCs and laptops!
If you find yourself in the middle of a snowstorm while at the office, make sure to do the simple things right, such as turning on the heating and putting salt on the pathways. Even small steps like this can help to make snowstorms less impactful.
- Heat Waves
Heat waves are a deceptive natural disaster. Many people think they’re harmless, but the opposite is true.
At their worst, heat waves can affect employee labor, customer behavior, and supply chain disruptions. None of this is desirable, and it’s made worse by the fact that there’s not much you can do about it.
However, you can still follow measures such as dropping employee dress codes, allowing employees to start and finish at different times, and keeping the air conditioning turned on all day long. In the most extreme of heatwaves, the best option is to simply allow employees to work from home, as asking them to come in and work could pose several health risks.
Conclusion
Over the next decade alone, there’s no telling what natural disasters might impact your business. Now, though, you’re better prepared to deal with them and have hopefully learned a lot from this guide.
