Business Continuity For Dummies

Take Care of Hurt or Seriously Affected Staff

Personal safety should be paramount throughout your entire business continuity planning, but in the event of a crisis the disruption can still pose serious harm and distress to staff. We aren’t for a moment suggesting that you try to do the work of the emergency services or put yourself at risk, but make sure your staff know you’re prioritising their safety before anything else. Don’t allow them to enter a damaged building without the go-ahead from a professional that the premises are safe, and always emphasise that people are more important than equipment.

During an incident communicate fully with your staff and be able to account for where staff are and identify anyone who’s missing. Reassure your staff that you’re doing everything you can to help those who are affected or hurt, pass details on to the emergency services if necessary and record information for any casualties in order to inform relatives.

After an incident staff may suffer fatigue or shock, so allow people to take some time off if they need so they can recover properly. Arrange meetings with people particularly affected, and make sure team leaders are providing adequate support and advice. Rushing employees back to work isn’t beneficial in the long run and doesn’t help your recovery phase if your team are unable to perform well.