The terrible floods and storms causing great trauma for parts of the country should be a red alert for small business to be prepared for natural disasters, warns the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, Bruce Billson.
Mr Billson said the overwhelming majority of small and family businesses do not have a current disaster preparation plan for their business.
“An inquiry by my office found only one in four small businesses have a current business continuity plan,” the Ombudsman said.
“Natural disasters can be devastating for small and family businesses – either their business is directly damaged or wiped-out, or they are an indirect victim who has survived the disaster only to have no customers because of the impact on their town or region.
“Taking simple steps to be better prepared, sensible risk mitigation action and bolstering resilience can help small and family businesses to get back on their feet quicker.”
Mr Billson said in some cases when a disaster was imminent, small business owners were often the first to volunteer to lead and contribute to local emergency response and business support groups, and to help make preparations for the community such as laying sandbags and moving stock and people to higher and safer ground.
“Just like the businesses they run, they are the lifeblood of our communities,” he said.
“But I urge small and family businesses to be as prepared as possible, and to be best placed to respond and recover. This can be as simple as ensuring your record keeping is up to date and that critical information is at hand and, where possible, digitised so you can retrieve it if your business is destroyed.”
Mr Billson said small business could take the following steps:
- Do you have the
