North Country Council
Disaster Resiliency Coordination Project
North County Council 2014 Business Prepardness Survey Results
In 2014 North Counntry Council conducted a survey of business prepardness levels throughout the region. We recieved 643 completed surveys an 8% response rate. The survey asked varied prepardness questions aimed at gauging the prepardness levels of our regional businesses.
What Have We Learned?
That 25% of those businesses that completed the survey have been impacted by a man-made or natural disaster and of those businesses flooding was the most common disaster followed by hurricane and snow and ice storm. The survey asked business that had not been impacted by a disaster to rate a list of hazards in terms of the impact on the business fire & hazardous materials ranked the highest with severe winter storm the second highest. In addition the survey asked those businesses that did not have a continuity response or emergency response plan what prevents them from doing so – for both plans almost 21% indicated that the risk does not justify the expense. The survey also asked businesses how long can they afford to be closed without suffering major financial loss – 17% indicated up to a week and 15% would suffer immediate loss. In conclusion a series of questions were asked about what businesses have done to prepare for a disaster and overall many of the components to preparedness planning such as: reviewing insurance policy, obtained back-up systems, identification of key suppliers, communication plans, IT information stored off site and identified alternative suppliers are in place. This indicates that although businesses indicated the risk doesn’t justify the cost in developing a plan they are concerned that an event will impact their business and are taking action to prepare.
Next Steps
North Country Council is giving presentations and workshops on preparedness planning and highlighting survey results throughout the region these events are being hosted through the areas Chamber of Commerce’s and other entireties that maintain a business membership. Our goal is to facilitate long-term disaster resiliency through increasing the awareness of the need for preparedness planning and putting tools to making planning cost effective and easy into the hands of our regions businesses.
If your organization is interested in a presentation or workshop on preparedness planning or if you are a businesses interceded in learning more contact Michelle Moren-Grey at mmoren@nccouncil.org.