The Commissioner’s Get Ready for Disasters guides can help you prepare your business for disasters and get back to business sooner.
Disasters come in many shapes and forms, not just the obvious bushfires or floods. Even if your business has plans to manage the direct impacts to property or assets, there are other ways your business could be impacted, such as extended electrical outages threatening perishable stock or road closures limiting access for customers or key staff.
With the demands of running a business, disaster planning may not always be the top priority. However, the damage from just one event can put you out of business permanently, especially if you are not prepared. Readying your business to survive such a catastrophe, knowing what to do when it happens and how to handle the aftermath are vital tasks for every business owner and operator.
They could be the difference between your business being out of action for a few days or not re-opening at all.
Resources in the Get Ready for Disasters kit
Get Ready Business: Prepare your business for disasters in five simple steps
Helps you create a quick plan to deal with emergencies and disasters, understand the most likely threats, find disaster information and draft key checklists such as emergency contacts.
Prepare for the Unexpected: Build a Business Continuity Plan
Helps you build a detailed continuity plan for your business to help keep your business operating through a disaster, including:
- Creating an emergency essentials kit
- Creating financial and insurance plans
- Backing up data and creating an alternate operating location
- Training staff in business continuity
Insurance Claims for Small Business
Takes you through the key steps in making a successful insurance claim and provides answers to frequently asked questions about the claims process.
Get Back to Business: A guide to recovering from disaster
Takes you through the five phases of disaster recovery - from the moment the disaster hits to the actions to take over the days, weeks and months afterwards. The included checklists help make sure you have completed all the key actions. Also includes case studies of successful business recoveries.
Other useful resources
| Authority | Link | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| NSW Government | Hazards Near Me app | Current information about local warnings and emergencies |
| Fire + Rescue NSW | Translated Factsheets | Fire preparedness brochure available in multiple languages for CALD businesses |
| Fire + Rescue NSW | Small Business Fire Safety | A checklist for small businesses to use alongside a Business Continuity Plan |
| Fire + Rescue NSW | Comsafe - commercial safety training services | Offers small businesses the choice to send employees on comprehensive, professional fire and emergency safety training |
| Fire + Rescue NSW | Fire safety in early childhood centres | Provides technical information for mitigating risks to occupants of early childhood centres during a fire emergency |
| Fire + Rescue NSW | Escape plan grid | May be useful for home-based businesses and other small businesses to prepare to evacuate in fire emergencies |
| NSW Rural Fire Service | Bush fire survival plan | Provides an action plan to prepare for a bush fire in homes/workplaces |
| NSW Rural Fire Service | Bush fire survival plan | Provides a step-by-step approach on preparing to evacuate and save irreplaceable items such as legal documentation |
| NSW Reconstruction Authority | Be ready for an emergency evacuation | Provides advice on how to monitor local weather warnings and prepare to evacuate early |
| Safe Work | SeasonalSAFE app | Suggests ways to help workers stay comfortable and safe from the effects of the summer environment |