Do you have a plan for bad weather? Fire? Burglary?
Now… come clean… How often do you go over any of these plans in your office? Does once a quarter sound reasonable? Does it include a communication plan for when local phones don’t work? Consider an out of area contact you can call or text that you are ok. This is a great idea not just for your office, but also for yourself personally. Again, try to get out of state – not out of town. When phones get jammed, you can often call out of state just fine.
What happens if the power goes out? Do you know your exit route in the dark? Why not keep a flashlight in your desk – and check the batteries each month on the first. When is the last time you checked your office’s emergency lights? Why not do that on the first of each month, too?
What about for a chemical leak? For bad weather you want to stay low to the ground. But some chemicals like chlorine gas stay low to the ground – for a chemical leak you want to get OFF the ground – get as high as you can. Where would that be in your home and office? Consider going to a smaller room and sealing off doors and air conditioning ducts until the gas dissipates. Have tape, foil, and N95 or better dust masks handy.
What about a holdup? If a guy comes in with a gun, what’s your plan? Do you have a big desk to hide under? Do you have something nearby you can use as a weapon?
What about data breach? In our industry of credit and debit card processing, we talk about this all the time. You may have heard the term PCI Compliance. If you aren’t sure what this is – and you accept credit cards – you want to learn about it. It will help you create an organized plan to protect your customers from fraud – and you from fines and embarrassment. It’s a good idea to get data breach protection insurance. We have added that recently to all accounts we process payments for. Ask us if you want to discuss it more.
Oh… but you know it won’t happen in your office, right? Do you use facebook? Email? You are leaving tracks. Websites you visit and emails you open put stuff on your computer. Links you click can put stuff on your computer. And clearing your cookies isn’t enough. But you CAN turn these things off – or use stealth mode. Get good help to make sure your computers don’t store stuff.
Plan your escape routes now. You will agree that it is better to have them and not need them than need them and not have them!
