KEY FLOOD DISASTER PREPAREDNESS PLANS FOR BUSINESSES

The recent flood crisis in Nigeria has left many businesses with unprecedented  losses. This year’s flooding is reported as the worst since the 2012 incident. Many lives have been lost and a lot of people are being displaced as the flooding worsens. About 332,327 hectares of farmland have been destroyed, thereby exposing Nigerians to serious threats of food scarcity which may linger till next year, with the nation’s poverty index expected to be on the increase.

In 2012, about N2.6 trillion was reportedly lost as a result of the flooding. Within the last 2 weeks of this emergency, the economy has suffered over N1 trillion loss and counting. From available statistics, 40% – 60% of businesses, especially Small and Medium Scale Enterprises (SMEs) hardly recover from  disasters, whether natural or man-made. Bigger  commercial cities such as Lagos, Abuja and Port Harcourt are at a higher risk of business interruption and losses due to the  flooding.

Although forecasts were made about the disaster, response has however not been adequate to forestall the impending crisis. The consequences include the dire financial implications on business owners, employees and the society at large.

Key flood disaster preparedness plans

Businesses are advised to refrain from building permanent sites in flood plains or high risk areas. This is due to the unrestricted movement of water especially when they overflow their banks. It is crucial for businesses to plan adequately to prevent a total breakdown of the business during and after a disaster, whether natural (floods, storm, drought) or man-made (fires, terrorist attack). This  ensures adequate response during the crisis and also allows the firm to continue to do business, however minimally, even during the crisis. This will reduce the financial exposure of the firm and ensure prompt recommencement of business operations.

In addition to the above, vital flood disaster preparedness plans include:

1. Create a flood emergency and procedure plan: Analyzing the risk and level of exposure of the firm in case of  flooding is very critical to ensuring relevant controls are put in place. This would include:

• Mitigation planning – this answers some questions on ‘what, how, who, when, and where’.
• Preparation – provision of emergency kits, duplication and back-up system for information, secondary sources of power and  communication, interaction with emergency contacts, proper inventory, regular drills and table tops exercise.
• Response – assigning roles and responsibilities and team-building.
• Recovery – this is an approach and procedure to be implemented to ensure swift restoration of business operations to tackle the impact.

2. Create a business continuity plan: This analyzes the threats to business operations while coping with the disaster (flood). It focuses on the business contingency plans for minimal business interruption and ensures continuity in these abnormal situations. Plans would include:

• Logistics to ensure movement of products to and fro
• Temporary building site
• Employee welfare
• Proper storage facility
• Adequate communication between the firm and consumers
• Adequate communication between the firm and government agency

3. Insurance coverage: firms should adopt plans that provide sufficient coverage that not only protects claims for physical losses but also indirect costs such as cost of business disruption. 

4. Declaration of losses: This should be reported to relevant government agencies so as to obtain some form of assistance from the government in the form of loans, policy, tax exemption or financial aid.

Conclusion

The success of every plan is based on commitment and collaboration of all the stakeholders. Efficient communication strategy that is easily understood and readily available to every member of the organization is also crucial.  It is a cliché that ‘any business that fails to plan is planning to fail’. At Ducias HSE Professionals, we develop tailor-made plans for unique situations and strategies to help promote business continuity and recovery after an emergency.