Developing an Evacuation Plan for Your Business
Zack Klein • May 18, 2022
Guarantee Restoration is in the business of helping you get back on your feet following unforeseen disasters, but in an ideal world, we would be able to help you prevent these disasters altogether. While we may not be able to stop that tropical storm or fire from ravaging your business, we can help you prepare. From content documentation to 3D imaging, there is a lot that we can do to help you and your business weather a storm, but perhaps the most important step you can take is implementing an evacuation plan to ensure every member of your team can reach safety.
Steps in Creating an Evacuation Plan
A successful evacuation plan will follow a pretty straightforward formula. To ensure that all your bases are covered, the plan should include all of the following:
- Determine All Situations in Which an Evacuation Would be Necessary - By outlining this information, you will remove all doubt for employees of when the evacuation protocol should be followed.
- Assign Roles and Responsibilities - Who will initiate the evacuation process? Who will assist customers out of the facility? At the time of disaster, confusion quickly leads to missed steps and potentially deadly outcomes. Make sure everyone has a clear understanding of their responsibilities in an emergency.
- Outline Evacuation Routes - Establish multiple evacuation routes for your business, both primary and secondary. Ensure that these routes are clearly marked, lit, and free of any obstacles. Make all employees aware of the plan and provide all relevant information such as maps and emergency phone numbers.
- Establish Procedures for Those with Disabilities - Your employees or customers may include individuals with disabilities. Your evacuation plans should take these individuals into account by ensuring that routes are handicap accessible, signs are clear and legible, and procedures have been established for those who may need assistance.
- Have a Post-Evacuation Plan - What should employees do and where should they go following an evacuation? In order to account for everyone’s safety and quickly identify anyone who may still need assistance exiting the building, a process to account for everyone post-evacuation should also be in place.
Preparing Your Business for Disaster
Disasters may come out of nowhere, but that doesn’t mean we can’t prepare for them. The experts at Guarantee Restoration are well-versed in unforeseen events and how to help businesses overcome them quickly. Safeguard your business and your livelihood by contacting us to learn more about pre-loss planning.
By making pre-loss planning investments, businesses can limit disruptions to operations, reduce adverse financial effects, accelerate the restoration process, and prevent permanent closures.
Every time I write the May Meet the Team feature, my first instinct is to start it with “It’s gonna be MAY!” Must be the millennial in me to want to begin it with the iconic *NSYNC track. I digress. We are back with this month’s featured employee, Jordan Steib, who serves as the Marketing Manager of GRS. Jordan was born and raised in the South Louisiana city of Thibodaux. After graduating from high school, he attended Nicholls State University before joining the workforce. He was a Lead Administrative Assistant at the Terrebonne ARC for a decade. When he moved to Baton Rouge in 2017, he served in a few administrative and office management positions before joining our GRS team in December 2019. Since arriving at Guarantee Restoration Services, Jordan as served as administrative support for the Business Development and Marketing department and as an Executive Assistant to our CEO, Shawn Folks. In July 2022, he was promoted to Marketing Manager, where he has thrived in planning and filming most of our video content. During his tenure, he has also hired a marketing assistant, which has vastly improved the department’s functionality and capabilities. He has been instrumental in building and expanding our brand awareness. We have also increased the support we can provide our fellow GRS team members. In addition, we have steadily cultivated a better sense of teamwork and community through our company culture engagement activities, such as National Cocoa Day and “Pumpkins and Pies.” Personally, he is the second born of three sons to his parents, Martha and Damian. He is the proud cat father of Bridgette Anne Steib, who turns 3 years old this month. In his spare time, he has recently taken up home wine making and has really enjoyed the (literal) fruits of his labor. He has made wine with strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, cherries and raspberries. His hobbies also include camping, tubing, boating and fishing with friends. Additionally, over the years, he has become quite the home chef and enjoys cooking for himself and having friends over for dinner. He enjoys being creative and decorating for different holidays. Finally, when he can go home to Thibodaux, he enjoys nothing more than spending time with his parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, nephew and nieces.
Guarantee Restoration Services provides a full range of pre-loss planning services aimed at properly equipping companies in the event of a catastrophic incident.
