Disaster recovery

Scope

Disaster recovery applies to all types of businesses. These disasters could be anything from floods, tornadoes, fire, and computer hackers.

Regulatory citations

• None

Key definitions

• Disaster recovery: The ability to respond to an interruption in services by implementing a plan to restore an organization’s critical business functions. These disasters could be anything from floods, tornadoes, fire, and computer hackers.

Summary of requirements

To ease the recovery process, plans need to be made well in advance. Plans for backup systems, locations, and equipment should be in place to minimize down time.

You should have emergency telephone numbers nearby for easy access. Include telephone numbers for the police, fire department, ambulance, poison control center, and the nearest hospital.

You may also want to have non-emergency telephone numbers on hand for facilities such as the local emergency management office, local American Red Cross chapter, insurance representative or risk manager, and staff emergency office.

Some of the steps you may want to take after a disaster include:

Get started

• Gather staff off-site to assign tasks and review salvage priorities. Create a team big enough for the work.
• Establish a “ Command Center ” with office equipment (computers, photocopier) and communications tools (walkie-talkies, cellular phones).
• Create a secure salvage area with locks, fans, tables, shelves, plastic sheeting, drying materials and clean water.
• Notify emergency officials of the extent of damage. Contact peer or professional groups for help.
• Appoint a media liaison to report conditions and need for help/volunteers.
• Verify financial resources: amount and terms of insurance, government assistance, potential outside funding.
• Arrange for repairs to security systems.

• Look for threats to worker safety. Determine status of security systems.
• Documenting the damage is essential for insurance and will help you with recovery.

• Once it is safe to enter the building, make a preliminary tour of all affected areas. Wear protective clothing.
• Do not move objects without documenting their condition.
• Take pictures or video of damage.
• Make notes and voice recordings to accompany images.
• Assign staff to keep written records of contacts with insurance agents and other investigators, and staff decisions on retrieval and salvage.
• Make visual, written and voice records for each step of salvage procedures.

• Leave undamaged items in place if the environment is stable and area secure. If not, move them to a secure, environmentally controlled area.
• Retrieve all pieces of broken objects and label them.

• Vital institutional information; employee and accounting records, and database backups.
• Items most prone to continued damage if untreated.
• Materials most likely to be successfully salvaged.