How important is disaster preparedness and what is HR's role in it?

In today's business community, disaster preparedness is overwhelmingly important and popular. Eighty-five percent of HR professionals report that their organizations have formal disaster preparedness plans in place, according to a disaster preparedness survey released by the Society for Human Resource Management. Further, more than half of U.S. organizations have either created or revised their disaster preparedness plans to ensure employee safety and business continuity. Forty-one percent of organizations with business continuity plans report that they will be able to sustain essential operations indefinately, and 25 percent report that all operations can continue indefinately.

HR plays a significant role in disaster preparedness planning with 49 percent of HR professionals surveyed being primarily responsible for forming all disaster preparedness plans, or forming disaster preparedness plans and proceduries with equal input from other departments.

HR is focusing on crisis response training for employees, including CPR and first aid training, fire suppression, crisis management, and hazardous material containment. Employees with crisis management training are more likely to respond confidently, with 95 percent of respondents feeling comfortable taking a leadership role in the event of a disaster.

HR can prevent workplace violence by following six simple steps. According to Kathleen McComber, SPHR, those steps are:

1. Seek employee involvement, either via a policy or training program;
2. Conduct regular worksite analysis;
3. Implement hazard prevention and controls such as a security review and post-incident review;
4. Educate and train the staff and especially management because nine out of ten times it's a manager that has upset an employee to the point where he or she turns to violence; and
5. Evaluate your recordkeeping and prevention programs.

Reprinted with permission. © CCH

<p>Employees who participate in crisis manaagement training are more likely to respond confidently in the event of a disaster.</p>

How important is disaster preparedness and what is HR's role in it?

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