Two steps you can take to prepare your business for COVID-19

If you're a local business owner, you might be watching the news and wondering how Coronavirus will affect your business. What steps should you take to prepare?

What is Coronavirus?

Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness in humans ranging from mild cold-like symptoms to more severe cases that can cause pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, severe influenza-like illness, kidney failure and even death.

Our experts at Durham Emergency Management recommend you take the following two steps to prepare your business for any emergency:

1. Make a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)

• Think about the key products that your business provides and how you can continue without disruption. Find out who your key vendors are and ask if they have business continuity plans in place. Look for other vendors in advance that could step in to provide the same products if your supply chain is disrupted.
  
  
• Plan to work with fewer staff in the office. If your staff or their families are ill, they will need to stay home from work. Plan to quickly retrain and reassign the staff you have left to fill key roles. If your business can run with staff working remotely, make sure that your IT infrastructure can support it. Consider having staff ‘practise’ working from home one day a week and limiting face-to-face meetings when the risk level is high.

2. Support the health and well-being of your team

• Your employees might be experiencing anxiety and stress as they face additional challenges and new roles at work or at home. Make sure that your plans, policies and expectations are clear and align with the recommendations from the Health Department for personal protection.
  
  
• Talk to your staff about the changes they are experiencing. Keep them updated to avoid misinformation, rumors and fear. Make sure your staff know that they are supported.

Durham Region Health Department, provincial, national and international health authorities are actively watching the spread of the COVID-19. You can stay up to date by following the Durham Region Health Department’s COVID-19 updates and recommendations.  

Related articles and information

• Learn more about how to prepare your business for emergencies.