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Continuity of Operations Planning (COOP) for Businesses

A Call to Action

Every year emergencies, such as building fires and floods, impact business throughout our region, forcing them to shut down for several days or months. Emergencies can also impact your customers if they are in a flooded area and forced out of their homes, for example.

Your business can play a very important role during an emergency response, but only if your business is prepared.

Why Create an Emergency Management Plan?

Continuity Planning Toolkit 

This will guide you in developing an emergency management plan for your business. It will help you to think about how to protect the investment you have made in your physical space and business documents, how to ensure your staff are prepared for an emergency and how to assist your customers during an emergency. 


Continuity Planning Workshops for Businesses
 
To listen to a podcast of the latest workshop held on January 30, 2009 at the Philadelphia Bar Association and in conjunction with the Center City District, click here.
 

Shelter in Place Requirements for Buildings

The Philadelphia Fire Code requires building owners/managers to develop a plan to shelter occupants inside the building in the event an emergency outside the building requires this, such as a hazardous materials release.

Click on the above link for the requirements and a sample
shelter-in-place plan that building owners can use as a guide in preparing the plan for their building. Following the sample plan are questions asked by building owners regarding shelter-in-place requirements in the Fire Code. Each question is followed by an answer prepared by the Fire Department and the Department of Licenses and Inspections. The questions and answers are intended to interpret and clarify the requirements in the Fire Code. 

If you have additional questions you can call the Fire Department’s Fire Code
Unit at 215-686-1356.

Corporate Emergency Access System

In the complex world we live in, emergencies can have a significant impact on the business community.  From the global threat of terrorism to a devastating flood, remaining competitive means quickly resuming business operations in the aftermath of a crisis. The Corporate Emergency Access System, or CEAS, addresses this new set of realities. Click the logo for more information.
 

Additional Business Resources


Institute for Business and Home Safety: Open for Business®
 
Open for Business® is a comprehensive disaster planning toolkit. The easy-to-use guide helps business owners reduce the potential for loss should disaster strike, and reopen quickly should they be forced to close. This creates a savings for the business, and also benefits the employees and customers who rely on it.

Open for Business®
includes an assessment tool and forms that helps the business determine its susceptibility to natural disasters wherever it has facilities and provides information to minimize damage. The toolkit also includes materials to help organize the business’ critical information and review its essential operations, both of which lead to development of a continuity plan.

The Institute for Business and Home Safety has also developed a free online training program for Open for Business®
.

Open for Business®
is available in English and Spanish.

A free single copy of the toolkit can be requesting by sending an e-mail to 
info@ibhs.org or call 1 (866) 657-IBHS (4247). A copy of the toolkit may also be downloaded at www.disastersafety.org/business_protection/.
 
Association of Contingency Planners
 
The largest, most established organization of its kind in North America, ACP has become a unifying force for practitioners in the rapidly evolving field of business continuity.
 
ACP provides a forum for the exchange of experiences and information through a network of local chapters. Volunteer organizations, government agencies and businesses of all sizes can benefit from these networking opportunities. Valuable insight and partnerships can be gained that identify common planning needs and recovery solutions, and enhance skills that prepare families, communities, and industry.
 
National Website  www.acp-international.com
 
Liberty Valley (Philadelphia) Chapter  http://libertyvalley.acp-international.com/

Business Continuity Publications
 
Contingency Planning & Management  www.contingencyplanning.com

Disaster Recovery Journal  www.drj.com

Disaster Resource Guide 
www.disaster-resource.com
 
Philadelphia Bar Association
 
 


 
 
 
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