Disaster Planning – Essential
If you are just starting out with disaster planning and you have limited resources, this is the place to start. We have outlined simple, essential tasks that make sure you have thought about and recorded the most basic elements of a disaster plan. Don’t overwhelm yourself by thinking you must complete everything at once. Plan for a slow and steady completion of each step.
- Acquire, review the Emergency Response and Salvage Wheel or the mobile app.
- Gather phone numbers for contacts needed in emergency (staff and volunteers; utilities/repairmen; recovery vendors)
- Create an evacuation plan for the facility that addresses the safety of visitors and staff
- Meet with local emergency responders (fire department, county emergency management agency)
- Share your evacuation plan
- Show them around significant areas in your facility
- Discuss after-hours access
- Discuss typical response time to your location
- Talk with them about what resources they may be able to make available to you
- Draw up a basic floor plan indicating location of alarms, extinguishers, water and heat controls, etc.
- Create and document a process for computer back ups
- Record location of supplies, tools that would be useful in an emergency
- Meet with insurance agent
- Assign an institutional spokesperson for emergency situations
- Emergency Response Salvage Wheel: A wheel that gives basic guidance in the response to and recovery from disaster, available for purchase from http://store.conservation-us.org/site/index.php?app=ecom&ns=prodshow&ref=FAIC-1
- The same information from the response wheel in a free mobile app: https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/ers-emergency-response-salvage/id513081280?mt=8
- Pocket Response Plan™ (PReP) from Council of State Archivists: A customizable template for recording contact information and communication procedures for use in the event of an emergency. The plan is designed to be folded to the size of a credit card. A customizable template for Maine organizations is available as a Word download: PReP for Maine Institutions. The generic version of the PReP (not government agency specific) is downloadable as a Word document at https://www.statearchivists.org/programs/emergency-preparedness/emergency-preparedness-resources/pocket-response-plantm-prep-tm-english-template/.
- Tips for beginning to build relationships and work with local first responders from Heritage Preservation: http://www.conservation-us.org/docs/default-source/emergency-resources/working_with_emergency_responders
- Template for gathering basic information for a disaster plan from Northeast Document Conservation Center’s Preservation Leaflet series: https://www.nedcc.org/free-resources/preservation-leaflets/3.-emergency-management/3.4-worksheet-for-outlining-a-disaster-plan
- A pamphlet to help think through building a disaster supply kit for disasters from the National Park Service: https://www.nps.gov/museum/publications/conserveogram/21-02.pdf
- Simple essential and enhanced ideas to complete one disaster planning activity on May Day: http://www2.archivists.org/initiatives/mayday-saving-our-archives
- Basic non-networked computer back up strategies from IT World (written for home users with one computer, but adaptable for small organizations): http://www.itworld.com/consumerization-it/327820/best-home-backup-plan-options-part-3-external-drive-backup and http://www.itworld.com/consumerization-it/328710/best-home-backup-plan-options-part-4-cloud-based-backup and http://www.itworld.com/consumerization-it/330939/best-home-backup-plan-options-part-5-complete-backup-strategy
- Sample disaster plan: Small Town Library
The following Word documents include agendas for meetings to work through the disaster planning process, an overview and who should attend the meeting, things to keep in mind during the meeting, and suggestions and examples that have come out of CERC’s facilitated disaster planning process.
You do not necessarily need to do the meetings in the suggested order. Also be aware that a multi-building campus may require more than one Facilities Meeting.
Once you have completed the meetings and compiled the final plan, schedule a final meeting with everyone that was involved to review the plan contents.
- Introduction and Contacts Meeting: Agenda_IntroContacts
- Facilities and Fire Department Meeting: Agenda_FDandFacilities
- Business Continuity and Insurance Meeting: Agenda_BusCont