Prepare your business for disruption
Follow this advice to help plan for and reduce the impact of serious disruptions on your business.
Keep your business premises safe in severe weather
There are steps you can take to protect your buildings, equipment and stock in severe weather.
Follow our advice for:
Prepare your business for climate change
Climate change will make severe weather worse and happen more often. Preparing now can reduce long-term risks to your business.
Get advice on preparing your business for extreme weather and a resilience checklist on the Adaptation Scotland website.
Business resilience checklist
To prepare your business for unexpected disruptions, check:
- staff know what to do in an emergency
- computer and IT systems can be recovered quickly after failure or cyber attack, with measures in place to prevent data loss
- all parts of the business are properly insured
- skills and important information are shared across the team
- the business can continue operating from another location if the main premises cannot be used
You should also think about how unexpected disruptions could affect your business, such as:
- being unable to access your site or premises
- disruption from external events such as flooding or fire
- critical equipment failure or a major supplier going out of business
- loss of electricity, water or gas
- disruption to transport networks
- critical staff being absent at the same time
- IT and telecommunications outages
To plan for disruption:
- keep up to date with national and local issues
- check your flood risk and sign up for flood alerts
- consider flood protection — raise electrical and valuable items and install flood measures
- review insurance limits, excesses, coverage and any exclusions
- understand your business site — for example, evacuation routes and flood plans
- consider back-up options for utilities such as energy, water and communications
- back up computers and key documents — store copies in a safe place or offsite
- ensure staff understand colleagues’ roles to cover absences
- share resilience plans and support neighbouring businesses where possible
- keep a record of important contacts for staff, emergency services, customers and suppliers
- store contact details safely or offsite
- review and update contacts every 3 to 6 months
- have a staff communication plan
- create an emergency kit — including key documents, plans and contact details
- test and check your plan every 3 to 6 months
Cyber security
80% of cybercrime can be prevented by getting the basics right.
Check cyber security advice for sole traders and cyber security advice for small and medium sized businesses on the National Cyber Security Centre website.
You can get the latest online security information from:
Protect your business from terrorism
Action Counters Terrorism (ACT) Awareness eLearning from Protect UK is a counter‑terrorism awareness product for all UK‑based businesses and the public. It provides nationally recognised guidance to help people better understand and mitigate current terrorist methods.
The National Protective Security Authority (NPSA) protects national security by providing advice to the facilities, systems, sites and networks necessary for the functioning of the country — also known as the Critical National Infrastructure.
The NPSA website has advice that covers: