Nine disasters with at least $1 billion in damage have hit the US so far this year, from drought to derecho to hail to tornadoes, according to the NOAA, making the first half of the 2022 disaster count rank fifth highest in its records.
Extreme weather—from blizzards to hurricanes to wildfires—wreaks havoc on businesses in every region of the country, with damage having a lasting effect. With an increasing trend of high-cost disasters and with climate change increasing the frequency and severity of weather and climate disasters, most businesses will experience the effects at some point.
In fact, according to the Insurance Institute for Business & Home Security, 40% of small businesses do not reopen after a severe weather event. This is in part due to a failure to have an actionable plan in place. As we discussed in Step up your disaster preparedness, don’t wait for the news report, organizations can get tripped up when there’s confusion over who should act and what those actions should be during a weather crisis. Without clear plans, practice, and timely alerts, critical resources may fail to execute.
Origami’s cloud-based RMIS helps you to make weather preparedness a priority. With proximity search feature, flexible data integration, and consolidated external events module, you’ll be able to quickly identify major weather risks and effectively communicate how key parties can take action.
Identify at-risk locations with integrated weather feeds and proximity searching
Origami Risk’s flexible platform integrates with a number of sources to feed weather alerts directly to your system. Local and federal agencies can provide critical data for preparedness. For example, you can tap into the Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS), which monitors volcanoes, floods, cyclones, and more; the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Earthquake feed; the Pacific Disaster Center (PDC); the SkyTruth Environmental Alert feed; and the InciWeb U.S. Wildfire feed. Origami Risk also helps you see if your location is in the path of a severe weather event or indicated in any other warning or alert.
As discussed in Using RMIS technology to address unexpected challenges in natural disaster risk management, “integrating these alert feeds into trigger-based distribution risks shorten response times and ensures that those responsible for executing plans have the most timely data available.” Using feeds also eliminates the need to receive updates from inside affected areas, which can be challenging during a crisis. Origami Risk’s external events module gives risk practitioners the ability to create tasks and notes, send a text message, generate and send a report, or create a new survey assignment – in addition to sending a tailored email. Origami Risk can then trigger real-time alerts to an associated distribution list and new enhancements provide even more flexibility to tailor the body of the communication, recipients, and workflows, to make sure everyone is fully prepared to act when the time comes.
Use audit technology to fine-tune communication, before and after an event
Long before meteorologists warn of severe weather, make sure your organization has a plan in place. (We discuss in detail how to assess your risk and create a management plan in Finding added value in your RMIS: Business continuity/disaster recovery.)
If you already have a plan, make sure it’s up-to-date so you don’t waste crucial time carrying out procedures that no longer apply or chasing down the wrong contacts. Conducting regular audits is the best way to evaluate the strength and feasibility of your plan. Audits will determine if:
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it's easy to explain and follow
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key parties know their role
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all contact information is current
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Origami Risk makes it easy to implement audits, monitor progress, and even automate alerts for corrective measures when results do not meet a particular standard.
Support for business continuity efforts
After a major weather event, a RMIS can support business continuity opportunities, as well. Amid potentially chaotic conditions, the same functionality used to collect risk assessments can help gather crucial information for the recovery process, “such as reopen dates, estimates related to inventory loss and physical damage, clean-up expenses, and potential payroll exposure.” This data can inform where resources are most needed and which parties must get to work first.
Employees in affected areas can upload photos to the Origami Risk portal and add comments that will help provide clarity on next steps, too. Origami Risk’s sketch technology allows for adding key annotations to images and diagrams, providing better data to decision makers, which yields more educated plans of action for recovery. In the event of a power outage, this technology is available on mobile devices.
Such was the case for Compass Group USA, whose risk management team collected business interruption and property damage details in the wake of Hurricanes Harvey and Irma. The storms displaced employees and rendered many facilities non-operational. By using Origami Risk’s mobile forms, however, communication remained strong and the data kept rolling in, which ultimately made for a more coordinated recovery effort.
Conclusion: The right RMIS can help you to prevent the worst outcomes
Major weather events and natural disasters can be unpredictable, putting employees in danger and threatening key businesses operations. But using the right RMIS can help prevent some of the worst outcomes by identifying locations likely to be impacted by severe weather before it hits and communicating to stakeholders the appropriate real-time and follow-up actions.