Prepare your business for an emergency

An emergency can happen at any time and cost your business money. You should have a plan in place to help during and after an emergency. This is called a business continuity plan.

Business continuity plan

You will need to make your own emergency plan to help deal with major disruptions to your business. Think about:

• what your staff will need to do
• how to carry on meeting important deadlines
• how to tell your customers or community that you cannot provide business as usual

Making a plan

Your emergency plan should:

• include risks which could cause major disruption to your business
• show who will lead on business continuity
• say who makes decisions and who does what
• prioritise which parts of your business must be maintained and how

For more information and advice on how to create a plan, see the Business Continuity Institute's website.

Getting help with making your plan

We run business continuity meetings twice annually at the Civic Hall.

If you are interested in attending, email businesscontinuity@leeds.gov.uk. If you have registered with Leeds Alert you will get an email when a meeting is coming up.

Evacuation

There may be situations where it’s not safe to stay in your business premises. Always follow your business evacuation plan.

Sometimes, the emergency services will tell you to evacuate when there's an emergency that affects more than just your business.