Winter is swiftly approaching – and that means it’s time for you to start preparing your business for everything that this unpredictable season could wind up throwing your way.
Your business should hinge on a risk plan to ensure any potential risks can be mitigated when winter finally arrives. From the perilous chance of snowfall to icy-cold temperatures, a lot can impact your business. That’s why we’ve created this guide to help make sure no business gets left out in the cold this winter.
Why it’s necessary to consider risks posed by winter weather
So why should you worry so much about your business and the risks it could face in winter? Well, winter is exactly a month of lethal snow blizzards – we know that – but, it can bring some adverse weather conditions that could affect things like your workplace, your employees and your employees’ chances of getting to work.
Things like lack of natural lighting, slippery surfaces, and snow can affect your business over winter – be it affecting the workplace building or the workflow of your employees. Winter weather can harm the exterior of your business’s building which could eventually exacerbate and damage everything inside, leaving a harmful impact on your business.
For these reasons, it is essential that you at least consider what risks could affect your business over the winter season. If the weather becomes extreme and your employees can’t commute to the workplace, a business communication platform like Microsoft Teams can allow your employees to work and collaborate from home. Find out more here: https://www.gamma.co.uk/products/microsoft-teams-telephony/
Conduct a risk assessment
A risk assessment already should have been done at some point to analyse the risk in the areas surrounding your workplace premises, but it’s a great idea to do it again in time for the winter. This time around, you could focus more on things that might be affected by winter weather and vulnerable areas of the workplace. This could involve identifying any potential hazards or risks, assessing them and coming up with solutions or plans to mitigate them.
Create a flood plan
Even though flooding doesn’t strictly just occur in winter, the risk of flooding is increased since there is more frequent rain throughout the season. Flooding can inflict a great deal of damage on buildings and the assets inside, but it can even cause a significant amount of inconvenience to business operations and the supply chain.
To tackle the ruinous effect of flooding, you should create a flood plan. A flood plan helps your business to prepare for and recover from the worst possible outcomes of a flood.
Develop an emergency plan
If you don’t have an emergency plan in place when inclement weather strikes, it could have extremely disastrous effects on your business – especially if you are a small or medium-sized enterprise. An emergency or disaster plan is a document listing the steps to take in the event of several emergencies that your business could face. By setting up an emergency plan, your employees and everyone involved in the business will be able to completely understand the steps they need to take when disaster strikes – which, of course, is vital in winter.
