MAY 28th @ 3pm: FREE Emergency Preparedness Workshop for Businesses and Organizations

DC Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency (HSEMA) is working on an extraordinary effort to assist businesses in the District of Columbia to be prepared for a disaster.

Part of this effort is a series of Emergency Preparedness Workshops targeting businesses and organizations in establishing or refining their continuity of operations plan. Imagine the consequences of a terrorist attack using a weapon of mass destruction in front of or near your workplace. How would you business continue to operate? How can you ensure the safe evacuation of your colleagues, staff and customers? Does your business insurance cover such an event? How would you recover?

Your answers to these questions will determine how your business will respond to, recover from and reopen after such a disaster. This conference will help answer questions and provide strategies that you can use to ensure the continued operation of your business. In addition, you will have a chance to visit one of the most state-of-the-art communication centers in the entire country.

The last FREE workshop in this phase of the project will be held on Thursday, May 28 at 3:00 p.m. at the HSEMA headquarters / Unified Communications Center (2720 Martin Luther King Jr. Avenue, SE).

We will cover the following aspects of continuity of operations planning for businesses.

* Threats to your business and Weapons of Mass Destruction 101

* Continuity of Operations Plan...What is it? What should be in it? How to create one? Why it is important for my business?

* Securing staff and customers”What businesses and staff should know to shelter-in-place or to evacuate. What does OSHA require of employers, and how to provide assistance to a person injured in a disaster (Good Samaritan Act)

* Insurance Coverage”What do business owners need to know about insurance policies and coverage related to a disasters?

* Data security”What are the best practices for business to implement to ensure that their electronic data and files are safeguarded

* Disaster Recovery”How businesses can access District and Federal funds following a disaster (SBA)

We will provide refreshments and a late afternoon snack. Please register by calling (202) 338-7158 x 212 or by visiting www.dccommunitypreparedness.org