emergency business plan template

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

• For Businesses

Prepare My Business for an Emergency

Businesses can do much to prepare for the impact of the many hazards they face in today’s world including natural hazards, human-caused hazards or technology related hazards.

• Natural hazards could be a flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake or a widespread serious illness such as the H1N1 flu virus pandemic.
• Human-caused hazards include accidents, acts of violence by people and acts of terrorism.
• Examples of technology-related hazards are the failure or malfunction of systems, equipment or software.

DHS/FEMA sponsors a resource called “Ready Business” to assist businesses in developing a preparedness program by providing tools to create a plan that addresses the impact of many hazards. The direction recommended is to adopt a standard for Disaster/Emergency Management and Business Continuity Programs called an “all hazards approach.”

Steps to Create a Business Preparedness Program

To develop an “all hazards approach,” DHS has adopted National Fire Protection Association 1600 (NFPA 1600) as the American National Standard for developing a preparedness program.

There are five steps toward creating a business preparedness program:

1. Program Management

• Organize, develop and administer your preparedness program
• Identify regulations that establish minimum requirements for your program

2. Planning

• Gather information about hazards and assess risks
• Conduct a business impact analysis (BIA)
• Examine ways to prevent hazards and reduce risks

3. Implementation

Write a preparedness plan addressing:

• Resource management
• Emergency response
• Crisis communications
• Business continuity
• Information technology
• Employee assistance
• Incident management

4. Testing and Exercises

• Test and evaluate your plan
• Define different types of exercises
• Learn how to conduct exercises
• Use exercise results to evaluate the effectiveness of the plan

5. Program Improvement

• Identify when the preparedness program needs to be reviewed
• Discover methods to evaluate the preparedness program
• Utilize the review to make necessary changes and plan improvements
• How Do I - For Businesses
• Preparedness

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Ready Business

Businesses and their employees face a variety of hazards:

• Natural hazards like floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes.
• Health hazards such as widespread and serious illnesses.
• Human-caused hazards such as accidents and acts of violence.
• Technology-related hazards like power outages and equipment failure.

Business leaders and employees can do a lot to prepare for the most likely hazards they will face in the workplace. Ready Business helps you to create a preparedness plan to get ready for what comes next.

Ready Business Toolkits

The Ready Business Toolkit series includes hazard-specific versions for earthquake, hurricane, inland flooding, power outage, and severe wind/tornado. Toolkits offer business leaders a step-by-step guide to build preparedness within an organization.

Ready Business Plans

The process for creating a business’ preparedness plans should encompass as much as possible of what a business might need during an emergency. This includes communications planning, IT support and recovery, and continuity plans. Ready.gov and FEMA have plans available that your business can use to get started.

Training and Exercises

Being prepared in advance is a critical step to responding to an emergency and keeping your business and employees safe. Training, testing and exercises are essential components of preparedness. Training ensures that everyone knows what to do when there is an emergency or business operations are disrupted.

Getting Ready to Plan

If your business doesn’t have a plan yet, or if you’re in the middle of reviewing plans, there are steps that business leaders can take to prepare their companies for the disaster that comes down next. Many disasters and hazards can’t be prevented, but you can take steps now to get ready to plan.

Other Resources

A variety of resources are available to help your business be prepared for a disaster and recover stronger. Information to help you prepare and recover includes resources on incident management, resource management and hazard prevention.

Last Updated: 02/05/2024

Return to top

• Are you an Allegion ENGAGE™ user? Click here for information regarding their platform update WE ARE HIRING

Emergency Action Plans: What Does Your Business Need?

An emergency action plan is a set of guidelines for businesses to follow during disasters. A good EAP not only details actions businesses will take in the event of an emergency but also helps them prevent catastrophe, prepare for prolonged shutdowns, and return to normal operations post-disaster.

Why Businesses Need Emergency Action Plans

Emergency action plans outline steps a business will take to maintain continuity and protect its employees and customers in response to various types of emergencies, including:

• Hazardous material spills
• Security breaches
• Terrorist and active shooter threats

Some emergencies demand an immediate response, so it’s critical for businesses to train employees and practice policies and action plans, so they can help to prevent damages and casualties. Other action plans afford businesses more time to respond, yet still require swift action to avoid financial and other catastrophic losses. In such cases, an EAP removes the need to make crucial demands on the fly and enables businesses to execute predetermined measures to protect their people and their finances.

Disaster response planning is only part of the process. When companies take the time to develop emergency action plans, they’re able to discover existing vulnerabilities that could leave them liable for legal damages, penalties and fines. Proper planning, then, helps businesses assess and mitigate risks before they become emergencies.

Emergency action plans reduce the risk of mistakes, and in doing so they save lives, time, money and businesses. Companies that do not have an emergency action plan would be wise to begin developing one right away; and those that already have one should review it to ensure it adequately prepares the business to survive a disaster.

7 Steps to Developing an Effective Business Emergency Action Plan

• Develop the outline and guidelines of your business emergency action plan. First, before you can actually write out your emergency action plan, you need to organize your business’s objectives and guidelines for the plan. You need to also assess your security emergency needs. Of course, at a high-level, the goal of your plan will be to mitigate the impact of the disaster or emergency on your business, protect your staff, assets, and operations, and ensure that you can get back to business as soon as possible.
• Assess risks and threats to your business. Once you have a better idea of the federal, local, and business-specific requirements that will play a role in the development of your emergency action plan, your next step will be to assess the risks, threats and emergency needs to and for your business. Of course, it will be impossible to identify and plan for all risks and threats, however, by identifying those that are more likely to affect your business, you can create a more impactful and relevant procedure.
• Conduct a business impact analysis. Next, you’ll want to use the information you identified in your risk assessment to inform your business impact analysis. Your business impact analysis will try and predict the consequences of business disruption as the result of an emergency or disaster and therefore, will help in the development of your recovery strategy.Once again, it will be impossible to predict exactly how a potential disaster or emergency will impact your business—however, you can use the threats and risks you established in step two to determine what disasters are most likely to affect your business and what that effect looks like.As an example, if your business is located on the coast of Florida, some of your biggest risks might be flood or hurricane damage to your physical location. Therefore, in your business impact analysis, you should consider how these scenarios might disrupt your business—a flood may cause damage to the physical structure of your business that would need to be repaired, or it may ruin inventory that would need to be replaced, etc.
• Write your business emergency action plan. Now that you’ve accomplished the most significant part of developing your emergency action plan—the actual planning, you should have a sense of the potential risks your business could face, as well as their impact, and as a result, what type of information your emergency action plan should include. Now, it’s time to actually create and write out the plan itself.This will be a time-consuming process, especially since you’ll want to work with other company leaders, your business’s HR department, and even local and governmental resources.
• Review and test your plan with emergency scenarios. After you’ve written out your business emergency action plan, the process isn’t quite complete yet. Next, you’ll want to review the emergency action plan with other business leaders and test it out.You can arrange a meeting to discuss emergency preparedness, walk through the plan with business leaders, allow for discussion, and record feedback. Once you’ve taken this initial step, you can take a more hands-on approach by conducting drills, tests, and seeing how your business emergency action plan functions in these planned out scenarios. During this time, you might also introduce the plan to your staff, start the training process, and gather their feedback and how the plan works and what could be improved.Then, after you’ve conducted these conversations and tests, you’ll want to regroup with your team leaders to discuss how the process went. You might also ask for written feedback, in the form of a survey, for example, from staff, to gather any and all information you might need to revise the plan.
• Identify areas of improvement and refine your plan. From your meeting with business leaders, you should come away with areas where your emergency action plan could be improved. At this stage, you’ll want to determine how you can adapt the plan to fix these areas of improvement and refine the document you’ve created as much as necessary.It’s also important to note that your business emergency action plan should be a “living” document. As your business changes and evolves, your emergency and disaster plan will likely change as well. Therefore, although you’ll want to train your staff thoroughly after the document has been created, you’ll want to ensure that you update them (and the document) as processes evolve and change.
• Work through your business recovery strategies. From all the work you’ve done so far, you should have created and started to implement your business emergency action plan. With this in mind, however, there is one final component of your disaster preparedness that you might want to revisit in more detail: recovery strategies.Although the actions you take before and during a disaster or emergency are essential, it’s also important to determine how your business will function and recover after one of these events occurs. As mentioned above, part of actually writing your business emergency action plan should be detailing the business continuity plan—or, how your business will work to mitigate the negative effects you identified in your business impact analysis.Due to the importance of this part of the business emergency action plan, you might decide to create a separate or more comprehensive document that specifically outlines your business recovery strategies. For this, you’ll want to consider past short-term survival and reactions after a disaster or emergency and focus on the long-term survival of your business.

Emergency action plan resources

The following resources can help businesses like yours develop and execute comprehensive emergency action plans that protect their companies, customers and employees.

• Ready.gov Sponsored by the Dept. of Homeland Security, this free resource offers detailed information about what to include in a business emergency response plan, how to assess and mitigate risk and how to conduct a business impact analysis. It also includes links to additional resources for pre-incident planning, protective actions for life safety, firefighting, medical response, hazardous materials and workplace violence. Businesses can download Ready.gov’s Emergency Response Plan template and customize it to create their own.
• FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) FEMA maintains a list of emergency preparedness resources to help businesses plan for and mitigate potential hazards. The page includes a guide for helping small businesses prepare for emergencies, a business continuity plan, disaster protection cost analysis, and worksheets for inventory, emergency supplies, resource requirements and insurance coverage. Businesses will also find helpful case studies that illustrate the impact of disaster and the necessity of a sound emergency response plan.
• CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) In addition to a general overview of emergency preparedness, the CDC offers links to emergency management for business and industry, the OSHA evacuation plans and procedures, eTool, fire and emergency evacuation drills and protective actions during hazardous material emergencies.
• Small Business Administration The SBA offers checklists for dealing with various emergencies, from winter weather and hurricanes to earthquakes, floods and cybersecurity. Businesses can also learn about the SBA’s disaster relief programs, which offer financial assistance and economic injury loans.
• OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Association) OSHA’s emergency preparedness and response page lists general preparation resources plus specific guidelines for disasters ranging from heatwaves and lightning to tornadoes and floods. It also covers biological diseases, toxins, chemicals and nuclear threats. Businesses can study the site to find updated rules and regulations to help them comply with the law. One excellent resource: OSHA’s Principal Emergency Response and Preparedness publication.
• U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation The foundation offers preparedness tips plus a whole host of emergency planning resources businesses can follow to bolster their emergency response plans. The page features checklists for emergency planning by hazard, guides for reviewing insurance coverage, how to file a claim, crisis communication, employee assistance and other information that can assist businesses with planning. The foundation also offers a Small Business Disaster Preparedness Quick Guide.

As difficult as it may be – and even impossible – to predict when emergencies will occur, a strategic emergency response plan can help businesses mitigate risk, limit losses and protect their employees and customers. Though it takes time and money, it’s well worth the investment because ultimately, comprehensive emergency action plans save companies money, protects livelihoods, and even saves lives when disaster strikes.

LaMarco Systems Can Help You With What’s Next

LaMarco Systems is a leading life safety and integrated security solutions provider — offering comprehensive, all-in-one services and customized solutions that protect people, businesses, and the assets associated with both. For over 20 years, we have partnered with the world’s leading technology companies, security experts, and law enforcement personnel, to constantly reimagine facility security in this rapidly evolving arena. Once you have an EAP in place, and are ready to ensure that your facility has the life safety systems you need, you can trust LaMarco.

Filter by Keywords

10 Free Contingency Plan Templates in Word and ClickUp

ClickUp Contributor

February 13, 2024

• 10 Free Contingency Plan Templates in Word and ClickUp ', 'https://clickup.com/blog/contingency-plan-templates/')" class="share__link button-reset" id="social-share-button-mobile-top">

In the business world, risk management is crucial. Every day, businesses grapple with unpredictable factors that, if not appropriately managed, could disrupt their smooth operation. 

This is where contingency plan templates become vital. They provide a roadmap for businesses to follow when the unexpected occurs, like system failures or sudden market shifts. 

These templates are especially beneficial because they allow you to create strategic backup plans, ensuring you’re always prepared. They provide the necessary support for dealing with financial uncertainties and operational roadblocks. 

This article explores 10 of the best business contingency plan and backup plan templates from ClickUp and Microsoft Word. These useful tools will guide you in building robust strategies to secure your business operations, no matter what comes your way.

By using these templates, you can effectively prepare for and manage potential risks, thus bolstering the resilience of your business.

What is a Contingency Plan Template?

What makes a good contingency plan template, 1. clickup contingency plan template, 2. clickup workplace emergency action plan template, 3. clickup construction emergency action plan template, 4. clickup small business emergency action plan template, 5. clickup emergency plan template, 6. clickup corrective action plan whiteboard template, 7. clickup incident action plan template, 8. clickup report work incident template, 9. google docs contingency plan template by template.net, 10. microsoft word contingency plan template by sampletemplates.

A contingency plan template is a pre-structured document or tool to outline a strategic plan for handling unexpected situations or emergencies. 

This tool aids businesses in identifying potential risks, allocating resources, using risk probability, and setting a course of action to mitigate or minimize the impacts of unforeseen events. It’s your road map to continuity in the face of unexpected events and hurdles, be it a financial downturn, a tech malfunction, or an operational interruption.

The best contingency plan template should be comprehensive yet simple to use. It should identify and categorize potential risks, specify preventive measures, and clearly outline the response plan. 

A helpful business contingency plan also offers a mechanism for tracking progress and reviewing the plan’s effectiveness. 

Lastly, it should be adaptable to your business context, offering the flexibility to tailor it to your unique needs and challenges.

10 Contingency Plan Templates to Use in 2024

Here are our 10 favorite templates for contingency plans to use when hoping for the best but planning for the worst.

ClickUp’s Contingency Plan Template  is a robust and comprehensive tool for businesses of all sizes and industries.

You can view risks by stage or priority level, assign tasks to team members, and create automatic notifications so new developments don’t catch you unaware. This contingency plan template guides you through identifying potential risks, mapping response strategies, and assigning responsibilities. 

Its well-structured layout makes it easier to manage all aspects of your contingency planning process, ensuring no stone is left unturned. With the ClickUp Contingency Plan Template, you can confidently face any unforeseen business disruption.

In a fast-paced work environment, emergencies can arise without warning. ClickUp’s Workplace Emergency Action Plan Template  offers a structured approach to planning and responding to these emergencies for contingency planning.

The Workplace Emergency Action Plan Template helps you map out evacuation plans, contact lists, and protocols to ensure everyone’s safety. Its design also promotes effective team management  during crises.

This kind of crisis management plan is often highly sensitive, but rest assured, you can protect ClickUp Docs with custom privacy controls and manage permissions based on who needs access to edit or view. Use this to help you keep normal business operations running.

The construction industry is rife with potential hazards.

With ClickUp’s Construction Emergency Action Plan Template , you can establish a solid foundation for safety. The template allows you to identify possible emergencies, establish procedures, and allocate responsibilities effectively.

You can add tables, and images, create internal bookmarks, and link to other documents within the comprehensive contingency plan to make sure everyone has all the necessary context to understand the action plan and operate safely.

Its organized structure helps with project management and project prioritization  during crisis management like natural disasters.

For small businesses, emergencies can pose serious challenges. ClickUp’s Small Business Emergency Action Plan Template  supports small enterprises in setting up robust contingency plans.

The template encourages clear communication, task delegation, and resource allocation to handle emergencies swiftly.

Describe your office evacuation plan, layout mission-critical operations, and work processes, and make sure everyone has the proper emergency contacts with this contingency planning template.

ClickUp’s Emergency Plan Template  is a comprehensive business contingency plan for any organization type. It promotes clear objectives, allowing for more efficient goal-setting  during emergencies and natural disasters. 

With sections for action steps, responsible parties, stakeholders, technical issues, project requirements, and resource needs, it aids in the project’s success in handling resource constraints  effectively. This business contingency plan template is a great solution to emergency planning across your org.

Corrective actions are crucial when an unexpected event happens. ClickUp’s Corrective Action Plan Whiteboard Template  helps you brainstorm and lay out steps for disciplinary actions. 

This visual contingency planning tool supports your organization’s   strategic planning  efforts, encouraging a detailed analysis of incidents and fostering better employee decision-making.

Encourage your entire team to work together on solutions with collaborative editing features and a visual approach to post-incident retrospectives. This is the perfect tool for building contingency plans together as a team.

Create categories like “Areas for Improvement,” “Possible Solutions,” and “Measures of Success,” then let your stakeholders and team write their ideas on virtual Post-its and place them under the appropriate section. It can be a great way to develop themes and address what you discover as a group.

Incident management requires a structured response plan.   ClickUp’s Incident Action Plan Template  assists you in formulating a systematic response to incidents.

The template includes sections for a situation summary, an execution plan, emergency contacts, assignments, and more.

With its focus on process mapping  and task allocation, this business contingency plan template makes it easy to understand your project controls and work within them.

Reporting work incidents is essential to risk assessment and management.   ClickUp’s Report Work Incident Template  ensures accurate and efficient incident documentation, aiding your   issue-tracking  efforts. It streamlines the reporting process, allowing for timely responses and corrective actions.

In addition to an incident report form, it includes views that let you sort by new reports, track progress on corrective action through a Board View, file different incidents based on category with a Table View, or use a Map View to determine trends in incidents based on where they happened.

This is sure to help your contingency planning process to find what areas or trends are happening across your business.

Bonus: Account planning templates !

This Google Docs Contingency Plans Template by Template.Net offers a straightforward layout for mapping your contingency plan. It’s easy to use, and its Google Docs compatibility allows for real-time collaboration. 

This is the perfect tool for those who prefer the familiarity of Google Docs’ interface.

The Microsoft Word Contingency Plan Template by SampleTemplates offers an intuitive design and simple layout. It’s an excellent choice for businesses who prefer the ease of Microsoft Word for their contingency planning. 

Its structured sections make it easier to categorize, manage, and identify potential risks.

Effective Contingency Planning with ClickUp

As we’ve seen, solid contingency plans are a game-changer in risk management. And with these templates, the simple steps to create contingency plans on your own will now become a breeze. They’re your roadmap to a business continuity plan and success, despite unexpected hurdles with significant risks.

But remember, a template is only as good as the platform it’s on. This is where   ClickUp  shines. ClickUp isn’t just a place for templates; it’s a comprehensive platform that simplifies and streamlines your work management.

One standout feature is   ClickUp Docs . It lets you create, collaborate, and store all your planning documents in one place. Say goodbye to switching between multiple tools. With ClickUp Docs, you’ve got everything you need at your fingertips.

Another major strength of ClickUp is it’s Hierarchy feature. It provides an organized structure for your plans and projects. No more getting lost in a sea of tasks or documents. With ClickUp’s Hierarchy, you can maintain a clear overview of your objectives, allowing for efficient project planning, project management, and execution.

So why wait? Explore ClickUp for free today and elevate the impact level of your contingency planning and proactive strategy to new heights. It’s your tool to thrive, no matter what comes your way.

• 10 Free Contingency Plan Templates in Word and ClickUp ', 'https://clickup.com/blog/contingency-plan-templates/')" class="share__link button-reset" id="social-share-button-mobile-bottom">

Questions? Comments? Visit our Help Center for support.

Receive the latest WriteClick Newsletter updates.

Thanks for subscribing to our blog!

Please enter a valid email

• Free training & 24-hour support
• Serious about security & privacy
• 99.99% uptime the last 12 months

Emergency Action Plan Template

What is an Emergency Action Plan?

An emergency action plan (EAP) is developed to help protect employees and stakeholders during an emergency situation. It outlines the steps to take in order to respond to emergencies quickly and effectively, and includes detailed information on emergency personnel, resources, and communication methods. It also helps organizations to comply with applicable laws and regulations. This template provides a comprehensive framework for creating an emergency action plan and provides guidance on how to plan for, respond to, and recover from different types of emergencies.

What's included in this Emergency Action Plan template?

• 3 focus areas
• 6 objectives

Each focus area has its own objectives, projects, and KPIs to ensure that the strategy is comprehensive and effective.

Who is the Emergency Action Plan template for?

This emergency action plan template is designed for organizations and teams who need to create a comprehensive plan to respond to emergencies and ensure the safety of their employees and stakeholders. It is suitable for businesses of all sizes, including small businesses, large corporations, non-profits, and government agencies.

1. Define clear examples of your focus areas

Focus areas are broad topics that encompass many objectives. Examples of focus areas might include Emergency Preparedness, Emergency Communications, and Emergency Resources. Each focus area should have its own set of objectives, actions, and measures that align with the overall plan.

2. Think about the objectives that could fall under that focus area

Objectives are specific goals that are designed to help you reach the overall plan. For example, under the Emergency Preparedness focus area, objectives might include developing an emergency response plan and training staff on the plan. Objectives should be measurable and achievable in a set time frame.

3. Set measurable targets (KPIs) to tackle the objective

Key performance indicators (KPIs) measure how well you are progressing towards achieving each objective. They are quantifiable and measurable, such as the number of staff trained on the emergency response plan within a certain time frame. KPIs should be set so that you can easily track progress and make adjustments if needed.

4. Implement related projects to achieve the KPIs

Actions, or projects, are the steps taken to achieve the objectives and KPIs. For instance, in order to develop an emergency response plan, an action might be to create the plan. Actions should be specific, measurable, and achievable within a set time frame.

5. Utilize Cascade Strategy Execution Platform to see faster results from your strategy

Cascade Strategy Execution Platform is designed to help organizations develop, manage, and execute their strategies. It allows organizations to track and monitor progress on objectives and projects, as well as identify areas of improvement. Cascade helps teams stay focused on their strategic goals and see faster results from their strategies.

An official website of the United States government

Here’s how you know

Official websites use .gov

A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.

Secure .gov websites use HTTPS

A lock ( Lock A locked padlock ) or https:// means you’ve safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites. .

Continuity Templates and Resources

Continuity Plan Template and Instructions for Non-Federal Entities and Community-Based Organizations

• August 31, 2018
• Download Document

Devolution Planning Template

The devolution planning template introduces the organization’s Devolution of Operations Plan and establishes the rationale for creating the Plan.

• August 23, 2019

Continuity of Operations Planning Template for Federal Departments/Agencies

The purpose of this template is to provide instructions, guidance, and sample text for the development of Continuity plans and programs in accordance with Federal Continuity Directives (FCDs) 1 and 2 for the Federal Executive Branch.

• October 15, 2020

Department and Agencies Telework Player Handbook Template

Telework Player Handbook template serves as an exercise player handbook.

• May 31, 2013

Reconstitution Plan template

Reconstitution Plan template provides a structure and recommended content for developing a reconstitution plan in accordance with FCD 1. This template is based on Federal Continuity Directive 1, Federal Executive Branch National Continuity Program and Requirements, January 2017, and provides structure and recommended content for developing a reconstitution plan. Reconstitution is the process by which surviving and/or replacement organization personnel resume normal organization operations from the original or replacement primary operating facility.

• October 22, 2019

Continuity Plan Template and Instructions for Non-Federal Entities and Community-Based Organizations (Word Template)

• April 1, 2022

Continuity Plan (non-federal) template provides instructions, guidance, and sample text for the development of continuity plans and programs in accordance with the Continuity Guidance Circular. This template is designed for non-federal entities, and may be useful for all levels of state, local, territorial and tribal governments, the private sector, non-governmental organizations and community-based organizations.