Facility Solutions: After the flood
Ensure your credit union has plans and policies in place to ensure safe cleanup and recovery after a natural disaster.
Whether you believe in climate change or not, natural disasters seem to be getting worse in recent years. Fires along the West Coast and flooding and tornadoes from the Midwest to the East Coast have been devastating and occurring at an alarming rate. The impact on communities, businesses and credit unions is substantial, including physical damage, extended disruption of branch member services, member anxiety—in general and specific to their finances—and staff concerns.
In this article, we are assuming that you have an emergency preparedness plan in place that will allow your credit union to respond appropriately to natural disasters with some warning—such as flooding, hurricanes and fires, and even surprise calamities like tornadoes and earthquakes—and that a remote “hot site” is in place (i.e., a remotely located mirror or duplicate of your production data center, potentially with office space). Recently, 500-year flooding in the Midwest and into to the East Coast region has been big news, so let’s take a look at a few flood-related considerations and tips.
1. Safety
The first concern is safety. You and your staff need to stay away from the facility until government officials say it is OK to return. If staff are in the facility at the time of flooding, removal to a safe location is certainly the priority. If you are concerned about theft from your cash machine or vault while the premises is vacated, you will need to engage a preselected security firm to stand guard.
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