Business NERO Jumps into Action

Over the last year Debi Richards, the Vashon Chamber of Commerce’s Executive Director has been thinking about how to encourage businesses to get better prepared.

A number of discussions later, the Chamber held an initial meeting to look at disaster’s impact on business on September 15th with Fire Chief Hank Lipe, VIFR Fire Commissioner Chairman Rex Stratton, and VashonBePrepared’s Joe Ulatoski and Rick Wallace presenting.

Interest from the business community was excellent. Learning that nationally 40% of businesses do not survive a disaster provided a sober incentive for our local business owners to undertake cost-effective steps to ensure their businesses continuity after storms, earthquakes, or any other disaster.

Joe Ulatoski met with the Vashon Downtown Merchant’s Association at a follow-up meeting and has been busy distilling information from many sources (see below) into a handy 6 page guide for Vashon Businesses which he handed out at this morning’s meeting – shown in some of these photos. According to Debi Richards, only businesses from select neighborhoods were present today – with additional meetings to be held for businesses from other areas of the island. Interested businesses should contact Debi Richards at the Vashon Chamber of Commerce to ensure they are included in future communications about the Business NERO program.

After this morning’s presentation (by Debi Richards, Chief Lipe, Rick Wallace & Joe Ulatoski), those present broke in to neighborhood groups to discuss their neighborhood’s plans and how to move forward: incorporating disaster planning into their business plans, preparing a business disaster kit, educating their employees and much more. Interest in the Vashon 101 course, free CPR and first aid courses from VIFR and the upcoming CERT class (Spring 2012) were all very high.

Many excellent resources for businesses interested in preparedness exist on the web, including the following:

• King County's Office of Emergency Management business site:
  www.kingcounty.gov/safety/prepare/residents_business/BusinessPreparedness.aspx
• Washington State Emergency Management Department's business site:
  www.emd.wa.gov/preparedness/prep_business.shtml
• Federal Emergency Management Agency's business site:
  www.ready.gov/business/index.html

Formation of Vashon’s Business NERO (Business Neighborhood Emergency Response Organization) program has been one of the most exciting developments this year, and VashonBePrepared is delighted to have the Chamber’s vitality directed at this critical function.