Disaster Plan

A Disaster Plan guides your organization through the proper responses to various types of disasters. This section highlights some of the elements of a disaster plan.

Create a written disaster preparedness plan or policy, which includes disaster recovery, damage assessment, and post disaster evaluation procedures.
Identify and prioritize the most important records. This includes records needed to resume business, historical records, and collections. Determine which record media and collections are more vulnerable or valuable than others.
Analyze your building, site, and collection storage areas. Include building and site maps in your disaster plan.
Establish responses to all potential geographic and climatic hazards, and other risks which could jeopardize your employees, building, and collections: tornadoes; floods; fires, which will include water damage from firehoses; pest infestation; mold; vandalism; and accidents.
Contact local civil defense offices to understand their disaster response procedures.
Identify sources of assistance, and develop contacts with appropriate consultants, suppliers, and vendors beforehand. Check your local Yellow Pages for contacts in your area, and make a list including names and telephone numbers. Update the list annually.
Establish contact with a freezer service; verify contact annually.
Special conservation efforts may be necessary with water or fire-damaged records, have phone numbers and addresses available of people or agencies to contact.
Include a copy of your collection inventory and vital records locator map in your disaster plan.
Include a supply list and locations in your disaster plan.
Create a telephone tree of staff and volunteers to help in the event of a disaster.
Establish a chain of command among staff members. All staff should know who they report to, and who they notify in case of disaster.
Know what your insurance carrier will require as evidence of damage: photographs, written documentation.
Establish salvage procedures for all collections, records, paper, and record media.

March 04, 2003