The Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS) announced Thursday that its popular Open for Business disaster planning toolkit is now available in Spanish.
At least one-fourth of all businesses that close because of a disaster never reopen, according to IBHS. Small businesses are especially vulnerable, because few of them have the resources or knowledge to assess disaster risks and develop comprehensive loss prevention and recovery plans.
The IBHS Open for Business toolkit helps small businesses do such planning by determining essential business functions and organizing critical operations - even from a remote location. Thousands of copies of the booklet are in circulation across the country and more than 80,000 have been downloaded from the IBHS web site www.DisasterSafety.org.
The United States Hispanic Chamber of Commerce estimates there are more than 2.5 million Hispanic owned businesses in the U.S. that generate more than $388 billion in revenue annually.
"Businesses of all sizes and types need to plan for the unexpected in order to survive when disaster strikes," said IBHS President and CEO Julie Rochman. "Small businesses are particularly vulnerable, because they typically operate on thin margins. Unforeseen interruptions - even for just a few days - can be devastating to a company."
"Every business owner or manager should have access to easily understandable information that can enable them to keep their doors open, providing jobs and acting as an asset to its community in the aftermath of a natural or man-made disaster," she continued. "Toward that end, we are proud to release this new Spanish-language version of Open for Business."
Free single copies of the Open for Business(R) toolkit in English or Spanish are available by writing [email protected] or by calling toll-free 1-866-657-4247. Download or print the toolkit from the IBHS web site www.DisasterSafety.org.
