If your company wasn't impacted by Hurricane Matthew orthe subsequent flooding, consider yourselffortunate.

But it doesn't mean you're off the hook completely, as morestorms continue to brew while the calendar moves from autumn towinter. In fact, driven by El Nino, warm ocean currents arecreating severe weather conditions in all parts of the country. Forexample, in 2015, approximately 10.1 million acres burned inwildfires in the United States, compared with 3.8 million theprevious year. Meanwhile, winter storms caused an estimated $3.5billion in insured losses in 2016, up from $2.6 billion in2014.

The following information is not intended to be all-inclusive,but it should get you thinking about everyday conditions in yourworkplace.

Here are 7 things you can do now that potentially could save youfrom significant financial hardship or worse:

Plan your emergency response.

• Establish an emergency response team with participants from allparts of your organization.
• Ensure that your business keeps a stash of nonperishable food;two-way radios; stored drinking water; flashlights and batteries;first-aid supplies; and boots, gloves, hard hats, and dry clothing.Make sure your emergency response team knows where these itemsare.
• Store a supply of plywood, plastic tarps, and cautionconstruction tape for future use.
• Conduct disaster management drills to ensure all members of theteam and all employees know their responsibilities.

Work with local government officials inadvance.

• File a copy of your emergency response plan with local lawenforcement officials, and provide them with new versions as youupdate them.
• Ensure that the local government's emergency response team hascontact information for your organization, and provide updatedcontacts as team members change roles or leave your company.

Maintain emergency equipment.

• Check emergency generator and fire pump fuel tanks regularly toensure that they are full.
• Test emergency generators and engine-driven fire pumpsregularly for proper automatic start. Generators should be test-rununder load.
• Check roof-mounted equipment to ensure it is connected securelyto the building's structural steel. Bolts and guide wires should betight and free from rust and corrosion.
• Check roof drains to ensure that they are clear and able todrain off heavy rains. Have repairs made to any portion of the roofcovering that appears loose, bubbled, or otherwise weakened.

Secure data and files.

• Duplicate important records and papers, and store them in asecure location.
• Backups of important computer records also should be keptcurrent and in a secure location, preferably offsite and in ahurricane-safe area.
• Confirm that your third-party vendor or cloud provider isprepared for any disaster, manmade or natural.

Patrol the facility during an emergency.

If disaster strikes, the emergency response team shouldcontinually patrol the facility as long as it is safe to do so. Inaddition, the team should:

• Monitor equipment and ensure that it's operatingcorrectly.
• Watch for structural damage and make repairs as necessary.
• Watch for causes of fire (for example, electrical shortcircuits), and take corrective action as needed.
• Check sprinkler water pressures frequently and watch for lossof pressure.
• Watch for flooding from rain or tidal surge and deploy sandbagsas necessary.
• Require employees to use hand sanitizer, sunblock, and insectrepellant, as appropriate for conditions.

Reinforce workplace safety.

After the workplace has resumed normal operations, be sure youreinforce standard safety measures:

• Conduct daily safety briefings that discuss hazards andcontrols. Identify and eliminate or control existing or potentialhazards that were discovered after the disaster.
• Train employees to be aware of stress from extreme temperaturesof heat or cold as well as fatigue.
• Conduct ergonomic assessments to ensure that employees areusing proper lifting techniques and body mechanics. Providematerial handling equipment to minimize or eliminate manualmaterial handling.
• Review administrative controls, such as limiting the amount oftime employees are exposed to hazardous conditions,
• Rotate jobs as appropriate to minimize exposures and to ensurethat more than one employee is trained to handle dangeroussituations.
• Insist on proper personal hygiene and sanitation. Provide areaswhere employees can clean up after their shifts.

Inspect safety equipment and controls.

• Confirm that engineering controls—such as guardrails for fallprotection, lockout tag-out to control electrical hazards, andexhaust ventilation to minimize exposure to airborne hazards—are inplace and in good repair.
• Insist that employees wear personal protective equipment (PPE)like steel-toe and slip-resistant footwear, hardhats, eyeprotection, high visibility clothing, gloves, hearing protection,dust masks or respiratory protection, and personal flotationdevices (PFD), as appropriate. Inspect the equipment regularly toensure that it's in good condition at all times.
• Require employees to use fall protection equipment (covers,guardrails, or a personal fall-arrest system), and train employeeshow to use the equipment correctly when they will encounter fallhazards of greater than six feet in the workplace.
• Provide ladders appropriate for specific tasks andcorresponding ladder safety training.
• Inspect exposure controls and monitor air quality for airbornehazards such as mold, asbestos, and lead.
• Require employees to use double-insulated power tools withground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI).