Business Emergency Preparedness - Irene

As we prepare for the possibility of Hurricane Irene, I issued the notice below to all the company employees where I work. I wanted to share this with my readers in case it helps them prepare for this Hurricane or a similar emergency in the future.

My prayers are with all who are in the Hurricane's Path; plan, prepare and be safe everyone!

- ESA

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Good morning, Employees,

Due to the possibility of a Hurricane in the area of our corporate office, please be aware of the following procedures to minimize business interruptions.

• Evacuation: Considering elevation and proximity of the offices to the river, there is a remote possibility that the offices will be in an area of evacuation. In that unlikely event, no employee will be permitted access to the offices.

o We require that all employee phones be forwarded to cell phones by the end of the day today, Friday August 26^th. We will notify employees via phone if the offices are closed.

o We require all employees back up their computers by the end of the day.

o We require that all employees who have laptops bring them home, leaving the backup drives in the office fireproof safe.

o We request that all paperwork and other business items that may be needed for the next week be taken home by the employees today.

o We will mail out all checks due as payables Friday afternoon in the mail drop-box for Saturday pickup.

o We do not believe that our second-floor offices will see any water damage if there is local flooding, thus we do not need to take further precautions.

• Power Outage / Extended Power Outage: If the possible event of extended power outage, we require all key employees to take the additional necessary steps. Please keep in mind, depending on the hurricane’s severity, power outages could last up to a full business week. Cell / mobile phone signals will cease after 6-8 hours of continued power outage, due to power failures at the tower – regardless of the charge in your mobile device. Internet service will not be available if your home router does not have power; back-up / surge batteries only last a few hours. Further, if your local internet servers (located off your property) do not have power over an extended period, internet service for the area will be disrupted.

o By no later than Saturday, August 27th, we require that all key employees post an auto-response message notifying the possibility that we may not have access to e-mail. Given our remote webhosting provider’s capabilities, our new messages will be kept online until we can sync to them via laptop or mobile device. We can remove the auto-response message once the hurricane is past, our local areas has continuous power and the ISP service is functioning.

o Have a corded phone in either your home or to take with you to a location at which you will be located. When a power outage occurs in your local area, use the initial battery backup to the mobile phone system to forward your phone to the landline with the corded phone. You can remove that forward once you confirm that continuous power is returned to your area and the local cell phone towers are functioning. In the event that the landline phone service (which is powered with its own lines) does not function at your location for an extended period, please consider the possibility of a hotel or other location which has phone service available.

o Conserve the battery of your cell phone, laptop and other mobile devices. We strongly recommend, during a power outage, to use the devices for key business and emergency calls only. We also recommend you shut down any devices when you are not using them. We strongly recommend keeping all mobile devices plugged in, whenever possible, until the hurricane arrives to ensure maximum battery charge.

o Have a battery-powered radio to listen to local news. This will serve in the event you need to evacuate your area, as well as inform you after the storm to what areas of the state have power. In the event that you do not have one (or if the batteries fail), remember you can also use the one in your automobile.

o Bring with you the power supply / cords for your cell phones, laptops and mobile devices. In the event of extended power outages, listen to the radio for in-state locations with power. If possible, you can travel to those locations to use your devices there, to provide power, local mobile service and internet connection. Some suggestions include libraries, McDonalds, Starbucks and other locations with public wi-fi spots.

We sincerely hope and pray we will not experience either of these situations this weekend or the coming week, but we sincerely appreciate everyone’s preparations to ensure no significant interruptions to the business.

Thank you.