Research your local area for any risks that are likely to affect your business. Look into the history of the area – this can give you an idea of the pattern and frequency of natural disasters such as drought, storms, fires, and floods. It can also provide
Emergency management & recovery | Research risks in your area
Research your local area for any risks that are likely to affect your business. Look into the history of the area – this can give you an idea of the pattern and frequency of natural disasters such as drought, storms, fires, and floods. It can also provide a history of criminal activities like theft.
Document all of the likely risks to your business in a risk table to help you think through what could happen and what to do if it does. Your risk table should include the below fields:
- Risk: Description of the risk and the potential impact to your business.
- Impact: Rating of the impact to your business: High, Medium or Low.
- Likelihood: The chance that the risk will occur: Highly Unlikely, Unlikely, Likely or Highly Likely.
- Mitigation strategy: What actions will you take to minimise/mitigate the potential risk to your business?
- Contingency: What is your contingency plan in the event that this risk happens?
What to do…
- Search the Disasters database . Emergency Management Australia (EMA) provides a comprehensive disaster database providing information on disasters since the 1600’s. You can search by disaster category, region, zone, date, title or a combination of these.
- Research your local climate . The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) provides a number of reports on climate including rainfall, climate change and drought.
- Speak to you local council about any environmental or other concerns around your area. For contact details, look up your local council in our Directory of government & business associations.
- Talk to your industry association to see if there are any risks that are common to your industry. For contact details, look up your industry association in our Directory of government & business associations.
- Visit our Emergency management & recovery plan template and use our Prepare your business checklist for a quick reference of all the steps you should consider when preparing for an emergency.
- If you’re a critical infrastructure organisation, download the Attorney General’s Organisational resilience booklet (PDF, 1.15MB) .
More information…
- Visit your State Emergency Services (SES) website for information on local disasters and advice.
- Find out where you can get information and alerts on emergencies in your state or territory.
- Visit our Risk management page for more information and resources on risk management.
- Find out about Emergency management planning in your state or territory.