Small Business Resources, Business Advice and Forms from AllBusiness.com

Business Exchange

Travelers Offers Businesses New Tools for Disaster Preparedness; Business Continuity Resources Made Available to Assist with, and...

HARTFORD, Conn. -- Travelers announced today that it now offers new resources to assist businesses with disaster preparedness planning. Two new online tools and a new Safety Academy class, entitled Business Continuity Planning, have been added to help Travelers customers create customized disaster recovery plans that will ensure optimum business continuity in the event of exposures from natural or manmade disasters.

Bob Brody, Senior Vice President, Travelers Risk Control, said, "Emergency planning should be at the top of every "To Do" list for today's businesses. With more than a century of experience in risk control, Travelers is uniquely positioned to help its customers anticipate and respond to a wide spectrum of exposures from catastrophic risks faced by businesses and homeowners."

The first new online tool is Disaster Preparedness and Business Continuity Management, an exposure guide available to customers and agents, on a CD-ROM that furnishes a practical, step by step guide for business continuity planning. The guide includes presentations, technical bulletins and checklists about topics including:

--Hurricane preparedness;

--Natural disaster protection, response and recovery;

--Property and equipment recovery guidelines;

--Health precautions;

--A general overview of business continuity planning;

--FEMA emergency management guide for business and industry.

This new tool contains another interactive resource, Open for Business(SM), made available by the Institute for Business & Home Safety (IBHS). This Internet-based tool is designed to help small- to medium-sized businesses create disaster recovery plans as well as mitigate natural disaster risks. This second tool is also available on the Travelers Web site.

Travelers Risk Control has also added a disaster preparedness class - that will be offered starting in June - to its Safety Academy agenda. The new course, Business Continuity Planning, will allow participants to explore the myriad aspects of disaster planning and is targeted at managers, supervisors and risk management personnel that are considering the development of business continuity plans for their organizations. Topics for discussion include: the definition of business continuity; the six phases of business continuity planning; a checklist to assist with emergency and recovery plans; function charts delineating responsibilities of business resumption teams; and recovery plan worksheets.

Marty Henry, Vice President, Travelers Risk Control said, "Our customers have asked for our help, and we've responded with simple-to-use tools and training to make sure that they create a business continuity plan before a disaster strikes. With these new tools, we assist them in finding peace of mind."

For more information about the Safety Academy class, or to receive a free copy of the CD-ROM exposure guide, contact Ask-STA-Risk-Control@stpaultravelers.com. Agents may access www.travelersagents.com to order the CD-ROM.

About Travelers

Travelers believes that life and business are inherently dynamic and that the best way to serve agents and policyholders is to provide insurance that helps them stay in-synch with their lives. For more information on being in-synch, visit www.travelers.com.

Travelers is a business of The St. Paul Travelers Companies, Inc. (NYSE:STA), a leading property casualty insurer selling primarily through agents and brokers. The company's diverse business lines offer its global customers a wide range of coverage in both the personal and commercial settings, including automobile, homeowners, construction, small business, oil and gas, ocean marine, financial and professional services, global technology and public sector services. St. Paul Travelers is ranked 85 in the Fortune 500, with 2005 revenues of $24.4 billion and total assets of $113.2 billion. The company has approximately 32,000 employees.

In addition, make sure to read these articles:

  • Survey Reveals Top Practices and Trends in...
  • BEDFORD, Mass. -- EnvoyWorldWide(R), the experienced provider of enterprise notification services, today revealed the results of its second annual survey, Trends in Business Continuity ......
  • How to Meet FFIEC Minimum Requirements for...
  • The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC) has published revised recommendations on business continuity planning (BCP). According to the FFIEC, the new BCP booklet "provides ......
  • EDS avoids SPECTRE of network disaster.
  • Developing a program to address business continuity and disaster preparedness makes good business sense. Recognizing the problem is only a minor hurdle. A larger stumbling ......
  • The Best Laid Plans
  • Business continuity and disaster recovery planning have long since become an integral part of the business lexicon. Yet, despite the cacophony of warnings about vulnerabilities ......
  • If Disaster Strikes, Is Your Business Prepared?
  • YOUR COMPANY CAN BE affected by natural disasters and man-made catastrophes, but is it prepared? (1) Preparing for a disaster is a good use of ......
  • IT disaster and business continuity...
  • Disasters that shut down mission-critical applications for any length of time can have devastating direct and indirect costs. The National Association of State Chief Information ......
  • 'Jane, stop this crazy thing!':...
  • Recently, I attended a networking and educational event hosted by New York City-based public relations firm, Cocktails with Courtney. The group specializes in mingling traditional ......
  • An Interview with Marsh's John B. Copenhaver
  • Editor's Note: The Interpreter's Tom Singleton conducted the following interview with John K. Copenhaver, a senior vice president in the Risk Consulting practice of Marsh ......
  • CNA School of Risk Control and Business...
  • CHICAGO -- CNA insurance companies (NYSE:CNA) announces newly expanded courses in its School of Risk Control Excellence designed for business owners and risk managers....
  • ADVISORY/OpenReach to Display Business...
  • Business/Technology Editors ADVISORY... for Tuesday-Wednesday (Oct. 29-30) 2002 SIA Business Continuity Planning Conference --(BUSINESS WIRE) What: OpenReach, Inc. will appear at the 2002 SIA Business ......
  • 9-11 panel eyes national standard...
  • Working across the street from the soaring 110 stories of Chicago's Sears Tower, the tallest building in North America, HR professional Michelle Jackson has reason ......
  • Shadow-Planner Named Best Business Continuity...
  • LONDON -- Office-Shadow Ltd, the business continuity software company, has won the coveted CIR Magazine award for Best Business Continuity Management Planning Software of ......
  • Disaster and recovery
  • MANAGING TECHNOLOGY For the 334 employees of the Securities and Exchange Commission's Northeast Regional Office in lower Manhattan, Sept. 11 started like every other day....
  • Fifteen Financial Institutions, Vendors,...
  • NEW YORK -- The Financial Services Technology Consortium (FSTC) today announced that 15 leading financial institutions and technology companies have undertaken its Resiliency Maturity ......