Disaster preparedness is a full-time HR job.

Whether fire drills or shelter-in-place drills, emergency communication plans or contingency business plans, most firms have formal disaster preparedness plans, and HR typically plays some part in forming those plans, according to a Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM) survey report

Preparedness has taken on new meaning in the aftermath of natural disasters such as hurricanes Katrina and Wilma along the Gulf Coast in August and October and a succession of tornadoes that ripped through the Midwest in November.

"Whatever the extent of HR involvement in this process," SHRM survey research specialist Shawn Fegley wrote in the Society's 2005 Disaster Preparedness Survey Report, "there is a need to continuously modify, evaluate and communicate disaster preparedness plans."

More than three-fourths of survey respondents said HR played some role in their organization's disaster preparedness plans.

Not surprisingly, that role depended largely on the size of the organization: Large organizations (500 or more employees) and medium-sized organizations (100-499 employees) were more likely than organizations with 99 or fewer employees to have formal plans.

Almost one-third of the 314 HR professionals responding to SHRM's online survey said they formed the plans and procedures with equal contribution from other departments; 29 percent advised other departments that were primarily responsible for the plans; and 18 percent primarily were responsible for forming all preparedness plans. Twenty-two percent had no role in planning.

Communication Challenge

Communicating the organization's status to employees in the event of a disaster, accounting for employees, setting up an alternate location where employees can meet, and having an emergency number for employees to call were cited over and over by most HR professionals as part of their organization's communication plans.

Three-fourths of survey respondents said they would know how to get information about the status of their organization if they were not at work, and 80 percent would know how to get that information if they were at work.

Organizations may want to consider using employee-licensed ham radio operators for emergency communications, suggests Allen Pitts of the Amateur Radio Relay League. "During [hurricanes] Rita/Katrina, there was one mode of communication which worked better than anyone, including myself, expected--ham radio," he said.

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Pitts suggested that employers allow interested employees who are FCC-licensed ham operators to respond when the national ham organization issues a call-up during disasters.

Almost two-thirds of HR professionals polled said their organization had contingency plans that would allow operations to continue in the event of a disaster. One-fourth said their plan would allow the organization to run all operations indefinitely, and 34 percent said they could run all operations at least a month but not indefinitely.

KATHY GURCHIEK IS ASSOCIATE EDITOR AT HR NEWS.