Tips to Get Your CU Ready For a Disaster

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa – Planning for an alternate location to meet in case a credit union’s office becomes unavailable is among the many suggestions Jerry Ferris has for credit unions preparing disaster plans. As purchasing and facility manager for the members group of the Iowa Credit Union League, Ferris periodically produces sessions about disaster preparedness for credit unions. Ferris said that among his suggestions, he advises credit unions to: * Review and update information on employees, directors, vendors, suppliers. * Document who to call and communicate that to employees. * Practice tabletop exercises and work out disaster scenarios. “For example, a credit union could practice what it would do if power was lost to the building and it had to set up temporary locations,” he said. * Adequately post signs for emergency procedures. * Inform employees about locations of fire extinguishers. `* Have employees learn CPR. * Train floor monitors to handle situations in case of fire, flood, tornado, robbery. * Train employees to be aware of suspicious people and to be on guard for possibilities from robbery to stealing IDs or data. * Prepare a media sheet. If the situation is significant enough, he said, the credit union wants to have information prepared to identify the credit union, its assets and affiliation and to use the media to communicate to its members about the situation.