Skin care clinics, like any other small business, face the possibility of work injuries, business interruption, and disasters – all of which have a profound impact resulting in economic and legal issues. This article is designed to provide an overview in the following areas:
1. Present sobering disaster-related statistics on the effects of small businesses.
2. Provide the owner/operator with an overview of disaster planning and what they can do to safeguard their staff, patients, and business enterprise.
3. Learn how to minimize business interruption and increase the chances of survivability after a disaster.
DID YOU KNOW?
• As reported by the SBA in 2006, up to 25 percent of small businesses do not reopen after a major disaster like a flood, tornado, or earthquake.
• The U.S. Department of Labor estimates that over 40 percent of all businesses never reopen following a disaster and of the remaining businesses, an additional 25 percent will close within two years.
• According to the NFIB National Small Business Poll, over 30 percent of businesses have been affected by natural disasters and 10 percent have been impacted by man-made disasters.
• According to the Insurance Information Institute, the 10 most costly catastrophes in the U.S. include: 1) Hurricane Katrina 2) Hurricane Andrew 3) 9/11 Terrorist Attacks 4) Northridge earthquake 5) Hurricane Wilma 6) Hurricane Charley 7) Hurricane Ivan 8) Hurricane Hugo 9) Hurricane Rita 10) Hurricane Frances.
• A study from the ISO reports the following losses by cause of catastrophe from 1998-2005 totaling over $278 billion: tropical cyclones (47.5 percent), tornados (24.5 percent), winter storms (7.8 percent), terrorism (7.7 percent), earthquakes (6.7 percent) wind, hail and flood (2.8 percent), fire (2.3 percent), civil disorder (0.4 percent), utility service disruption (0.1 percent), water damage (0.1 percent).
• According to the U.S. National Fire Protection Agency, 43 percent of companies never resume business following a major fire. Another 35 percent are out of business within three years.
• Forty percent of all small businesses will go out of business if they can not get their data in the first 24 hours after a crisis according to Gartner, a leading IT company specializing in technology and research.
As of this writing in April 2007, a powerful storm in the Northeast resulted in record rainfall that created power outages to hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses.
Hurricane season in 2005 in Florida created havoc to businesses with spa clients reporting the continued effects – one of which is the onerous task in securing property and casualty insurance. These real life scenarios and eye-popping statistics illustrate that events do happen. Understandably, generating a plan – to plan for the worst – may not be the most exciting part of operations, however, it is part of being a responsible business owner and individual.
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Since 2002, Camille Hoheb has developed 110+ spas nationwide. With her 15 years segueing from hospital administration to retail health care and spa start-ups, Hoheb earned her master’s degree in Health Care Administration and her real estate license in California. She has created the operational infrastructure for two medical spa development and franchise companies. Her most recent executive post was with Solana Medspas where she was Vice President of Operations. Hoheb has ventured on her own to provide consulting services to the spa, health, and wellness segment. She may reached at 310-377-3798, or camillehoheb@aol.com.
