Preparing your company for summer: anticipating risks and adapting to change

With summer fast approaching, companies have everything to gain by properly planning their activities around team vacations and/or a temporary summer shutdown. From major external hazards to security, site and employee management, there are many elements to consider in order to be well prepared.

In this article, we provide you with some examples of the risks that organizations face specifically during the summer, the consequences that can ensue, and the various aspects to consider in order to be properly equipped. As the aim of this article is to raise your awareness, we’ll limit ourselves to a few brief explanations.

 

Major external hazards

There’s one reality to which all companies in Quebec are exposed: climate change, which is becoming increasingly prevalent, creating many uncertainties and requiring even greater vigilance on their part. The spring and summer of 2023 were marked by several fortuitous environmental events, such as green algae contaminating water, landslides, floods, hail, heavy rain, tornadoes, ice storms and high winds.

In addition, the long-lasting extreme heat alone caused several hazards, including forest fires in several regions, very low water levels in rivers, violent thunderstorms, severe air pollution and drought.

 

Every industry has its own risks

The above-mentioned climate changes can have a significant impact on different types of business, in different ways. That’s why it’s important to identify the ones that could affect your operations, depending on your sector of activity. To help you find your way, here are a few concrete examples:

• Agriculture and the food industry: extreme temperatures or irregular rainfall can affect crops, harvests and the availability of food products. This can lead to higher production costs, lower yields and unstable food prices.
• Tourism and leisure: climate change can alter tourist destinations by modifying natural landscapes, increasing the risk of extreme weather events, or affecting outdoor activities. This can influence travel habits and reduce tourist numbers in certain regions.
• Real estate and insurance: flooding, as well as the increasing frequency and intensity of storms, can increase the risk to waterfront real estate and infrastructure. Real estate companies and insurers may face rising costs associated with claims and damage caused by these unusual and extreme events.
• Transport and logistics: variations in weather conditions can affect roads, railroads, seaports and airports, leading to delays, cancellations and additional costs for transport and logistics companies. In addition, they can damage transport infrastructure and disrupt supply chains.
• Energy: climate change can influence energy production and distribution, particularly in sectors dependent on natural resources such as hydro, wind or solar power. These can damage energy infrastructures and disrupt distribution networks, leading to power outages and disruptions to energy supplies.
• Healthcare: for example, more frequent and intense heat waves can increase the number of patients suffering from heatstroke and other heat-related health problems, leading to greater demand for emergency medical services and hospital care. In addition, intense weather events such as storms and floods can damage hospital infrastructure and disrupt operations, requiring hospitals to mobilize additional resources to meet the needs of affected patients while quickly determining alternative sites and es bypasses.
• Telecommunications and information technology: climate change can damage telecommunications infrastructures, causing service interruptions. Varied weather conditions can also affect the performance of wireless networks.

Therefore, environmental upheavals can have a wide range of consequences for businesses, from increased production costs and risks to property and infrastructure, to the disruption of commercial activities and supply chains.

In addition, they can aggravate or bring about certain health problems in the population, cause mass evacuation of regions, major road closures and mental health problems in those affected: disaster victims, employees and managers involved in crisis management.

Organizations must also consider the possibility of having to manage several disruptive events at the same time (e.g. oppressive heat accompanied by forest fires and poor air quality), which can complicate responses. What’s more, these events often affect several regions at the same time, affecting companies’ human and material capacities.

 

Safety, sites and employees

When it comes to managing physical and information security, as well as business sites and employees, there are many aspects to consider to be well prepared for the summer season.

Physical and information security

Have you ever thought that simply displaying your employees’ names and locations publicly at the entrance to your building could jeopardize their safety? This is just one example, but it shows how important it is to think through every detail of how you protect your team members.

Here are just a few of the measures you can take to prevent workplace accidents and/or damage to your company’s facilities and equipment:

• Identification of high-risk areas within the company perimeter:e. those where employees are more likely to fall victim to a crime or accident, such as parking lots, poorly lit or isolated areas. Additional security measures should be taken in these areas, such as installing surveillance cameras and increasing the presence of patrol officers, or adding lighting and security systems.
• Visitor and supplier access control: all visitors and suppliers must be registered and provided with access before entering company premises. Ideally, they should be accompanied to reduce the risk of theft and photo-taking of confidential information. Also, during the summer period, you need to ask yourself whether vacationing employees and suppliers can still access the building, even if everything is closed.
• Open exterior doors: exterior doors should be locked when not in use. If doors must be opened during the day, a security guard should be present or other security devices should control access.
• Social problems and risks: it’s important to be aware of the social problems and risks that can arise during the summer, depending on where your facilities are located. For example, local crime, illegal occupation of your premises, parking lots, containers, trailers by squatters, demonstrations, drug and alcohol use near or on your sites, occupation of your grounds such as by homeless people, campers, etc.
• Access to documents and physical files in the office: it is essential to secure confidential data and documents. For example, it may be necessary to ensure that non-essential VPN connections are disabled, laptops and confidential papers are locked away, and unnecessary documents are shredded.
• Teleworking: now well established in many companies, brings its own set of risks. These include access to paper documents, eavesdropping and recording of calls, inadequate layout of the workspace at home, and break-ins. It’s vital to put in place adequate security measures to protect confidential data and ensure the safety of employees working remotely. This can include the use of secure VPNs for access to sensitive documents, clear policies on the handling of confidential information at home, and guidelines on how to report suspicious activity or security incidents. In addition, employers should provide guidance and resources to help employees create a safe working environment at home.

Site management

It is essential to keep the contact details of those responsible in your resilience plans (e.g. emergency measures, business continuity, crisis management) up to date, to ensure an effective response in the event of an emergency. Likewise, it’s crucial to remind these managers and their substitutes of their roles and responsibilities in a crisis situation. In addition, as there is often a reduction in resources during the summer period, it is necessary to review the vacation schedule to ensure that identified substitutes can intervene when needed. This prevents them from being on vacation at the same time, compromising their availability and reducing loss of control in the event of crisis management.

 

Conclusion

The coming summer season raises a range of challenges for businesses, from major external hazards to concerns about site and employee safety. By taking a proactive approach and implementing appropriate strategies, organizations can build resilience and minimize the potential impact of disruptions on their business.

Need help preparing for the warm-weather season so you can enjoy peace of mind? Contact Benoit Racette Services-conseils inc. today at [email protected]!