Although a near-miss by a tornado is  as close as EFCO Corp. has come to  a major disaster, the company’s  good fortune hasn’t kept it from preparing  for emergencies.

EFCO has been a part of Iowa Contingency

Planners, an organization that  provides emergency planning and disaster  recovery educational and networking  opportunities, since its formation  in the early 1990s, and the company  is in the process of updating its  emergency plans.

“People here have had the attitude  that says nothing is ever going to happen  to us in the Midwest,” said Joe  Solem, legacy systems manager for  EFCO and secretary of Iowa Contingency  Planners. “One of these days,  that’s going to catch up to us.”

In addition to dedicating more time  and resources to disaster planning,  EFCO is one of a growing number of  Central Iowa companies that are joining  emergency management organizations.  In recent years, these groups have  focused on collaborating with the public  sector, and a new group, called Safeguard  Iowa Partnership, is forming this  year to work directly on this effort.

A.J. Mumm, director of emergency  management for Polk County, believes  businesses became proactive about putting  some emergency processes in  place after witnessing disasters such as  the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.  More recently, these businesses also  have seen a greater need to collaborate  with government agencies to ensure a  smoother recovery during emergency.

“The biggest thing we’re finding  out,”Mumm said,”is that when a disaster  strikes, businesses that are able to  reopen sooner help the overall community  recover sooner.”

He added,”When the private sector  owns and operates over 90 percent of  the critical infrastructure we depend  on, the private sector needs to be at the  table with us.”

Fast growth

As more businesses recognize their  need for disaster planning, emergency  management groups have received  renewed interest.

Last year, Iowa Contingency Planners’  membership grew by about 17  percent to 105 members, who represent  49 companies and six government  agencies. Metro Emergency Planners,  composed of Greater Des Moines businesses,  nearly dwindled away after Bob  Goldhammer retired as Polk County’s  emergency management director, but  has rebounded to about 70 members.

Iowa Contingency Planners’ mission  is to learn about and discuss certain  issues businesses are facing, during  quarterly meetings and an annual conference.  With each member paying  $100 in annual dues, Solem said the  increase in membership has allowed  the organization to bring in better  speakers, such as Regina Phelps, an  expert on pandemic planning.

“The benefit is that you’re able to  intermingle with peers and to keep up  to date on current movements,” said  Tom Banse, chairman of the organization’s  board of directors and assistant  director of business continuity planning  at Principal Financial Group Inc.

This year, Iowa Contingency Planners’  theme is “Making the Connection  – Partnering for Performance,” which  signifies its efforts to strengthen ties  with government agencies. One of its  major initiatives is working with Polk  County emergency management officials  to update the county’s emergency  plans, along with the Metro  Emergency Planners.

Although Polk County continually  revises its plans, this is one of the first  times it has worked closely with the  private sector, Mumm said. However,  this interaction with businesses beforehand  could dispel misunderstandings  about what each side will do during a  disaster, he said.

“We have policies and procedures in  place,” said Jeff McClaran, an emergency  manager with Wells Fargo & Co. and  chairman of the Metro Emergency Planners.”  It’s important for us to make sure  what we have in place is going to work  well with the public responders.”

Metro Emergency Planners also  meets quarterly to discuss different  issues, which are then worked on by  various committees. The organization  started just after the floods of 1993 and initially was composed of downtown businesses, but now its membership  has expanded to encompass all of  Greater Des Moines. Many of Iowa Contingency  Planners’ members belong to  the organization.

One of its main  objectives in working  with Polk County is to  develop evacuation  plans to avoid situations  such as traffic jams if  businesses let employees  leave early because  of bad weather.

New organization

A new group hopes  to carry these initial collaborative  efforts further  by focusing specifically  on building strong  relationships between  public and private  emergency planners.

Already, the Safeguard  Iowa Partnership has had a  strong, positive response, said Elliot  Smith, executive director of the Iowa  Business Council.

“As I understand it, there’s been a  void in getting key players from both  sides together to interact and determine  how procedures should be set up effectively  when the time comes,”Smith said.  “We’ve had a few initial meetings with  business security and disaster response  experts on both sides,  and the reaction has  been almost overwhelming  from them in  terms of how much this  sort of collaboration  has been needed.”

SIP has about 30 to  40 members from the  Business Council and  government agencies,  but the group will formally  introduce itself to  the community at a Jan.  29 press conference.

Already, though, the  group’s members have  identified some initiatives  it may work on.  Those include establishing  an Iowa business  resource registry to inventory the  assets companies and state government  groups have available during a crisis. It  also would like to formalize representation  of businesses in state emergency  operations, develop better communication  between the state and businesses  and work on “tabletop exercises,”where  businesses and government entities are  given a situation and together work to  develop a course of action.

Coordinated response

The group began when former Gov.  Tom Vilsack met retired Air Force Gen.  Charles Boyd, CEO of Business Executives  for National Security, at a conference.  BENS often establishes partnerships  in urban areas; Smith said this is  one of its first statewide programs.

The partnership is a joint effort by  the Iowa Business Council and BENS.  The Business Council will cover Safeguard  Iowa Partnership’s personnel  costs up to two years, or until the organization  is able to support itself. BENS is  handling training and similar tasks.

Smith expects the new organization  will work closely with other emergency  planning groups.”We’re not out  to reinvent the wheel here or take the  place of any existing organization,” he  said. “It’s truly an effort to fill holes  described to us by people who are  experts in the area.

“It’s bringing a lot of groups together  and developing a coordinated and  effective response at all levels.”

Although larger companies, such as  Principal and Wells Fargo, are leading  emergency planning efforts, many  smaller companies are starting to jump  on board, too.

“For the past couple of decades,”  Mumm said, “some businesses have  been able to dedicate staff and time to a  specific area of continuity planning,  where other small businesses can’t  afford to dedicate the time and personnel  to do that.”

However, he added, larger companies  are encouraging smaller businesses  that provide them with supplies and  services to have emergency plans that  will assure bigger companies that those  resources will be there after a disaster.

Mumm said the county has tried to  make the process easier by providing  some basic models of emergency plans  for businesses to follow.

Solem of EFCO believes it is important  for every company to have some  kind of emergency plan.

“We want to make sure in case of a  disaster that we’re able to be in business  tomorrow,” he said. Statistically, “the  majority of companies that do not have  a plan after a substantial disaster, within  a couple of years are out of business.”