Mitigating Disasters in Veterinary Practices and Humane Shelters

Disasters are always costly. Frequently people think of highly popularized large scale disasters seen on television as the costliest disasters. However, the common costs associated with "every day" disasters are by far the greatest disaster related costs every year in the US. Examples of the common losses are: loss of adequate animal care and health expertise, loss of income and family support to employees. Clients may have to seek advice from a neighboring practice while their regular veterinarians practice is not open and being restored. Clients will be confused, as they will have to reschedule elective appointments, seek alternatively advise mid way through therapy (this could be very difficult for a patient undergoing chemo cancer therapy where the records of the original veterinary cannot be found). Business disruption may also affect client loyalty and a practices reputation, accumulation or killing of animals that may have otherwise been adopted. There are three steps for businesses to follow before they can consider themselves disaster resistant. 

• Even with diligent daily back up of records one day the computer fails. A replacement cannot be installed for 3 days. A new system is needed, but will generate an error rate of 5% in retrieved data.

• The municipal water supply has a mains burst supplying the practice or shelter.
• A car hits a utility pole carrying the power to the practice or shelter. The phone and security system are no longer functional.
• A transient is found dead close to business, drug related crime is suspected. The police establish a security ring around the site, which includes the access to your business. Clients are deterred for two days and the local television news covers the story.
• A fire breaks out in a neighboring dry cleaning business. Yours business is evacuated.
• A technician accidentally drops and breaks a bottle of halothane. All staff are evacuated, but nobody takes the MSDS with them. The fire department does not know how to deal with the problem and evacuates the area.
• The manager of a practice or shelter is injured by a dog and is hospitalized for 3 days.

Large scale disasters may also affect the socio demographics of the area where a flourishing practice once stood. For example, after Hurricane Andrew the client base changed sufficiently for veterinarians to have to revisit their clientele base before resuming work or making a major financial commitment for future plans.

There are three levels of disaster preparedness which businesses (veterinary practices, veterinary accessory stores and animal shelters) in the animal care industry can become involved:

1. Personal preparedness at work through Emergency Contingency Planning in accordance with guidelines of OSHA.
2. Business preparedness through business resumption planning in the case of a major disaster. Veterinary practices and humane shelters should be considered "critical facilities".
3. Community preparedness as community leaders in veterinary emergency management for the care of animals and their owners in disasters. These programs can only be developed correctly under the guidance of the local Emergency Management Agency.

These three areas should be seen as sequential steps for becoming involved in disaster management programs. In particular the types of problems that will occur in a veterinary practice, humane shelter or pet and feed store in a disaster are likely to be the same as in every day operations, they just occur on a larger scale.

Disasters do not create new conditions, they merely exacerbate existing ones. Therefore, learning to deal with common problems that occur frequently and locally, and are dealt with through local resources is the best way for groups to prepare themselves and their communities for disasters. Local disaster preparedness is also best because it follows the priorities of those who are permanently vested in the local community.

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Meeting the legal requirements for a business to be compliant with OSHA is a good starting point for becoming involved in disaster management programs at all levels, because the vast majority of issues that arise in disasters are the same as those that occur during every day business. The OSHA requires that all business with more than 10 employees to have a written Emergency Contingency Plan (ECP). For businesses with 10 or less employees a written plan is not mandated, but highly recommended. The purpose of an ECP is to prevent accidents, and if they do occur to be able to effectively control them and reduce their impact.

To some OSHA regulations may seem like an imposition, however, they have evolved from the experience that disasters and emergencies are a common cause of human injury in the work place, and that many of these can be prevented. OSHA requires a systematic approach to disaster preparedness for businesses. Complying with the regulations set out by OSHA are generally beneficial to companies in that compliance results in lower number of injuries to staff, decreased severity of injury when accidents occur and decreased losses due to business disruption and the consequences of litigation when procedures have not been followed. These are the identical goals of any business or community disaster preparedness program. Adaptation of the principles of human safety in emergencies, such as evacuations, can be readily adapted by animal health professionals to the care of animals.

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In a study of business disruption after the Northridge earthquake business owners described the extent of damages and costs to their businesses. The most common damages are summarized in the following table.

In this study the average repair costs were over $15,000 per business. The effect of not being adequately prepared is reflected in the amount of damage that was paid for by the owner of the business: 38% of owners paid for all of the repairs themselves, and an additional 29% of owners paid for part of the repairs out of their personal savings. Only 17% had adequate insurance for the insurance company to pay for all of the repair costs. Most insurance claims were settled within 6 weeks. Only 19% of businesses applied for a small business loan from the Small Business Association to help finance the cost of repairs. The range of time to payment on these loans was 56 to 300 days.

As much as 90% of damages to businesses were estimated to be non-structural or contents related damage. Therefore, structural data may not be the best indicator of the cost of damages to businesses. Long term consequences of business disruption also included changes in the clientele base. 35% of businesses reported a decrease in the number of clients/customers in the 14 months flowing the earthquake. The owners of these business estimated that this loss of clientele resulted in an overall loss to their business by 23%. Although some businesses reported no change in clientele or even an increase in the number of customers, the 2 medical related businesses in this study both reported losses due to decreased numbers of clients. Five out of six businesses that reported extensive damages also had to lay off employees permanently. Other businesses reported temporary layoffs for 7-60 days.

The cost of reopening differed primarily between who owned the business. Businesses that were part of national chains had their costs of reopening usually covered from head office. By comparison, 88% of local businesses paid for the cost of reopening out of their own resources.

The impact of floods on businesses

In another study of 1079 businesses after the floods of 1993 in Iowa common causes of business disruption were identified. Flooded businesses tended to be older businesses. The median number of hours businesses were closed by type of business are summarized in the following:

The single most important advice of over 40% of business owners whose businesses had been affected by disasters was to increase insurance coverage. This was supported by the finding that nearly 30% of all business owners, whether they had insurance or not, had to pay for some or all of the costs of damage themselves. Insurance payments were also made much quicker than SBA loans. Adequate insurance may be difficult to obtain in some areas where premiums for likely hazards can be prohibitively high to remain profitable. However, many very effective types of insurance are obtainable at a reasonable cost and contribute significantly to the future success of a disaster struck business.

Poorly insured businesses have a very low chance of returning to normal function. Some estimates suggest that small businesses affected by major disaster have a less than 10% chance of returning to function within three years of the disaster. Insurance should cover all aspects of business: property, facilities, equipment, liability, and protection against losses from interruption. Employers who cannot pay their staff to help clean up the mess after a fire will be out of business for much longer and at much greater expense than if they were able to continue to pay their staff.

The two most common causes of under insurance and problems with filing claims are not updating insurance as new equipment is purchased and filing claims late. Late claims, especially if they are submitted after repair work has been carried out, are frequently associated with the insured finding out that certain aspects of the cost were not covered in the way they were handled, but could have been handled more cost effectively if a claim had been file early.

Examples of the type of insurance that businesses should consider are:

Property

Liability

Workman’s compensation

Disability

Life

Personal accident

Loss of earnings

Business interruption (current and future)

Hazard specific: fire, flood, sewer back flow, earthquake

Endorsement: valuable paper and documents, breakdown of equipment, software, cost of equipment rental or lease. 

However, insurance is by no means a substitute for good plans. Effective plans are what prevent disasters in the first place or, if they do occur, reduce damages to a minimum.

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It should always be remembered that the planning process is just as, if not more, important than the final plan itself. During the planning process, people and organizations learn to work as a team. Remember it will be local people and local resources that will have to carry the greatest responsibilities and burdens when a disaster occurs. There are three circumstances under which plans will be developed:

1. The preferred method: in the absence of immediate or recent threat from disaster
2. The common method: immediately following a disaster
3. The necessary method: at the time of a disaster

The latter two should be avoided.

Some communities may not have Emergency Operation Plan (EOP’s) that address animal related issues in disasters. Therefore, to begin with persons interested in developing a local EOP should first determine if their local government has an EOP. If there is an EOP it should be determined to what extent the care of animals and their owners are addressed. To create a plan a commitment needs to be made at the very outset. Persons/positions who can provide that commitment are: the director of Emergency Management Agency (EMA) (or in rare cases the governor or county commissioners), the state veterinarian or state public health veterinarian (state EOP) or Director of Animal Care and Control (local EOP). Only once there is a commitment by these persons should the development of a formal EOP proceed.

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Just like responding to a disaster, developing a plan is a team effort. Start by forming a committee of individuals who can contribute. The committee should be co-chaired by emergency management personnel and a representative from the animal care community. Veterinarians, county extension agents, and directors of humane shelters or animal control are examples of suitable animal care industry representatives. Members of this committee should ideally possess the following credentials:

• authority to represent

• control over resources that can be used in an disaster

• experience or knowledge of disasters.

True representation of groups by appropriate individuals is critical. This must be determined by either formal recognition by the groups being represented or appointment to the position. If formal representation is not assured, then the contribution and the availability of promised resources that a group will be able to make must be questioned. Participation of Animal Control is essential in all plans that intend to deal with stray animals in disasters.

There is wealth of material available from federal and state emergency management agencies on how to develop disaster preparedness plans. Materials from FEMA should be used as much possible as much of the other literature has not been prepared by professionals. FEMA has provided guidance to local emergency operations planners for developing Emergency Operations Plans (EOPs) under its Integrated Emergency Management System (IEMS). This guide, CPG 1-8, describes a recommended form, content, and development process of EOP. It sets forth FEMA’s policy concerning plans produced with federal assistance. The State and Local Guide for All Hazard Emergency Operations Planning, SLG (101), details plan development, responsibilities and tasking, including the responsibilities for the care of animals. In April or May of 1998 FEMA will publish the "Animals in Disasters" independent study guide, which will be the primary source of information on the subject. This will be available form the Emergency Management Institute, 16825 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, MD 21727.8998.

The American Red Cross, emergency management agencies and other groups also have many educational materials on how to develop personal and family disaster preparedness plans. Familiarity with these materials is essential before developing plans for a community. The best results have resulted when interested groups have coordinated their efforts with the appropriate level EMA from the outset. The development of plans for the care of animals should proceed as for any other annex or tab for an EOP. There is nothing magical or unusual about the care of animal owners and their animals. Animal owners should be simply viewed as another group with special needs. With that there is an existing industry that is available to help identify needs, resources and coordinate care.

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The information on the Animal Management in Disasters web site is proprietary.
For problems or questions regarding this web contact heath@animaldisasters.com.
Last updated: September 23, 2005.