A NEW wine industry-focused bushfire resource has been launched, aiming to help wine businesses before, during and after a bushfire event.
Developed by the SA Wine Industry Association, 'Preparing, responding and recovering from bushfires. A wine industry resource and workbook' provides information on worker and public safety, asset management and insurance, marketing and communications, human resources and operations.
An accompanying workbook, also available online contains a number of templates, checklists and other key documents relevant to the wine industry.
SAWIA chief executive, Brian Smedley, said while bushfires were catastrophic, there were steps businesses could take to ensure they were as prepared as possible.
A wine business should have a plan to manage any business disruption.
- BRIAN SMEDLEY
"Catastrophic events are all too common, and they can have enormous impacts and disruption to business operations and profitability in the short and long term. But there are actions that wine businesses can take to reduce the ongoing impact of the event," he said.
The resource is broken into three main categories - Prepare, Respond and Recover.
"This is a comprehensive approach to risk management that's been used by Australian emergency management agencies for decades and can be adapted by businesses to save time and money when preparing for and responding to an incident," Mr Smedley said.
While the resource has been created specifically to assist with bushfire preparation and response, Mr Smedley said a few small adjustments would make it a key tool to deal with any emergency.
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"Many wine businesses over the past five years have experienced three 'once-in-a-lifetime' events, and this has taught us that there are many types of 'once in a lifetime events' that can impact us - we just don't know what or when," he said.
"A wine business should have a plan to manage any business disruption. Establishing a plan with designated people in specific roles to ensure business continuity is key to an organisation being able to adapt and respond to a rapidly changing environment with speed and accuracy."
The resource was created with support from the SA Country Fire Service and contributions by Bentleys SA and MGA Insurance, and was made possible through funding from PIRSA.
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