Emergency Preparedness Week 2026: 10 Tips for Small Businesses in Canada

How prepared is your small business for a flood, wildfire, earthquake, or severe windstorm? If you’re not sure, Emergency Preparedness Week 2026 is the perfect time to change that.

Emergency Preparedness Week 2026 runs from May 3 to 9. Preparation is a year-round effort, but the first week of May is a good moment to stop, assess your risks, and take action. Canada’s annual Emergency Preparedness Week campaign helps Canadians identify local hazards, prepare for emergencies, and take concrete steps to minimize them.

The reality is, small businesses are especially vulnerable. Without the deep pockets of a large corporation, a single disaster (fire, flood, or extended power outage) can be enough to close your doors for good.

Here are 10 practical emergency preparedness tips for small businesses in Canada:

1. Know the Risks Your Business Actually Faces

Canada is a big country, and what threatens a business in coastal B.C. isn’t the same as what threatens one in southern Ontario or the Prairies. Each province and region is subject to different hazards, such as floods, wildfires, tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, blizzards, and heavy snowfall.

Start by identifying the two or three natural disasters most likely to hit your area. Stay up to date on weather reports and government advisories. Knowing your specific risk is the foundation of everything else on this list.

2. Create a Business Continuity Plan and Keep It Simple

A business continuity plan or small business disaster recovery plan sounds intimidating. It doesn’t have to be. Think of it as a clear, step-by-step playbook your team can follow when things go sideways, even if you’re not there to direct them.

Do a risk assessment of the potential threats your business faces and outline the steps to be taken in different scenarios. Create a separate checklist for each type of emergency (floods, wildfire, power outages) so there’s no confusion about what to do and who does it.

Detail what to do, who should do it, and how. Include contact information for all employees, business partners and vendors, and emergency responders in your community. Note an alternative location your business could operate from if you need to leave your commercial property temporarily.

Once your plan is drafted, make multiple copies. Print three and store them in different secure locations, like a fireproof safe, your home, and a trusted partner’s or colleague’s place. Keep a digital copy backed up in the cloud so your team can access it on any device, anywhere.

3. Have a Crisis Communications Plan Ready

When an emergency hits, communication breaks down fast. People panic, rumours spread, and if your team doesn’t hear from you, they’ll fill in the gaps themselves.

Draft a crisis communications plan as part of your overall disaster recovery and emergency response strategy. Include an updated emergency contact list with every possible way of reaching each employee – phone, email, and social media.

Map out how you’ll communicate with different groups: employees, customers, suppliers, and partners. Will you use email? Text? Social media? Decide now, not during the crisis.

If your company uses social media networks like X (formerly Twitter), Instagram, and Facebook, build them into your plan. Follow @Get_Prepared on X and Emergency Ready in Canada on Facebook for tips and updates before, during, and after an emergency.

One more thing: Don’t count on your cell service working perfectly during a major disaster. Voice calls eat up bandwidth. Text messages, emails, and social media posts are far more reliable in an emergency. Use them.

4. Pinpoint Your Mission-Critical Operations

What absolutely cannot stop if your business is going to survive? As part of your business continuity plan, you need to document your company’s mission-critical systems.

Think through your IT infrastructure: your computers, servers, software, and internet connection. What happens if your network goes down? Do you have network documentation with a clear blueprint of your systems and hardware? Having this on hand will make restoring your network faster, cheaper, and a lot less stressful.

Set up remote access to your network so you and your staff can manage the business from anywhere. Make sure your IT technician or consultant has remote access, too, and that their contact information is baked into your business continuity plan.

5. Train Your Employees and Don’t Leave Them Guessing

A plan sitting in a drawer nobody’s read is not a plan. Make sure every employee knows where to find your business continuity plan and what their role is in it.

Run a brief walkthrough with your team. What do they do if you’re unreachable? Who’s responsible for what? The goal is that anyone on your team can execute the plan without you.

6. Backup Your Data Consistently

Your data is your business. Back up your data regularly and make sure copies are stored on separate servers at a secure, offsite location and in the cloud. Automate your backups so it happens without anyone having to remember to do it.

And don’t overlook cyber insurance. It covers the costs associated with cybercrime involving your technology systems and customer data. It’s an increasingly important layer of protection for small businesses in any industry.

7. Take Preventive Measures to Protect Your Property

Don’t wait for a disaster to start protecting your commercial space. Be proactive now.

A few smart moves: ensure you have a 24/7 monitored alarm system with fire and water detection, consider installing storm shutters over windows, and secure any outdoor inventory so it doesn’t become a flying projectile in a windstorm.

These aren’t expensive fixes, but they can make a big difference when a storm rolls through.

8. Test Your Plan Every Year. Don’t “Set It and Forget It”

Writing a plan is step one. Testing it is what makes it actually work.

Run through different scenarios with your employees and partners at least once a year. You’ll almost always find gaps or things that don’t make sense, contacts that have changed, or steps that are missing. Catching those in a drill is far better than discovering them during an actual emergency.

It also keeps the plan fresh in your team’s minds. They’ll be calmer and more effective when it matters.

9. Assemble a 72-Hour Emergency Supply Kit for Your Business

Buy a first-aid kit and put together emergency supplies that can carry your business and team through at least 72 hours. That means water, non-perishable food, a manual can opener, candles and matches, a battery-powered flashlight, extra batteries, and cash.

Not sure what to include? Download our free emergency kit checklist.

You can also purchase a pre-assembled 72-hour emergency kit from retailers or the Canadian Red Cross.

10. Review Your Business Insurance Policy at Least Once a Year

No amount of preparation fully eliminates risk. That’s what insurance is for.

Review your business insurance policy annually to make sure you have the coverage you need for your property, products, and services. Gaps in coverage can be financially devastating after a disaster, and you don’t want to learn you’re underinsured after one strikes.

Emergency Preparedness Week is a smart time to connect with a Zensurance broker to review your current policy. Whether you want to add coverage, make changes, or explore better pricing, we can help. Switching is easier than you might think.

Additional Emergency Preparedness Resources for Small Businesses

Every province and territory has an emergency management organization with resources, local risk information, and disaster financial assistance programs:

• Alberta Emergency Management Agency
• B.C. Public Safety and Emergency Services
• Manitoba Emergency Measures Organization
• New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization
• Newfoundland & Labrador Justice and Public Safety
• Northwest Territories Municipal and Community Affairs
• Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office
• Nunavut Emergency Management
• Emergency Management Ontario
• P.E.I. Emergencies and Public Safety
• Quebec – Ministère de la sécurité publique
• Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency
• Yukon Emergency Measures Organization

Insurance Is the Backbone of Your Emergency Strategy

You can have the best business continuity plan in the world, but business insurance is what actually gets you back on your feet after a disaster. 

Small businesses and self-employed professionals are especially at risk. Without deep financial reserves, a major flood, fire, or extended closure can be enough to shut you down permanently. And when a small business closes, the whole community feels it.

Don’t let that happen. Use Emergency Preparedness Week 2026 to take these steps seriously, review your plan, train your team, and make sure your insurance has you covered.

Fill out our online application for a free quote in minutes. We’ll shop our network of over 50 insurers to find you the right coverage at the best price.

– Updated May 1, 2026.