As is often case, we are reactive rather than proactive. And we can’t help it because we just have too many other tasks in the queue, addressing each in a prioritized manner. Having recently suffered a recent personal injury, reviewing my own personal injury protocol was swiftly bumped to the top of the list.

Everyone who has met me knows that I’m crazy about my overweight, 140-pounds-down-from-160 Bouvier des Flandres named Hondo. Since adopting him three-and-a-half years ago, the dog has since become my writing partner. I do the typing; he does the snoring.

Taking him out for his usual midday walk, while I was stooped over doing my civic clean up duties, Hondo felt inclined to lunge purely out of protective instinct at a rapidly approaching downhill bicyclist. In a moment I was propelled into the sidewalk pavement, resulting in a black eye, four stitches, multiple contusions and a broken pinky finger.

Thus, a planned afternoon of work was instantly turned into a multi-hour emergency room visit coupled with an uncomfortable recovery period. Hondo escaped from the incident unscathed for those of you that are worried.

This ordeal led me to a series of questions that every manager should ask themselves regarding contingency planning for themselves, their families and their businesses. A minor incident such as what I recently experienced is a mere speed bump in comparison to a heart attack or a major motor vehicle accident. Here are a series of questions for your consideration.

1. What is your communications protocol to alert your team if you are personally injured and unable to advise your directly staff?
2. Are your business affairs in order so that someone else can readily assume all of your responsibilities without extensive training?
3. Who has the emergency access to your cellphone and office computer?
4. If you do not arrive at work, who knows your calendar and who has the responsibility of contacting your next of kin to determine your whereabouts?
5. Who have you designated as an interim team leader and have the necessary processes been clearly defined within your organization?
6. Do you have alternate signing authority designated for checks and expenditures?
7. Are all of the answers to the above written down in a completed protocol document?

Our lives are fragile. Accidents happen. Fortunately for me, mine was relatively inconsequential. In my many years of business, I’ve been fortunate to experience very few disruptions of any sizeable magnitude. As Benjamin Franklin said, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.” How would you answer the above?

(Article by Larry Mogelonsky, originally published on eHotelier on June 25, 2018)