Take a look at your Incident Management Team (IMT) or response team roster and talk to all of them to see what their holiday plans are and make sure you’ve got sufficient staff and backups to step up and take charge if an incident should happen. Your Incident Commander (IC) is especially critical as the person in charge of your team – make sure you’ve got a good backup for them.  It’s a good practice to always train all of your response team members to be able to step up and assume the IC duties and if you have incorporated this practice you will have much less stress worrying about this. 

Don’t forget about your backup team members either (you do have backup members right?).  It’s a common assumption that many companies overlook that when the primary team members are gone, that their backup is magically in the office.  That assumption can be very dangerous, so take a few moments to check their schedules as well.

Disasters and business disruptions do not take holidays off and the impact during a time when significant staff members are out can amplify the damage done to your business.  Take a few moments to ensure you’ve got the right people ready if something should happen.

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving.  Be careful deep-frying those turkeys, don’t forget your car emergency kit if you’re driving over the holiday (especially with the forecast of crummy weather all over the country), and if you’ve managed to take a cool vacation and are staying in a hotel scout out two different emergency exits.

Happy Thanksgiving.