For most businesses within Eden Prairie, the daily ins and outs of making a living take more attention then planning for the big “what if.”

 What if a disaster hits Eden Prairie and you need to access your business? What if your business has tools that could be invaluable in such as disaster?

Planning for the big what ifs and even more minor issues is the purpose of the city’s Partnership for Emergency Readiness.

Since initially launching the initiative in 2006, the city has signed up about 100 businesses to the PER network. According to its Web site, www.edenprairieper.org, the initiative “is committed to developing the resources and expertise within the city of Eden Prairie necessary to coordinate emergency preparedness efforts. In order to maintain the city’s economic viability, it is incumbent upon members of the Eden Prairie business community to have a comprehensive and well-designed disaster response and recovery plan. One goal of the partnership is to enhance the business community’s ability to return to normal operations as soon as possible following a disaster.”

The goal is to have all EP businesses signed up with the PER network. This summer, Sgt. Randy Thompson, who recently retired from work at the EPPD, came back to work on recruitment of more businesses to PER.

“I got to kind of reroute them to think about the big ‘what if’ for a few minutes, get them to sign up and then they can go back to business as usual,” said Thompson.

The purpose of PER is twofold. One is to get businesses thinking about an emergency plan, and secondly, to get those businesses connected to the PER database, so if something were to happen, they could draw upon that business for help, he noted.

Some companies may wonder what they could offer in the case of an emergency.

Thompson said it’s not just about tapping into tangible resources; it’s also what knowledge and expertise Eden Prairie has in town.

A business could have expertise needed to help another business get back on its feet again, if something were to happen, he said.

Benefits

PER is free to join, businesses just need to visit www.edenprairieper.com to sign up.

“The whole concept behind PER is to get people involved before there’s a disaster or a wide-scale emergency,” added Fire Chief George Esbensen.

Some of the benefits to joining the program include: complimentary site safety assessment and security assessment from a fire inspector and police officer; members can sign up for National Incident Management Team training and CERT training; businesses also would receive credentials so, in the case of an emergency, responders can quickly identify who can get back into a business. Using that credentialing, they can get real-time texting to alert them to a crime in progress or crash on the highway, Esbensen added. Esbensen noted that members also receive a newsletter every other month, detailing crime trends.

The main challenge is getting people to take the short time to sign up.

Esbensen said he thought people were very well intentioned about taking the 5-10 minutes to join online, but when they’re in the throes of doing the daily battle of business, “it kind of sinks to the bottom of the pile.”

Esbensen likened it to getting people to practice fire drills in their home.

Not very many people do that because most people have never experienced having a fire in their home so it’s off their radar screen, he said.

“The time to learn that skill isn’t when your house is on fire.”