Only slightly more than half of the companies in the state and its neighbors in the Southwest with annual revenues of $10 million or more have a business continuity plan, according to a national study released Wednesday by AT&T Inc. and the International Association of Emergency Managers.

Of 100 companies surveyed in Utah, Arizona, Nevada and New Mexico, 57 percent had a continuity plan and 62 percent considered emergency preparedness a priority.

Renee Murphy of the Utah Division of Homeland Security said those numbers are probably high, especially if the survey included respondents such as banks and utility companies, which are required to have contingency plans by law. Plus, the majority of Utah businesses much smaller and would not have been included in the survey.

"Larger companies are able to employ someone to handle [emergency planning]," Murphy said. "It's the smaller businesses that my agency is concerned about because they don't have the staff."

Citing research from the U.S. Small Business Administration, Murphy said the chances of a small business surviving a disaster are not good:

* 47 percent of those that experience a fire or major theft go out of business in two years;

* 50 percent cannot recover if they have an interruption of cash flow for more than 10 days;

* 44 percent of businesses that lose their data records in a disaster never resume business.

Ron Beck, vice president and general manager for AT&T in Utah, hopes the study will encourage more businesses to prepare for a disaster. He also noted that evacuation plans need to be tested more frequently, at least every six months. Of those businesses that reported having a continuity plan, only 37 percent had conducted a drill in the past six months and 18 percent had never tested their plans.

"The cost of preparing for these disasters, compared with the cost of recovery for disasters, is a pretty cheap insurance policy," Beck said.

Thirteen percent of the companies surveyed said they have already experienced a disaster that forced business to stop for a period of time.

Although the survey was conducted this past summer, before Hurricane Katrina and other storms rocked the Gulf Coast, Beck wouldn't speculate on whether more businesses prioritized disaster recovery after the hurricanes.

Homeland Security's Murphy said more businesses have signed up for the division's free continuity plan workshops since the hurricane.

During the workshops, attendees prepare a draft plan, which includes an inventory of available resources during an emergency, how to resume critical operations within 72 hours, a review of insurance coverage and measures for cyber security.

A continuity plan should safeguard a business against all hazards, but the most likely in Utah are earthquake, fire or a cyber security failure, Murphy said.

Beck was surprised that many businesses surveyed didn't have safeguards for cyber security threats. Companies in the West are slightly less likely than those in other regions to implement or plan to implement Internet security measures such as firewalls, intrusion detection, hacker protection and password authentication. Only 55 percent have done so and 20 percent have plans to do so in the next six months.

"Business leaders need to make sure that there is assignment of responsibility for business continuity and disaster recovery inside their organizations," Beck said. "If they don't have the staff, they need to go out in the marketplace and get help."

rwinters@sltrib.com

Free workshops

Utah Division of Homeland Security will discuss business continuity plans

Wednesday, Jan. 11

8:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Salt Lake Community College

Miller Campus

Miller Free Enterprise Center,

Room 203

9750 S.300 West, Sandy

Thursday, Jan. 12

8:30 - 11:30 a.m.

Salt Lake County Emergency Operations Center

Unified Fire Authority Training Room

3380 S. 900 West, South Salt Lake

To register, call Renee Murphy, 801-538-3702, or visit http://des.utah.gov/training/schedule.htm