Small firms are being urged to prepare for weather-related disruptions this winter by drawing up continuity plans.

Following the coldest winter for three decades last year, which caused widespread disruption to businesses, forecasters are predicting another harsh, snow-filled winter in the coming months.

According to Positive Weather Solutions, the winter of 2010/11 is likely to see similarly icy temperatures to last year and more of the ‘disruptive snowfall’ which hampered deliveries, triggered heating and power failures and left many employees unable to get into work.

According to a YouGov poll, 58% of senior decision-makers at small businesses said their companies suffered as a result of the snow last winter, despite 78% believing their firms were sufficiently prepared.

And nationally, three quarters (74%) of employees were affected by the snow, with more than a quarter (26%) failing to get in to work at all. Crucially, 21% of those surveyed found key suppliers and contacts were unavailable and 26% had to postpone or cancel meetings.

Now, the Forum of Private Business is urging smaller companies to prepare for any potential adverse weather now by putting in place business continuity plans. The Forum’s Phil McCabe said: “I think it’s fair to say that last winter’s extreme weather conditions caught out many small business owners.

“A lot of small firms struggled to continue trading as employees failed to make it into work, deliveries were cancelled and freezing temperatures caused heating equipment to fail, leaving their premises unusable.

“We estimated that last winter’s snowfalls were costing smaller businesses across the UK around £230m each day at one point. Obviously, in the current climate, small firms can ill afford a similar expenditure this year so we’re urging business owners to think about their contingency plans now to ensure they aren’t put out of action by another icy winter.”

It’s also a good time to review basic disaster recover plans. While small businesses will usually get an insurance payout to cover damage to their property after such an event, they are highly vulnerable to the steep drop in turnover which often follows as customer records are lost, phone calls and emails go unanswered and clients take their custom elsewhere.

McCabe added: “A high percentage of businesses affected by a major incident such as a fire or flood either never re-open or go bust soon after the event.

“This is often not due to the immediate loss of goods and premises, which is usually covered by insurance payouts. It’s because the company’s inability to resume trading within a short space of time means clients and customers go elsewhere, leading to unsustainable losses and potentially undoing years of hard work spent building the business up.