Promoting Disaster Preparedness Among Small Businesses
Overview
The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will provide a “Disaster Preparedness Diagnostic Sheet” to help small and medium-sized enterprises and small businesses assess disaster risks and the status of their basic preparedness measures. It also plans to require a disaster preparedness checklist when applications are submitted for the Business Continuity Capacity Enhancement Plan (simplified BCP), with the requirement scheduled to take effect for applications from February 2027.
Key points
- The Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will provide a Disaster Preparedness Diagnostic Sheet for small and medium-sized enterprises and small businesses.
- The sheet checks basic preparedness for eight risks.
- A disaster preparedness checklist will be required for simplified BCP applications, with implementation planned from February 2027.
Overview
On November 2, 2026, Minister of State for Disaster Management Hosono issued an “Urgent Request to Thoroughly Advance Pre-Disaster Preparedness” to all ministries and agencies. For small and medium-sized enterprises and small businesses, the request calls for using simplified BCPs and, even when preparing a plan is difficult, encourages them to understand their own disaster risks and conduct self-checks of basic preparedness measures.
In response, the Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry will provide the diagnostic sheet and review the screening process for the simplified BCP certification system.
Impact
The Disaster Preparedness Diagnostic Sheet can help businesses identify gaps in their preparedness and serve as a starting point for taking pre-disaster measures. The review of the screening process is intended to help applicants recognize the need for basic measures and develop more effective plans based on their own risks and challenges.
Details
The Disaster Preparedness Diagnostic Sheet checks basic preparedness for earthquakes, floods, wind damage, power outages, water outages, communications disruptions, infectious diseases, and cyberattacks. Its items include securing shelves, fixtures, and machinery; checking the expected flood depth at business premises; securing backup power and placing or storing it above the expected flood level; and backing up important data.
Businesses working to develop a simplified BCP will receive a new checklist to verify their own disaster risks and the implementation status of basic preparedness measures. The checklist will be a required item at the time of application. Details of the review are scheduled to be published on the Small and Medium Enterprise Agency website at a later date.