An emergency contact list is the single most used page of any continuity plan. On a bad morning, nobody reads strategy. They look for a number. If that number is only in the owner's phone, and the owner is on a flight, the business waits.
Who belongs on the list
- Every staff member, with a personal mobile and a next-of-kin number.
- The owner and a named deputy who can make decisions when the owner cannot.
- Your insurer and broker, with the policy number written next to the number.
- Your IT provider or whoever holds the admin passwords.
- Landlord or building manager, plus an after-hours number.
- Electrician, plumber, locksmith and a refrigeration contractor if you hold stock.
- Your top three suppliers and an alternative for each.
- Bank and merchant facility support, for card terminal faults.
- Local council and, where relevant, the relevant Queensland regulator for your sector.
What each entry needs
A name, a role, a mobile that answers after hours, and one line saying what this person is for. An entry that reads 'Dave, refrigeration, 0400 000 000, call first for cool room faults, 24hr' is worth ten entries that just say 'Dave'.
"A contact list is only useful if it dials. Check the numbers every quarter."
Why the phone contacts app is not a plan
Contacts stored in one person's phone fail in the exact conditions you need them: the phone is flat, the person is unreachable, or the staff member on shift has never met the supplier. The list needs to be somewhere the team can reach it, on their own devices, and it needs to survive the premises being closed.
Keeping it current without a project
Set a fifteen-minute quarterly review and give it to one named person. Update it immediately when someone leaves, when you change supplier, and when you renew insurance. Most lists go stale within a year, and a wrong number under pressure is worse than a blank space because it burns time.
How many contacts should be on the list?
For a business of five to fifty people, typically fifteen to thirty entries. If it runs past two pages, it has stopped being an emergency list and become a directory, and it will not get used on the day.
Where should the list be kept?
In at least two places: on the phones of everyone who might need it, and printed somewhere physical such as inside a cupboard door or in the vehicle. Digital alone fails during a power outage; paper alone fails when the building is closed.
Related reading: what happens when you lose the bookkeeper, the one-page continuity plan and what to do when EFTPOS and the internet go down.
Load your contacts once in the app and they appear against your risks, in every playbook and on the escalation list. Update a number in one place and it updates everywhere.
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