Most U.S. organizations have created or revised disaster preparedness plans to ensure employee safety and business continuity, according to recent survey by the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM).

Eighty-five percent of human resource (HR) professionals said their organizations have formal disaster preparedness plans in place. The survey was based on responses from 314 HR professionals.

Forty-nine percent of HR professionals surveyed said they are primarily responsible for forming all disaster preparedness plans, or forming disaster preparedness plans and procedures with equal input from other departments.

The survey found that organizations are focusing on crisis response training for employees that include CPR/first-aid training, fire suppression, crisis management and hazardous material containment.

The survey indicates that 41 percent of organizations with business continuity plans will be able to sustain essential operations indefinitely, and 25 percent said that all operations can continue indefinitely.

Small and medium organizations were less likely to have a business continuity plan while 80 percent of large companies have a plan in place in case of an emergency.