Businesses that fail to prepare for harsh and often unpredictable winter weather conditions may find themselves in a precarious situation should disaster strike and employees are unable to get to the office.

According to a recent study by the British Standards Institution, 80 percent of companies that do not have business continuity plans don’t survive 18 months after a majorly disruptive incident, such as a blizzard.

Furthermore, more than 90 percent of survey participants indicated that their organization suffered some sort of disruption last winter, with more than a third saying the incident had a major impact on business operations.

“There are an alarming number of businesses without contingency plans in place, and these are the ones most likely to suffer negative commercial consequences as a result of the bad weather,” BSI chief executive Howard Kerr said in a release. “Businesses need to develop clear business continuity plans or they run the risk of losing their company at the first sign of major disruption.”

One of the most important elements of a business continuity plan is communication. Businesses must be able to relay information about office closings or traffic delays to their employees. With One Call Now’s emergency notification system, companies can send text and voice messages as well as email alerts to employees to keep them informed of developing situations.

Companies located in Boston, Hartford and Providence may want to plan ahead this weekend as a developing snowstorm is expected to hit the area. According to AccuWeather senior meteorologist Alex Sosnowski, three-to-six inches of snow is expected to fall from Long Island up into Maine.

By early Sunday evening, many towns on Interstate 95 will be frozen over, according to the reporter.

“Road conditions will depend on the rate of snowfall,” he wrote. “Generally, during the middle of February, it has to snow very hard during the middle of the day to accumulate on streets and highways. Where the snow gets a head start early in the morning, it may continue to pile up.”

The meteorologist also reported that snow showers are expected to make it to Chicago and cautioned drivers on Interstate 80 to be careful of changing road conditions.

Companies seeking ways to improve their emergency response capabilities during inclement weather can look to voice broadcasting services from One Call Now. The systems are powerful enough to notify an organization’s entire staff through voice, text message or email to ensure employees remain updated about office closures or potential traffic delays.