All companies can improve on their disaster planning techniques, no matter how well they coped with Hurricane Fabian, according to the Chamber of Commerce.

And next week the chamber's Business Technology Division is hosting a workshop called "Disaster Proof Your Business" as part of a drive to get businesses to share helpful tips and plans to cope with disaster situations.

"It is the first time business has really gotten together to exchange best practices," said Nancy Volesky, chair of the division. "Generally people did really well during Fabian but we can all learn something and there is always room for improvement."

Ms Volesky said that business had done remarkably well during the storm ? and were up and running very quickly afterwards, but she said that there were very simple ways that businesses could improve their response techniques.

"For instance, putting up signs in stores, saying "back in five minutes" or "will open on Monday" would help customers know what is going on. It is simple, effective and easy to do. But a lot of people may not have thought of it," she said.

"Another is for small businesses who do not have large back up systems to keep copies of important documents in their homes, away from their businesses."

And she said that it could be that the next disaster to strike would not be a storm, but could be some other kind of disaster for which the Island was less well prepared and could really harm business.

She said: "Are you ready to be out of business for say 72 hours? What if there was an anthrax attack? Or a fire? Something that actually knocked out Hamilton?"

Jim Ivey, director of marketing at TBI who is also on the Business Technology Division committee, said: "It is all about getting it better next time. Business fared very well, and so did the people of Bermuda. Most of us fared very well, although some may feel they did less well.

"But we have to look at what we can do next time and look at systems and help companies continue to grow and go forward."

The workshop, which is free, will be held at the Hamilton Princess next Wednesday and registration will take place from 5.30 p.m., with the seminar starting at 6 p.m. and slated to finish at 8 p.m. A reception will follow.

The organisers hope to attract between 75 and 100 business people from all walks of life to the workshop.

The speakers will start with John Burchall, from the Government's Department of Communication and Information, who is slated to speak about what the community (including businesses) can expect from both the emergency services and Government.

Walter Cook, chief security officer at QuoVadis will then present "Disaster Recovery Planning" which will look at data recovery and business continuity from a technical perspective.

This will be followed by Linda Wilson-Smith, vice president of corporate communication at Belco, on public relations and crisis communications and how to prepare and maintain contact during a crisis based on Belco's experience.

Then Nick Faries, vice president of e-business and technology solutions at BF&M will give his company's plan and process for the storm and being open at 8 a.m. the morning after.

The division which is organising the event recently changed its name from the e-business division to make it more current and encompassing and currently has 33 members.

More information is available on www.disasterplanning.bm or by contacting the Chamber of Commerce.