That statistic is one of the findings of a poll conducted by Fusepoint Managed Services and Gallup International Association member Leger Marketing which polled over 1,000 Canadian employees and 500 business executives to find out what people thought about disaster preparedness, the perception by Canadian employees of their safety at work and how prepared Canadian businesses are to deal with a disaster, if one were to hit tomorrow.

The survey dealt with a variety of issues including natural disaster, cyberterrorism and physical terrorist acts. Eighteen per cent or nearly one in five Canadians felt a terrorist attack is the greatest threat while 28 per cent of employees feared a pandemic outbreak as a significant concern.

Regionally, 63 per cent of Quebecers were more concerned about fire or burglary than a pandemic such as SARS or the avian flu while Ontarians were more concerned about blackouts. Business executives report 44 per cent of all Canadian businesses have been affected by a disaster such as a power outage, IT disaster or terrorist threat.

Twenty-one per cent of executives say they are more likely to have a disaster hit their workplace than did five years ago, compared to 10 per cent who say it is less likely to happen now. However, 75 per cent of executives feel personally responsible for their company’s disaster preparedness and 36 per cent fear losing their job if they failed to protect their business in a disaster.

A majority at 72 per cent admit to having no business continuity plan.

The online survey was conducted by Leger Marketing between Sept. 1 and 11.