A friend of mine sent out a call for help in formulating a disaster recovery plan (DRP) for our company in the event of a zombie outbreak.

The following is my response.  This is very much an embryonic document; it needs a lot of work and I would welcome any contributions.

When planning for a zombie attack it's important to have both strategic
and tactical plans.

Strategically we should consider survival, containment, eradication and
neutralization.

Survival is the primary strategy.  A zombie outbreak is a direct and
imminent threat to the life of every human being, and the only way to
contend with the threat is to survive.

Containment may be an effective strategy for outbreaks involving smaller
numbers of the undead.  Containment should be pursued over eradication
if at all possible because it gives the survivors the opportunity to
scrutinize and learn from the afflicted.  Containment will make identification
of the nature of the affliction much easier.

Neutralization and eradication are secondary strategies to survival.
It may be that a given outbreak can be neutralized, mitigating the threat;
absent the possibility of neutralization or effective containment, eradication
is the only remaining option.

We need to have tactical plans in place for a variety of possible
threats.  Zombie outbreaks are known to be caused by viruses and
possibly bacterial infections, occult sources, certain chemical
compounds, and extraterrestrial contacts (both sentient and
non-sentient).  Each cause produces zombies with different
characteristics.  Tactics for combating zombies produced through one
vector could be woefully ineffective against a different type of
zombie.  Some zombie states can be reversed while others require
containment or eradication of all effected individuals.

Weapon-wise it would be a good idea to have ready access to both
high-impact firearms and durable melee weapons.  Remember that to drop
any kind of zombie except an occult one it's necessary to destroy or
remove the brain, and by 'brain' we're not talking about the cerebrum
but the cerebellum.  The cerebellum is only 10% of the human brain and
it's a lot harder to target it with a small-caliber firearm than one
would think.  Shotguns are probably the best bet for a number of reasons
- they are not precision weapons, they have good slowing/stopping power
even if they don't remove the head, and they have a low incidence of
ricochets in closed areas.  I think machetes, axes and shovels are ideal
for hand-to-hand combat, as are clubs, maces and of course cricket bats.

Food supplies need to be set up well in advance.  We should all be
prepared to survive for an extended time on MREs.  Local secure
cultivation of fresh produce would be a good idea unless the zombie
vector is biological, chemical or extraterrestrial, in which case the
food could become a vector for spreading the outbreak.  We might want to
consider adding a closed hydroponic facility at each of our facilities.

Finally, I think that the emotional considerations of surviving a zombie
attack are often neglected.  We should have trained mediators and
counselors available in all locations.  The onset of paranoia and
depression can be just as lethal in a well-armed population as the
zombies themselves.  And the grim reality is that at some point, each
survivor is almost guaranteed to come face-to-vacant face with the
reanimated corpse of a former loved one.  The psychological damage that
such a confrontation may cause cannot be overstated.  We all like to
think that we're tough enough to survive such an encounter, but even the
toughest survivor should be ready and willing to accept help and be
prepared for the need for emotional healing.