Business Continuity Insights For Managers

We recently surveyed a large number of businesses across the West Midlands region about their level of preparation for incidents, crises and emergency response. The results were varied, but overwhelmingly surprising.

Businesses across the UK are being advised by government and community organisations to consider the actions to be taken in the event of unplanned incidents, disasters and crises. Project Argus is a good example of such initiatives, inviting companies to sign up to and attend workshop events delivered by local police forces, fire services and Counter Terrorism Support Units.

What we have found is that although general awareness has increased, the next steps following these events are being forgotten. It is ultimately down to individual companies to implement and review their own Incident, Crisis and Emergency response plans in accordance with their responsibilities as an employer. Many feel they lack the internal expertise and knowledge to do so effectively and have limited options for seeking assistance. A post I published recently also alluded to some common misconceptions regarding who is responsible in managed, shared office spaces.

Conops Global work with Security, Facilities and Business Continuity Managers to effectively write, implement and test these processes after a free consultation and ask the following initial questions, in line with NaCTSO guidance:

Do you have a business continuity plan and when was it last tested?

Do staff know what to do in an incident or emergency?

Do you have separate fire, incident and emergency response plans?

Are staff trained in and aware of fire/bomb evacuation procedures?

Could your business continue to operate from a different location if necessary?

Are appropriate staff in place to manage an incident, and are they sufficiently trained?

Is your information safe and secure?

Do you regularly backup stored data?

How long would it take to recover your IT systems?

Are all aspects of the business insured?

Do your key suppliers have a business continuity plan?

Would your customers stay loyal if you couldn`t meet important deadlines?

Have you promoted your business continuity plans to increase customer confidence in your business's ability to cope during any disruption?

Using this check-list, you can gain an initial view of how prepared you are as a business and take additional action as required. Of the companies we have spoken to, nearly 60% reported that they had a combined Fire and Emergency Response Plan, 40% did not have allocated incident response managers and a surprising 52% had not considered additional threats such as active shooters in buildings, bomb threats, targeted cyber attacks and widespread evacuation orders.

We also recommend that companies keep a prepared incident response kit in a known location for ease of access should the worst happen. This should include:

Contact lists - staff, other branches, clients, suppliers, utilities, insurance company Building Blueprints Torch, megaphone and Hi-Viz jackets Waterproof document wallet, notepad and pens Emergency blankets and whistle Emergency mobile phone and charger Wind-up radio Water and snack bars Large first aid dressings, burn dressings/ice packs Gloves and nylon rope Walkie talkies

Many of our fellow security professionals will talk of the frustration faced in educating clients. Unfortunately, the saying "it will never happen to me" is far too common with regard to effective crisis and incident management. We hope the above advice will provide useful, and give an initial step to ensuring the safety and well-being of more companies in the near future.