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Friday, November 23 2018

So often we focus on major incident scenarios that will rarely occur, for example a fire.  However, every year there is a major risk of business disruption as a result of the severe weather we experience - witnessed by the "Beast from the East" in 2017.  As snow has fallen in the UK this week please find below some BC considerations to aid you in your preparations.

People

  • Is everyone accounted for? (at work or traveling)
  • What is the potential impact on key skilled personnel?
  • Is there sufficient gritting/snow clearing to keep paths clear – can staff be asked to help?
  • Do staff working outside have appropriate clothing for the conditions?
  • For staff working from home, do they have suitable work environment, and can they access the server?
  • For those travelling to work, are their vehicles suitable and do they have spare / warm clothing, blankets, sleeping bags, thermos flask etc.  Given that Line Managers might also be unavailable, is there a central work number to call in case of a major delay?
  • Does a Department rely on another Department for an activity? If so, is the other Department still able to deliver it?
  • If there was an emergency during this severe weather period, eg cyber-attack through to burst pipe or chemical leak, can sufficient responders mobilise to deal with it?

Premises

  • Are valuable assets suitably heated/protected.
  • Suitable protection from frozen pipes.
  • Supply of fuel
  • Resupply of raw materials, food, consumables etc.
  • Gritting/snow clearing of paths, loading bays and car-parking areas.
  • Potential risk from falling icicles/snow from buildings.
  • Are there any areas of “suspicious” brickwork or masonry that might become lose and a risk as a result of the freezing conditions?
  • Consideration of potential flooding following a rise in temperature.
  • Potential loss of electricity due to power lines being brought down.

Technology

  • Recommend that, where possible, key staff take IT home with them in case they can’t get to work the following day, and whatever paperwork might be required (within security limits).
  • If not already practised, recommend that everyone tests their ability to log on from home and access folders.
  • From experience, when the “Home Working” option is maximised, data speed and connectivity reduces.  Is there an IT help-desk available for home workers?
  • If there is an issue with IT during this period, can sufficient IT personnel be activated to make the repair?

Supply Chain

  • Are there critical supplies that could be delayed – including mail, water, food?
  • Is there potential for distribution disruption that may impact on your contractual obligations?
  • Grit and salt supplies will be a premium.  Consider when to re-order so that your stocks are maintained.
  • Could your waste management be disrupted, if so how long before becomes critical?
Posted by: Inverroy Crisis Management Ltd AT 08:23 am   |  Permalink   |  1 Comment  |  Email
Monday, November 19 2018

When sending out membership renewal invoices (in my role as Treasurer), a few people have asked what we do. This has highlighted the fact that members (and even board members) do not visit the website, read these blogs or visit our Facebook page. On checking, I discovered that some members do not receive invites to events as their company email systems block our Mail Chimp bulk email management system as they filter out all such emails as "spam candidates".

I did also have to apologise for the fact that some of our past events still had the future tense in the website events page - so I have started a tidy up as we need to get the small details right and keep our content relevant, up to date and accurate.

So - as an experiment - if you read this blog, let me know by adding a comment to let me know. 


Communication is everything!

We do have a lot in the pipeline and have held some fantastic events - we just need to ensure that our paths of information are open and well visted

Posted by: Gordon Mackie AT 01:08 pm   |  Permalink   |  3 Comments  |  Email
Wednesday, November 14 2018

And so the clocks have gone back - nights are darker, and from a personal standpoint thoughts of Road Safety loom large (if you drive the drizzly M8 corridor, you'll know what I mean!).

So what would happen if an essential staff/project member did have an accident, and was unavailable for days or weeks? I'm sure that contingencies were made months or years ago.... but are they still valid? Are the same people involved? Has access to information been maintained, or have valued documents been locked securely away, looked at once or twice, and then no more - only for locations or passwords to be forgotten?

When was the last time Business Continuity Plans were reviewed - are they still current? Would they still stand up?

Or has all the focus on Cyber threat removed the focus from the other areas of threat?

Time to dust off those plans and schedule a test!

Posted by: Chris AT 08:03 am   |  Permalink   |  2 Comments  |  Email
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Sustaining a Resilient Community

Scottish Continuity
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