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Volume 1, Issue 2
Tragedy Casts
Spotlight
On Disaster Recovery
When tragedy strikes, our first
impulse is to reach out to those most in need of help.
Once we have done what we can to help others, we begin
to examine our own situation and ask ourselves, "Could
our business survive if it happened to us?"
If you have a Business
Continuity Plan in place the answer is probably yes. If
you don't, this is a good time to start considering the
benefits of a comprehensive plan, and, in particular,
the Emergency Response Plan.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
requires most companies with more than 10 employees to
have a written Emergency Response Plan, or
Emergency Action Plan in OSHA's terminology (see 29 CFR
1910.38). If your company has fewer than 10 employees
you generally are still required to have an established
Plan, but you may convey it orally to your
employees. In either case, the purpose of the Plan is to
provide well defined and practiced procedures for
responding to emergency situations that will yield fewer
and less severe injuries and property damage.
The Emergency Response Plan should include specific
responses to common emergencies such as fires, chemical
spills, and terrorism, as well as workplace violence and
medical emergencies. Each section of the Emergency
Response Plan covers a specific emergency and lists
detailed procedures for the appropriate response.
Typical components include:
Procedure to
report emergencies to authorities and/or company
officials
Evacuation procedures
Procedure to identify and account for all
employees after an evacuation
Identification of individuals responsible for
rescue and medical duties
Identification of individuals responsible for
declaring emergencies and overseeing emergency
procedures
Description of the
various alarms, alerts, or signals used to notify
employees of different types of emergencies
Look for opportunities during the development of your
Plan to provide supplies or materials around your office
that enable quick reactions to emergencies. It is common
for a business to implement some additional safety and
protective measures during the development of the Plan,
such as providing First Aid Kits, Evacuation Maps, and
posted emergency procedures throughout the workspace or
office building. Building owners should evaluate more
sophisticated equipment or systems, including fire
alarms, sprinkler systems, and medical supply stations.
Communicate with your employees through regular training
and awareness events, and test the Plan often through
fire drills and other exercises. The success of any
Emergency Response Plan is absolutely dependent upon the
familiarity and confidence of the employees to implement
the Plan during a stressful emergency situation.
Training and exercise activities are critical for
enabling employees to help when needed during an
emergency.
Keep in mind, the Emergency Response Plan is just a part
of the whole Business Continuity Plan. The overall goal
of a full Business Continuity Plan is to prepare a
business so that the impact from any disruption, whether
an emergency or not, is minimal. The key to achieving
this goal is not only to develop the Plan, but maintain
it, update it, share it, and test it regularly so it
will always be relevant and effective when you need it.
ABCS Manager Panelist at Preparedness
Summit
When the Department of
Homeland Security decided to host its first-ever
Business Preparedness Summit in Charlotte, it turned to
CPAC (The Contingency Planning Association of the
Carolinas) for help. When CPAC was looking for
distinguished members to sit on the panel, it turned to
Scott Cave. Cave is the Director of Finance and
Information Technology for KFR Services, the parent
company of Atlantic Business Continuity Services. He has
been handling corporate business continuity and disaster
recovery planning for KFR for seven years and, most
recently, has been the manager of Atlantic Business
Continuity Services.
Cave has been a member of
CPAC since 2006. In that same year, he obtained
certification as an Associate Business Continuity
Professional through Disaster Recovery Institute
International (DRII). In order to receive certification,
he had to pass a comprehensive exam given by DRII.
Cave was chosen as the small business representative at
the Summit because of his expertise in advising small
business owners on how to be prepared and ready to act
to reduce the impact of a disaster on their business.
Many of the 250 attendees at the Summit had questions on
the costs of implementing a disaster plan. Cave pointed
out that the biggest investment was one of time. "You
need to be willing to devote the time to planning and
training...maintaining and updating your plan is
crucial," he said, adding, "The costs to your business
will be much greater if you don't have a plan in place
when a disaster strikes."
The Assistant Secretary for
the Private Sector, Alfonso Martinez-Fonts, represented the
Department of Homeland Security at the Summit. He stressed
the importance of making a plan and practicing it. "Sticking
it on the shelf is useless," he said.
Cave has recently
been involved in planning the Charleston Chamber of
Commerce's next preparedness workshop: "Recovering from
Disaster-Tools for your Business", to be held on August
8, 2007 from 1-4 pm. The workshop will be held at the
Charleston Metro Chamber. Tickets are $20 per person/$15
for members registering Before August 6th. For more
information call Emily Brown at 843-805-3042.
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Are You
Aware... |
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Based on
Department of Labor statistics, over 43% of
companies that experience a significant fire or
disaster never re-open. The collateral damage
caused by water and the associated clean-up are
often just as damaging as the fire. Further,
business interruption and downtime are usually
more costly than the loss of assets.
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If you've ever questioned
how long your business would survive if you suffered an
unexpected interruption caused by human error, fire,
hurricane, flood, hackers, or any one of a hundred other
damaging events, you need to subscribe to Continuity
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Continuity Plan in place, you need a subscription even
more.
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suggestions designed to assist Lowcountry businesses in
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