Business continuity planning - Do you have a plan B?

How would your business function if its day-to-day operations were suddenly halted because of fire? The answer may seem obvious; if your business was destroyed by fire, the business could not function. But there are other considerations to take into account and the largest consideration should be continuity planning.

The risks to your business need to be considered and the potential continuity of the business addressed before anything unforeseen happens.

What if...

Many risks are not anticipated simply because human nature is such that we don't like to think about it. It is essential in the case of your business to consider the 'What if...' question and apply it to different scenarios.

Start with basic 'What if...' questions to highlight risks to your business. What if a building burned down? Would this be a major or a minor part of your operation?  If your business is office based, this would mean that the majority, if not all, of your IT equipment was destroyed. However, your data could be protected by regular back-ups to offsite storage and restored to another location very quickly.

This simple example illustrates that one small measure may mean the difference between a business being totally 'lost' and up and running again within a reasonable time.

This process helps to clarify the most essential parts of your business and how they can be protected. The information should be fed into your Fire Risk Assessment as those business-critical functions could be further protected by, for example, fire resistant construction and suppression systems.

An area that is often overlooked is the effect on a business from a fire in other buildings, for example, your supplier.  If your business relies on a sole supplier for goods or services, a fire within their building(s) is likely to have an adverse effect on your business.  A review of your suppliers plans may be useful, as well as adopting the 'what if' process once more, this may then suggest that potential alternative suppliers are considered, should the worst case scenario occur.  Similarly, if you are a sole supplier and adopt this process, you may consider dividing your operations so that a fire could only affect half of your business.

Is business continuity planning a recommendation or requirement?

For some organisations, BC is a legal requirement under the Civil Contingencies Act (2004) a relevant example of which is the Fire & Rescue Service, whereby they are expected to maintain operations in all reasonable eventualities.  Suppliers to Public Sector services/organisations that have a legislative requirement may need a documented plan also.

For others, whilst it may not be a legal requirement, it does make sense.  “Hope for the best, but plan for the worst” is a phrase that will serve your business well.  If the worst happens, having a BC plan in place will greatly soften the blow and enable your organisation to operate again in a timely manner.  Failure to 'bounce back' will inevitably lead to detrimental effects on a business, which could ultimately lead to business failure.

If you would like to know more - or would like to arrange an appointment with one of our senior fire safety advisers - simply call Peter Gyere on 020 8668 8663