Business Continuity Management
Business Continuity Advice
New Government Legislation, the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, has given local authorities the duty to provide businesses and voluntary organisations with advice on Business Continuity Management. This duty aims to ensure our local businesses are able to quickly recover from disruptions. A resilient business community creates a resilient Lancashire!
What is Business Continuity Management?
Business Continuity Management is a planning practice used to identify what aspects of your business activities and resources are essential. It can help your organisation to develop documented plans on how to maintain "business as usual" in the event of a civil emergency or business interruption. Business continuity management can be adjusted to meet the needs of organisations of different sizes and complexity.
A range of internal or community based risks could threaten your organisation. Examples could be a fuel crisis, theft and vandalism, pandemics, the loss of your workplace, power failure, industrial action or loss of communications, like telephones or IT. The Lancashire Community Risk Register details the likelihood of some of these risks occurring.Why is Business Continuity Management Important?
No organisation is immune from the effects of disruption so it makes sense to take some basic steps to protect the key parts of your business in advance. Poor forward planning often threatens the survival of unprepared businesses when a major emergency or serious disruption occurs. Statistics show that 1 in 5 organisations suffer a major disruption every year. The causes of disruption can vary significantly in scale and intensity ranging from fires, floods, partner or supplier failure, to wide scale national events such as fuel supply disruption, terrorism, pandemics, etc. Incidents can quickly affect the key assets of your business, e.g.
- Premises/worksites
- Staff and skills
- Suppliers and partners
- Specialist equipment
- Technology and communications
- Data/information
If your organisation has any of the above assets and cannot function without them or recover quickly following an interruption, you may want to seriously consider business continuity management.
What would be the benefits of undertaking Business Continuity Management?
Implementing business continuity management can help to:
- Safeguard your reputation and competitive edge
- Preserve customer/client loyalty and trust
- Protect financial income and key business activities
- Enhance business recovery following serious disruption events
- Support insurance claims
How will we warn and inform if there is a civil emergency?
In the event of an emergency which presents an immediate threat to life, the police will warn you and your staff of any actions you need to take. In addition, the Emergency Planning staff of your local authorities may need to provide information to the community. Under such circumstances, you are advised to tune into BBC Radio Lancashire on 103.9 or 104.5 FM or log onto http://www.lancsresilience.org.uk
