RISKVUE ARCHIVE | RISK BITES

Suppose There Was a Disaster and Nobody Came…

by David A. Shimberg, CBCP

This question is not as strange as it sounds. Why? If businesses expect government agencies to provide more than initial response actions such as extinguishing a fire, providing emergency medical assistance, or perhaps disaster loans, those businesses are in for a sad awakening. Nobody will come!

Only pragmatic response and recovery planning, completed and practiced, before disaster strikes, improves the odds that an organization will continue after the event. Whether the disaster is natural or man-made, the impact is the same: lives are lost, businesses fail, there is physical and economic impact far beyond the immediate, visible, damage.

Business continuity planning (BCP) is a structured program of activities, helping ensure an organization survives the impact of a disaster or event that severely interrupts regular operations. As might be expected, business survival is the organization’s responsibility. Planning for reasonably foreseeable business interruptions, and taking appropriate, cost-justifiable actions, is just good practice. Reasonable planning may also reduce the likelihood of legal actions by employees, stockholders, or even the government.

Business owners, employees, and shareholders are not the only ones affected by a disaster interrupting normal operations. Private sector businesses are responsible for a significant part of the critical infrastructure. The private sector accounts for over 85% of this country’s critical infrastructure. The small business community is responsible for over 50% of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP); represents over 90% of U.S employers and 99.7% of all employees; and pays 44.3% of total U.S. private payrolls. When a disaster strikes, whether natural or man-made, in the U.S. or around the world, it is the business community and its employees that are first affected.

Lost wages, taxes, and productivity affect communities, placing additional burdens that may have far reaching affects. Disrupted supply chains may affect other businesses or entire industries. Contracts lost may never be regained, and yet BCP is not even on the radar of most, smaller businesses.

In October of 2004, the Contingency Planning Association of the Carolinas, CPAC, working with Central Piedmont Community College, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Duke Power, and with support form the Global Partnership for Preparedness, set up a project to help small businesses. One thousand invitations were sent to small businesses in the Greater Charlotte, NC area, inviting them to participate in a two-hour program to provide them with information on business continuity planning and help them start their own plans. Not a single business responded! The private sector evidently has a short memory and needs another wake-up call.

Call for Action

The wake-up call must come from sources the private sector views as credible and authoritative. Chambers of Commerce, local, state, and federal agencies must work with each other and businesses that understand the risks and potential impacts of disasters. This includes college and university programs that are preparing future leaders, who, without appreciating the importance of BCP, will continue to ignore it as a best practice. These groups, and others including the media, working individually and in concert, must increase awareness, help educate businesses and organizations, and provide encouragement, resources, and incentives for sound BC planning.

A wide variety of resources are available to help business and organizations understand BCP and protect themselves. DRI International (www.drii.org), Global Partnership for Preparedness (www.globalpreparedness.org), the Business Continuity Institute (www.thebci.org), and The Department of Homeland Security’s site, www.ready.gov, are four of the major sources for BCP information, training, references, and support. Links to professional associations of contingency planners can be found on a number of websites.

Finally, DRI International and the Global Partnership for Preparedness are encouraging professional planners to provide “pro bono” help to small businesses, much as lawyers provide help where needed. When a disaster strikes, businesses must be prepared with a clear, practiced, business continuity plan—because nobody will come!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

David A. Shimberg, CBCP, is the BC/DR Manager at Premier, Inc. He is currently Chairman of the Contingency Planning Association of the Carolinas (CPAC), and Vice Chairman of the All Hazards Advisory Committee for Charlotte, NC. Chairman@cpaccarolinas.org

Copyright 2005, Witter Publishing Corp. Reprinted with permission.

riskVue | The webzine for risk management professionals
June 2005