Preparing your business for emergencies

Together with the Metropolitan Police and Transport for London and representatives from businesses, we've developed the Cross Sector Safety and Security Communications mechanism (CSSC).

The CSSC charity works with partners to provide verified information to businesses across London who have registered. CSSC brings trusted information direct to your inbox about security alerts, large-scale public events and severe weather; helping you to take steps in your business to reduce impacts. See the website for more details.

London is home to lots of different types of business. From large multi-nationals to people working from their own home. Small and medium businesses form a vital part of the UK and London economy.

More than 12 million people in the UK are employed by small and medium businesses, and they account for 99 percent of London's employers. Yet many may not have thought about how they would continue to stay in business in the event of an emergency.

We know that not all businesses are able to commit the same level of resource to developing business continuity arrangements. Big organisations may have an identified Business Continuity Manager, but smaller businesses can often find business continuity harder to implement.

To provide support to this important sector, we worked with London local authorities and business sector representatives to develop the following resources, available for you to use for free.

• guidance to help you protect your business
• a template to get you started
• 10-minute Business Continuity self assessment

Businesses can also help support their local communities to be resilient. We're working with London First to introduce Business District Resilience Officers to help coordinate locally-based planning and support. Find out more in this Aide Memoire or full details in the Community Resilience for Business Districts report.

More information can be found throughout the London Prepared site. We've also recommended a range of resources to help businesses develop detailed continuity arrangements:

• Business Continuity For Dummies - big organisations often have dedicate business continuity or disaster recovery teams, but what about the smaller businesses? This guide provides advice tailored to small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs)
• ISO 22301 Business Continuity Management - this standard outlines the requirements of a management system to protect against, reduce the likelihood of, and ensure your business recovers from disruptive incidents
• BS 65000 Organisational Resilience - guidance on organisational ability to anticipate, prepare for, respond and adapt to events – both sudden shocks and gradual change
• BCI Good Practise Guidelines - provide independent body of knowledge of good Business Continuity practice worldwide
• CPNI Advice and Guidance - information on developing physical, personnel and cyber security for businesses
• ISO/IEC 27031: 2011 Information Technology Security Techniques - describes the concepts and principles of information and communication technology (ICT) readiness for business continuity
• BS 11200 Crisis Management: Guidance and good practice - offers guidance to help management plan, establish, operate, maintain and improve their organizations crisis management capability
• PD25111 Human Aspects of BCM - gives practical guidelines on the management of people during the continuity phase and supporting staff after recovery
• PD25222 Guidance on Supply Chain Continuity - practical methods to help deliver products and services in the event of an incident affecting supply chains
• ISO 22398:2013 Guidelines for Exercising BCM - recommends good practice for organisations to develop exercise and validation programmes