Case studies

The case studies below show how businesses have responded to a variety of emergencies, and the lessons they learnt to inform their business continuity planning.

Manchester bombing

"At 11.16 the blast shattered the glass roof of the station causing injury to 240 of the people who were sheltering at the Victoria Railway Station including 10 M and S staff who required hospital treatment."

• Find out more about how Marks and Spencer responded to the Manchester bombing

Foot and mouth epidemic

"News broke on the afternoon of 22/2/01. The BCMT (Business Continuity Management Team) activated at 4pm that same day."

• Find out more about how Sainsburys responded to the outbreak of foot and mouth disease

Web hosting: the hidden dangers

"Then some rumours about the ISP Provider's financial position suddenly started to circulate in the marketplace and it soon became very clear that they were in trouble."

• Find out more about the hidden dangers of web hosting

Flooding

"The river Don burst its banks covering the Mexborough site with around two feet of water, affecting its IT systems and rendering its premises unusable."

• Find out more about how Morphy Richards responded to the flooding of its South Yorkshire headquarters

Burst water main

"The explosive force of the bursting pipe threw several paving slabs into the air opposite the main building entrance and the roadway quickly began to fill with water…"

• Find out more about how the Wellcome Trust responded to a burst water main

We would like to thank the organisations above for sharing their experiences.