Business Continuity Plan
Your business continuity plan provides a framework for you and your organisation to respond to any crisis. It should help to reduce harm to staff and help your business survive disruption. The steps below give you the information and tools you need to design an effective emergency strategy for your organisation:
As you work on your strategy, always remember that good business continuity plans are:
- flexible
- work on public holidays and in any weather conditions
- clearly written and easily understood
- tested regularly
- integrated into your organisation's structure
- understood by everyone in the organisation.
Whatever size your business is, you’re likely to rely on suppliers, contractors or partners to help deliver your services. It is therefore essential for your business that the organisations you are dependant on also have effective business continuity plans. More information on managing the resilience of your supply chain is available below.
Protecting your business
Being prepared is not just about having a plan, and there are actions you can take to protect your business against many of the risks you may face. Follow these simple tips to help make sure you are fully prepared:
Computers and IT – protect your IT systems from hacking, viruses and theft
As businesses are becoming more reliant on technology, the impact of any accidental or deliberate disruptions to technological systems increases.
Making sure your IT systems are secure is more important than ever - you can minimise the risk to your IT systems from hacking, viruses and theft by:
- making sure your systems are password protected to prevent unauthorised access to programs and data
- setting up a firewall for your internet connection
- installing and keeping up to date anti-virus software on your computers
- backing up key information and storing the back-ups off site in a secure, fire-protected environment
- asking staff to be careful when opening suspicious looking email attachments
- training staff to set up secure passwords (containing letters, numbers and punctuation)
- making sure staff change their passwords regularly and keep passwords secret
- training staff to look after portable devices such as laptops, blackberrys and memory sticks – they may hold sensitive data, which you will not want to be made available externally
- training staff to be careful in their email and internet usage and to refrain from sharing data or personal information online.
Further information
Protecting your business from fire
Fires cause UK businesses to lose millions of pounds a year and all organisations have a responsibility to be fire aware.
Follow our tips to help you protect your business from fires occurring, and to minimise the damage if a fire does break out:
- carry out a fire risk assessment to identify the fire hazards and risks in your property
- make sure you have a plan outlining how you will respond to a fire and emergency evacuation procedures – for more help on what to include, look at the London Fire Brigade website
- install fire alarms with smoke and heat detectors and test them regularly
- provide portable fire extinguishing equipment and fire suppression systems, including automatic sprinklers
- identify escape routes and ensure they are kept clear of obstructions
- improve passive fire precautions such as adding fire resistant doors where appropriate
- appoint a fire warden from among your staff and get them trained in dealing with an emergency
- train all staff in fire awareness, sounding the alarm and evacuation procedures
- carry out regular fire drills so staff know how to respond if a fire is started
- maintain existing fire precaution measures, particularly those detailed in any fire certificate.
Your local fire safety regulation team can help if you have any specific enquiries – find the contact details for your local team.
Further information
- Have a look at the London Fire Brigade website for more information on how you can make your workplace safer, and the legal requirements you may need to comply with
- Check out the Business Link website for more information on fire safety and risk assessment
How can I prepare my business for flooding?
Assess your risk from flooding – this may be from river or tidal flooding or surface water flooding. Bear in mind that even if you are not likely to be affected by external flooding, a burst water pipe could have the same impact on your business.
Protect your business if you are at risk of flooding:
- consider what flood protection products might best protect your building.
- make sure your building is insured against flooding
- if possible, make sure electrical sockets are above flood level
- back up important computer files and store them elsewhere
- store any valuables or important documents above floor level.
Plan for loss of premises in your business continuity plan If you live in a flood-risk area, consider how you can best plan and prepare for flooding – the leaflet ‘Would your business stay afloat?’ has specific advice for businesses on planning for flooding.
Respond if it is about to flood by:
Further information
Insurance – does your insurance match your risks?
Having the right insurance policy is really important to help your business recover from an emergency. Below is some advice for taking out and claiming insurance.
Tips for taking out insurance:
- try to get advice from an insurance broker who is regulated by the Finances Services Authority (FSA) rather than going directly to an insurance provider
- make sure you take out insurance with a company that is a member of the Association of British Insurers
- insure your premises against fire, explosion, flooding, storms and malicious damage
- if you are a tenant, make sure that your landlord has taken out building insurance
- do a survey of your business, taking photographs of your premises and valuable items – this will be useful if you do need to make a claim.
Tips for claiming insurance:
- if damage is due to a criminal act, report it to the police and get a crime reference number – you will need this for your insurance claim
- estimate the value of the damaged or missing items
- take photographs of any damage to your property or belongings
- keep receipts from any emergency repairs made as you should be able to claim the cost back.
Further information
Security – how to protect your business from crime, vandalism or terror attacks
All businesses may be at risk of crime and vandalism, but there are some simple steps you can take to help protect your business from criminal or terror attacks.
Priority considerations
- Identify the materials and information which are critical to the continuity of your business and make sure they are kept somewhere extra safe
- Make sure employees know what security measures are in place and ask them to pay attention to their personal belongings
- Make sure the right people know whose responsibility it is to close and lock the premises at the end of the day
- Make sure the intruder alarm system is working and arrange for regular check ups
- Be aware of any pressure group(s) that may be hostile to your organisation and ask the police what particular measures you can take to prevent vandalism or aggression.
Extra peace of mind
- Consider installing a public address system to contact all staff in an emergency
- Issue electronic security passes to members of staff and make sure external visitors are signed in by employees
- Consider hiring security guards for the premises
- See if there is a business watch scheme (like neighbourhood watch) in your area. If there isn’t, get advice from your local police on establishing one.
Further information and tools to help you plan
Supply chain resilience
According to a 2011 survey carried out by the Business Continuity Institute and The Chartered Institute of Purchasing & Supply, 85% of organisations experienced at least one supply chain incident that caused disruption to their organisation in the past 12 months, whilst almost 1 in 3 experienced more than 6.
What does this mean for me?
No organisation is totally self-sufficient, we all rely on suppliers, partners and contractors to deliver our services. With supply chains ranging from the local sandwich delivery company who provides lunch; through to complex outsourcing arrangements for back office solutions, the network and complexity of supply chains is ever increasing.
How do I manage these risks?
You can manage supply chain risk by making sure that your suppliers and contractors have business continuity plans which meet your requirements and fit in with your plans.
Local authorities are no exception to this, and are working with their supply chains and outsource partners to increase supply chain resilience. To support organisations in their planning, a group of local authority business continuity specialists have produced a guidance document outlining what local authorities expect from their contractors regarding business continuity planning.
You can ensure your supply chain is resilient is by conducting a supply chain analysis to identify key suppliers and make sure that they have appropriate plans in place. To support you in this, a business continuity industry standard third party business continuity questionnaire has been produced and is freely available for you to use – download more information and the questionnaire .
Supply chain resilience during the London 2012 Games
The London 2012 Games will pose additional challenges to businesses and supply chain resilience. To assist you in preparing for this, a questionnaire has been produced which you can adapt to share information with your suppliers and contractors.
Don't forget your neighbours
Discuss your emergency arrangements with your neighbours, as you may be able to help each other during or after an emergency, for example through the use of each other’s emergency equipment or temporary secure storage. Encouraging your neighbouring businesses to plan for business disruptions will mean you will all be more resilient and prepared if disaster strikes.
Don’t forget to communicate your plans to the other tenants if you are in a multi-occupancy building, particularly around evacuation planning (e.g. to make sure that you aren’t all planning to use the same evacuation assembly point).
Business plans that work
If you need some inspiration for your plan, take a look at some of these case studies from organisations that have averted disaster by successfully implementing their emergency strategies.
