Research

BCM - Flu Support and Advice - Swine Flu - H1N1 - April 28th

Category Business Continuity Management BCM - Flu Support and Advice - Continuity Forum - Swine Flu - H1N1

Useful Resources for Swine Flu (H1N1)

Below is a list of resources that may prove useful to a wide range of organisations. Much of the planning and preparation undertaken for Avian Flu is completely appropriate for Swine Flu. Whilst the situation concerning Swine Flu is developing quickly organisations should thoroughly review their plans, protocols and the measures proposed for their organisation. Of particular importance are the following:

• Hygiene and Healthcare measures
• Policies on Staff availability and absence issues
• Impact on Supply Chain, Critical relationships and dependencies
• Stake-holder Communications
• IT security and Distance/Teleworking protocols
• Staff travel policies and issues

The Continuity Forum provides support and guidance for organisations of all types on Pandemic Planning. If you need help or advice please do contact us directly on +44 (0) 208 993 1599 or via email on info@continuityforum.org

OTHER PANDEMIC FLU LINKS (You can also contact us directly and we'll do our best to help)

WHO EPR Update Link - World Health Organisation

National Pandemic Plans by Country

WHO Outbreak Communications Planning guide

Pandemic Flu - National Framework Document responding to a Pandemic Cabinet Office/Dept of Health

Pandemic Flu - Advice for Business

Pandemic Flu - Guide for Hospitals and Healthcare - useful for Business and organisations to understand local considerations in planning

Pandemic Flu - Surge Capacity & prioritisation planning for Hospitals - useful for Business and organisations to understand local considerations in planning

Department of Health: Pandemic flu, frequently asked questions Pandemic flu and its impact on society - updated 19 Oct. (.pdf, 16 pages, 104KB)

Department of Health: Important information for you and your family This leaflet describes pandemic flu, the risk of it occurring in this country, what makes it different from the 'ordinary' flu we get every winter, and what the UK is doing to prepare for a possible influenza pandemic. Updated 19 Oct (.pdf, 16 pages, 1MB)

See also UK Resilience UK RESILIENCE WEBSITE.

Foreign Office: Advice for Travellers and Business

Any organisation requiring advice or support should contact us immediately.

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For more details on our events, workshops and industry development work, as well as the general activities of the Continuity Forum please contact us directly on +44 208 993 1599 or mail us HERE! Please do contact Sara McKenna or Russell Price .

If you would like to know more about how your organisation can get involved and benefit from working with the Continuity Forum, please email us HERE! or call on + 44 (0) 208 993 1599

10th Annual BCM report published by Cabinet Office and CMI

The CMI 2009 Business Continuity Management report reveals a pressing need for UK organisations to guard against disruption and to be wary of complacency towards possible risks. Supported by the Cabinet Office, the survey shows that 52 per cent of organisations across the UK have a business continuity plan (BCP) - the highest level recorded by the survey.

However, the percentage of managers reporting that continuity is regarded as important in their organisation has fallen over the past year from 76 per cent to 64 per cent.

All organisations in the public and private should have created plans to curb the effects and mitigate the impact of the disruption caused by a Pandemic yet our study shows 73% do not have proper plans to protect the business or its employees.

This stark finding comes after the National Risk Register produced by the Cabinet Office highlighted the threat of a pandemic as the most serious threat to the UK.

Active analysis can be subdivided into three categories of possible threats/occurrences that could befall an organization. Dr. Ian Mitroff refers to the three categories as Natural Accidents, Normal Accidents and Abnormal Accidents. I have renamed them and to differentiate the three aspects of each. That is, the threat, the actual occurrence and the consequence of the occurrence.

At the time of this writing H5N1, known as Avian Flu, is spreading throughout Asia with one of the highest mortality rates of any flu virus of the previous century. Even the Influenza (Spanish Flu) of 1918 did not have as high a morbidity and mortality rate as H5N1 (Avian Flu). We are seeing almost daily some revelation from the World Health Organization (WHO) or Centers for Disease Control (CDC) or the popular media.

Gartner has warned IT managers to update their business continuity plans in light of a possible outbreak of bird flu.

The analyst firm's report, Key Steps to Prepare for a Possible Avian Influenza Pandemic, stated that IT managers should make plans to keep the business running in the event of an outbreak.

Fire, computer viruses and human error are viewed as the main threats to corporate data by European businesses, according to a survey by storage specialists Hitachi Data Systems. The latest edition of HDS’s bi-annual Storage Index reckons that low-tech 'old fashioned' threats pose the greatest risk of upsetting the operations of European corporates.

Compliance pressures have forced large companies to put disaster recovery and business continuity plans in place, and now these companies are looking at their supply chains and have identified small and mid-sized suppliers as a source of risk, according to Simon Mingay, research vice president at analyst group Gartner.

Tighter integration of the supply chains means that companies have an increased dependency on the availability of their partners' IT systems, and so big companies are insisting that smaller suppliers get their houses in order if they want to do business.

A recent Survey by the Economist Intelligence Unit says "Most businesses are very concerned about business continuity, but two-thirds lack a reliable plan to ensure their business can survive the worst."

The issue of security continues to be a major industry topic and understandably, especially as this is is one area of BCM that tends to have the highest profile . Many of the issues are closely linked to the increasing complexity and interoperability requirements of applications across a wide variety of Platforms. These problems are also compounded by the generally poor practices of many IT departments and internal users who continue to be a very weak link in the security chain.

An investigative report issued by the U.S. and Canadian governments surrounding the worst power failure in U.S. history is shedding light on the importance of business continuity planning through findings that the electric-system catastrophe could have been prevented.

Category Business Continuity Management BCM - RESEARCH - BCM Continuity Forums

Complacency puts UK organisations at risk as emergency planning takes backstage role

We are pleased to announce the findings of the longest running research series in the Industry. Now in its 7th year, this study shows that despite the raised profile of BCM and emergency planning there is still a huge amount to do.

This years' study, undertaken with the Cabinet Office, is the largest yet and shows that organisations are still not planning effectively. Many UK organisations are failing to prepare for disruption, despite evidence outlining the business benefits of disaster planning, says the survey published today by the Chartered Management Institute and supported by the Cabinet Office and Continuity Forum.

April 26 2005

Security and privacy concerns are becoming the biggest issue for companies considering outsourcing their IT projects to companies offshore. Analyst house Gartner said that this year concerns about job losses will be overshadowed by these security issues. Gartner research director Ian Marriott commented: "This will become the top issue for companies taking their work to other parts of the world."

Reseach finds that UK organisations are ‘sitting ducks’ as they fail to plan for major disruptions

07 March 2005

UK organisations admit they are failing to protect key assets and the ability to function in the face of major disruptions, according to research published today by the Chartered Management Institute. The 2005 Business Continuity Management Survey uncovered alarming inactivity, with organisations ignoring threats to their business, neglecting the needs of their managers, and not communicating plans with employees.