What happens when your head office is
compromised in a major crisis? You must leave your building and can't return
for some time. This can happen as a
result of a natural disaster, a man-made disaster, a systems collapse or an
energy failure. All of a sudden
there is a need to move to temporary or new premises.
During a crisis exercise workshop, one of the
first questions for the Crisis Management Team is: "Where would
you manage the crisis from if you couldn’t manage it from here?"
Probably the most important element of any Team
Leader’s responsibility is to ensure that the organisation can continue to function
even though it experiences a major incident or accident.
Losing your building, your office, your site,
your location or your precinct, should be an essential element of risk recovery planning. The fundamental element in this situation is the back-up
premises. The time to prepare for this is well before an emergency
occurs, not when an emergency occurs.
Long before the horrendous World Trade Centre
catastrophe, in one of the worst terrorist attacks in the City of London
Their temporary crisis management team moved to
a specifically identified location and managed the crisis issues from that
office while the company set up an empty building to move all their staff and
management into over a weekend. Telephones, computers and
communication systems were rapidly brought on line and staff were contacted
about the move to this new location and briefed on the changing situation that
had rendered their normal office unusable.
Their recovery plan allowed the firm to get back
in business virtually over a weekend.
Some organisations have made their crisis
management team and its facilities portable. In other words, they have
prepared a comprehensive crisis and recovery transportable unit for dealing
with a situation that prevents them from using their normal crisis control
room. The portable unit (a crisis case) allows them to respond quickly at any location
with the appropriate equipment and supplies such as mobile and sat. phones,
manuals, contact lists, maps and checklists.
Organisations that want to keep their losses to
a minimum and need to take immediate control of a crisis situation, should
identify alternative premises to manage a crisis well in advance. These
premises can take a number of forms:
1. Close sites. These can be alternative and temporary
premises close by. Usually these premises are linked with sufficient immediate communication access to the organisation’s main line of
information. This allows a switch-over to support the database and
telephone system.
2. Friendly
neighbours. This is a back-up site for full or temporary
operation. It might not have the immediate technical communication lines
to link computers and telephones, but can give immediate access to key
stakeholders and is still within close access to the original operation.
3. Corporate regional office
location. This can be
one of your organisation’s offices that is located some distance from the
original organisation location. It provides “hot”, instantaneous links to
databases, telephones and email, but takes you away from the location of your
crisis.
4. The portable
location. This is more a mobile situation which has been pre-organised
to give you an ongoing temporary back-up facility. It can be set up from
suitcases, in a van, bus or local hotel, and can provide the necessary
switch-over to back up databases, telephones and communication
systems. This unit is often used by the transport industry and
emergency services for managing protracted events that happen at distant and
inaccessible locations.
