September 2021 Monthly Blog - Contingency Planning
Getting worse before it gets better
Just as some of us began to slowly exhale through pursed lips that the worst of the COVID pandemic might be behind us, more calamities struck.
A knock-on effect from Brexit has exacerbated a shortage of HGV delivery drivers (have you noticed any gaps on shelves whilst out shopping recently?).
More worrying still, has been the shortfall in fuel supplies to petrol stations, followed by the predictable long queues at pumps and stories of panic-buying.
The hospitality industry – hoping to bounce back after the pandemic – is now crippled by staff shortages – as are some farmers who faced having to leave their crops unharvested.
No longer self-sufficient in North Sea gas, Britain is exposed to rocketing world gas prices, making it prohibitively expensive to manufacture fertiliser here, and that useful by-product CO2.
Who would have thought that so many everyday products rely on a steady flow of carbon dioxide?
And don’t even get me going on the worldwide semiconductor shortage!
Building resilience
Prime Minister Boris Johnson has instructed organisations to build resilience and create a state “fit for crisis”.
Which got me thinking…
Expect the unexpected
For decades, I have been asking managers what would be the impact if they turned up at work to discover their building a smouldering crater in the ground?
Perhaps I was being over-simplistic then as it strikes me now that there are many more insidious hazards, especially in these days of just-in-time delivery, such as:
- What if your business suffered a cyber-security hack ? or other data loss?
- What if another pandemic struck?
- What if there’s a prolonged energy black-out?
- What if a police “security incident” blocks your approach road?
- What if a volcanic blow-out or other natural disaster grounds all airline flights?
- What if there is a big fire or explosion on a neighbouring site?
- What if a key supplier can no longer supply?
- How much damage could a disaffected employee do?
- Could failure of a single piece of hardware or software create a critical bottleneck?
It’s comforting and very human to shrug and say: “It’s never happened before…” - but what if?
More than 40% of businesses that suffer a disaster, never recover – no matter how much insurance they carry.
Think about it: if your business suffers an interruption – even if only for a short time - your customers may make sympathetic noises – but won’t remain loyal for very long.
They have their own businesses to run and will quickly jump ship to one of your competitors.
Once you are back up and running again, it will be hard to gain them back, through having built up inertia, trust, and comfort in their new supplier.
Disaster recovery
Contingency planning is a whole specialist area in its own right, so we can only scratch the surface of what needs doing in this blog, but essentially you need to:
- Identify what and how things might go wrong.
- Understand the worst-case scenario if things go wrong.
- Devise plans to cope with the threats.
- Put in place strategies to assess and minimise risks before they happen.
Desktop exercises
Bring in a firm of specialist facilitators who will walk your managers through a half-day desktop exercise.
They will ask you to think the unthinkable by laying out the scenario, ensure the safety of anyone exposed to the “disaster”, agree responsibilities, prioritise tasks and help you restore critical business functions.
Of course, prevention is much better than cure, so do keep your emergency plans up to date – and test these too from time to time. Check out Arinite’s webpage on Emergency Preparedness for further advice.
Contact us
Arinite clients appreciate we provide practical, no-nonsense advice about what you need to do to establish and maintain a safe and healthy working environment.
Our team of health and safety consultants take pride in keeping health and safety simple.
If you need to call upon our expert assistance, or just for an informal chat, please call our office 0207 947 9581, or type an enquiry to: https://www.arinite.com/contact-us/.
Written by