Business continuity advice
Summary
Business Continuity helps businesses (small as well as large); voluntary and public organisations become better prepared to cope with a disruption to their day-to-day working life. It is a planning process, which provides a framework to ensure the resilience of your business to most eventualities. It is not easy planning for the things that could potentially disrupt your Business so plans should be clear, concise and flexible enough for you to adapt them to different situations.
Important!
Swine Flu
The following links offer advice on how businesses can prepare and cope with swine flu.
Department of Health
Pandemic flu guidance for businesses: risk assessment in the occupational setting.
Cabinet Office
Pandemic influenza checklist for businesses.
Business Link
Swine flu - keep informed and review your business readiness.
Health and Safety Executive
Pandemic Flu - Workplace Guidance.
How to get business continuity advice
- Contact us by e-mail, telephone or letter;
- Information we will need from you:
- your full name;
- your full address including your postcode;
- your home telephone number, and a number which we can contact you on during normal office hours if this is different;
- your email address (if applicable);
- how you would like us to respond to your enquiry, and;
- details of your enquiry.
Downloads
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Download the guide to business continuity planning [PDF, 3522 Kb]
Download the Promoting Business Continuity leaflet [PDF, 5771 Kb]
Further information
What is business continuity?
Business Continuity is about protecting three main areas of your Business:
- Safeguarding people
- Safeguarding your assets
- Safeguarding processes
What type of incidents should I plan for?
- Severe Weather – flooding, storm damage etc.
- Fire – few other situations have such potential to physically destroy a business.
- Restricted access to premises – how would your business function if you could not access you workplace?
- Disruption to Fuel Supply – Could you operate your company vehicles? Could your employees get to work, how would your suppliers make deliveries to you?
- Loss of Utilities – loss of power or water could have serious consequences. What would you do if you suffered a loss of heat and light of couldn’t use IT or telecom systems or operate other key machinery or equipment?
- Loss of staff – If any of your staff are central to running your business what would you do if they were incapacitated by illness?
These are just a few scenarios you can think about when starting to develop your Business Continuity Plan.
Business continuity week
The Business Continuity Institute (BCI) hold an annual Business Continuity Awareness Week. The event, which was first launched in 2001, has been developed to encourage those involved with Business Continuity Management to raise awareness with their colleagues and clients.
This week is a great time to:
- Review your call out lists held within your Business Continuity Plan
- Review and reissue Fire and Bomb threat procedures
- Rehearse all or some elements of your Business Continuity Plan
- Staff refresher training on their roles in an incident.
These are just a few ideas, which you may wish to think about or even act upon this week. And for those of you without that all-important Business Continuity Plan, this is a great week to start the process of Business Continuity Planning.
Our Emergency Planning Team
The Emergency Planning Team are responsible for the co-ordination and on-going development of our corporate business continuity plans and giving advice to businesses on contingencies which will need to be in place in the event of an emergency.
Related pages on this website
External links
Norfolk Major Incident Team (NORMIT)
NORMIT aim to develop approaches to deal with major incidents such as fire, flood and plane crashes. Their website gives information on: how to become a member; training courses eg emergency plan writing and business continuity planning as well as relevant news items.
Norfolk Resilience Forum
The Norfolk Resilience Forum’s main function is to make sure the most effective contingency plans and procedures are in place to deal with a major emergency in Norfolk. Their website contains details of agencies who would be responsible for civil protection and advice on what to do in an emergency.
Business Continuity Institute
BCI promotes high standards of professional competence and commercial ethics in the provision and maintenance of business continuity planning and services. They can help businesses obtain guidance and support from fellow business continuity practitioners
UK Resilience
This website exists to provide a resource for civil protection practitioners, supporting the work which goes on across the United Kingdom to improve emergency preparedness.
Contact us
| contact officer/team: | Emergency Planning Team |
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| web: | online enquiry form |
| email: | emergency.planning@s-norfolk.gov.uk |
| freephone: | 0808 168 4444 |
| telephone: | 01508 533630 |
| minicom/textphone: | 01508 533622 |
| address: | South Norfolk Council South Norfolk House Swan Lane Long Stratton Norwich NR15 2XE |
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If you need information in large print, audio cassette, braille, translation (written or verbal) or signed interpretation, let us know when you contact us.
