Continuity News
Gryphon Partners is pleased to provide volume 2 of Continuity News, a newsletter focusing on a wide spectrum of emerging threats and offering mitigation strategies that will enhance readiness. To learn more about our products and services, please write us at info@kathryncostellophotography.com
Current Issues Affecting Continuity
Continuity programs allow for the vital business operations to continue uninterrupted in all circumstances. Here, we highlight a few current threats and mitigation strategies.
The recent attacks on a concert venue in Manchester, the vehicle attack and knife attack in London and the failed robbery at the Manila Casino remind us that these incidents can occur anywhere and have impacts on the venues and on the public.
While we frequently speak about “business continuity”, we must also think about “personal continuity” – how do we keep our families safe without disrupting normal activities? Here are a few things to consider:
- Make sure everyone has some sort of identification, a means of communication and some money
- Identify a meeting point if your family gets separated – try to find a place that won’t be too busy in a crowd
- Leave public gatherings either early or late. Stay away from crowds at exits.
- Park in areas that are convenient to exits and main roads and not necessarily the closest to the venue entrance
- Identify emergency exits and think about how you would find that exit in power outages or smoke
- Always consider your surroundings. Is there anything that would impede your departure?
- Designate an out-of-area contact. During times of high phone traffic, local calls may be impossible to make, but it may be possible to text or to make an out of area call.
- Remember to follow your instincts. If something feels “wrong” then it probably is. Move away from that location.
- When something seems out of place, report it to a venue employee or security.
All industry partners
These incidents also brought lessons for our industry partners. Owners and operators of places of public assembly (shopping centers, schools, stadiums, airports and other transportation centers etc.) are reminded to consider the following:
- Are emergency responders familiar with your facility?
- Do they have floorplans?
- External access to cameras?
- Training with employees?
- Do they have pre-identified access routes
- How do you secure areas of congestion prior to security checkpoints?
- Are your buildings designed to deflect explosive blasts away from areas of congestion? Can fire and smoke be contained?
- Have you identified areas to care for members of the public following any incident?
For all businesses:
- Is there an emergency action plan?
- Do you have an “active shooter plan”?
- Are employees trained in those plans?
- Has local law enforcement trained with your employees?
In short, every business and area of public assembly needs to have emergency plans in place. Equally, every family needs to have their own emergency plans. While we are reviewing this today because of violent incidents, emergency plans are required for virtually any incident, from weather events to accidents.
In developing plans for governments and industry, we’ve learned that these plans do not need to be very expensive, nor does the training need to be disruptive to your operations.
For your family readiness, please contact us if you’d like a free expanded Family Readiness Template that you can easily adapt for the specific needs of your family.
A comment from the last Continuity Update
In the last issue, we discussed the industry implications of a possibility of a laptop ban on flights. The threat remains real and we can expect some sort of a requirement to check laptops. The reality is that some laptops will be lost or damaged. Are you ready to continue operations if your laptop gets lost or damaged? There are continuity measures you can take to assure that a lost or damaged laptop won’t slow you down.