The most disruption to business in 2009 was caused by severe weather, replacing loss of IT at the top of the list according to The Chartered Institute of Management’s recently published annual Business Continuity Management Survey.
Disruption caused by extreme weather has risen from 9% in 2006 to 58% in 2010. When you consider the flooding in Cumbria last Autumn and the snow in December and January its easy to see how this figure has increased.
Consequently the Civil Contingencies Secretariat is shifting its focus to preventing disruption because of severe weather, as Christina Scott explains in her foreward to the report, “The increased risks of disruption by severe – not just extreme cold – weather will be one of the features of the next update of the National Risk Register“. So what should businesses do now that they have this information?
The first thing to do is to review current business continuity plans with regards to action to be taken if staff are unable to get into their normal place of work. This was of particular relevancy during this winter’s snow so I’m sure many businesses would have reviewed their plans already.
Only half of businesses were equipped during this winter’s snow to enable employees to work from a place other than their regular offices which means those that couldn’t, would have lost many hours in productivity.
Remote working is the most cost effective way of ensuring business continuity for those members of staff who do not need to be in a particular building to fulfill their job responsibilities.
For further advice on how to implement flexible working take a look at my Top Ten tips for Implementing Flexible Working During the Snow.
Tags: business continuity management survey cmi, chatered management institute, extremen weather business continuity survey
