Tour de France
Business Continuity Plan
Introduction
Sheffield City Council has developed this basic Business Continuity Plan to assist
businesses in Sheffield currently without such plans to consider, prepare for and
manage the potential impact of the Tour De France ‘Grand Départ’ during the leadup to and on the weekend of the 5th & 6th July 2014.
Use of the template will help you to identify risks and develop a basic Business
Continuity Plan which will help you to protect your business when the largest annual
free sporting event in the world arrives in Sheffield on 6th July.
Remember - forward planning will be essential to minimise any disruption to your
business.
Why business continuity?
Business continuity shouldn’t be just for the Tour De France ‘Grand Départ’, it should
be part of the way you always run your business, helping you to prepare to maintain
or recover your service during and following a disruption.
Having a well-developed Business Continuity Plan in place will help to protect your
business against the impact of a disruption, such as:
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Shortage of staff
Denial of access to premises
Computer failure or loss of data
Disruption to key suppliers and supplies
Flooding and severe weather
Utility interruption or failure
Technical or environmental failure
Fire
Adverse publicity
Theft/vandalism
Bomb threat
Product contamination
And, of course major events such as the Tour De France!
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
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Such disruptions could result in:
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Partial or complete failure of your business
Loss of income
Financial, legal and other penalties
Human resource issues
Loss of reputation and or loss of customers
Increased insurance payments.
It is therefore important that businesses both large and small ensure that in the event
of disruption that their critical services, activities and functions are maintained to a
minimum acceptable level - and employees understand what is expected of them.
Understanding your business and identifying the risks
In order to develop a Business Continuity Plan you need to have a thorough
understanding of your business. This involves identifying the critical functions of your
business, the effect of those functions being disrupted and the priority for recovery of
those functions.
You will need to identify the risks or threats which could impact your business and
consider what measures could be implemented to help reduce or manage the
identified risks. You must decide what measures are appropriate and what is cost
effective based on the potential impact to your business.
You can’t stop all risks and threats from becoming a reality, but by identifying the
risks and considering measures in advance, you will be aware of the risks and be as
prepared as possible.
Preparing your Business Continuity Plan
Using the information gathered above, a basic Business Continuity Plan can be
developed. The plan should contain specific actions to reduce or manage the
identified risks and threats. The plan will help you to manage the impact of disruptive
incidents and events and increase your ability to continue to maintain the critical
activities and functions of your business.
The basic Business Continuity Plan contained as part of this document will help you
to consider and plan for the impact of the following scenarios which might occur
during the Tour De France ‘Grand Départ’:
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Shortage of staff
Denial of access to premises
Interruption or loss of information communication technology & access to
data
Disruption to key suppliers and supplies
This is a basic Business Continuity Plan. Beyond the Tour De France, you should
use the basic plan to inform development of a more detailed plan; protecting your
business and safeguarding the interests of your key stakeholders, reputation, brand
and value creating activities whether your business provides a product or a service.
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
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Contents
The plan is a basic outline to help you protect your business. It is designed to help
you to document key processes and actions that you or your staff would need to
undertake should there be a business disruption. The plan should be stored both
electronically and in hard copy format and accessible by those who would need to
implement it should a disruption occur.
Part 1. Staff Contact List
A contact list for key members of staff is an essential part of a Business Continuity
Plan. It should indicate the first point of contact in the event of an emergency or
disruption including contact details during out of hours.
Name
Position or
Job Title
Office
Contact
Mobile
Contact
Home
Contact
Part 2. Recovery Objectives
You need to identify the various functions or activities your business undertakes
particularly those that are time sensitive and need to be restored or recovered first.
Listing the activities or functions in order of time sensitivity will help you to prioritise
and plan to recover your key activities and functions first.
Time Sensitivity
Activities requiring recovery within 0 – 1
hour.
Activities requiring recovery within 1 – 24
hours.
Activities requiring recovery within 24
hours to 5 working days.
Activities which can be recovered
progressively after 5 working days.
Activities or Functions
1.
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This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
Page 3 of 11
Part 3. Plan Activation Procedure
It is important to have a clear activation procedure for the Business Continuity Plan.
The steps to be taken will need to be designed to suit the needs of the organisation;
however the following might provide some useful generic steps:
The member of staff activating the plan will take the following actions:
 Access the Business Continuity Plan.
 Establish the impact of the disruption i.e. the nature of the disruption and its
impact on the organisation, its service, activities or functions, damage,
casualties etc.
 Initiate recording of entries into the Incident Log (refer to Part 9.)
 Inform other members of staff as appropriate.
 Take control of the disruption and identify the activities or functions to be
prioritised and recovered first.
 Direct and oversee the response or recovery operation.
 Monitor the response or recovery operation and provide regular status reports
to management and key stakeholders as required.
 Stand-down the response or recovery operation when the business, service,
activities or functions are recovered and business as usual is restored.
The following sections (parts 4 to 7) are for you to document your procedures for
responding to a disruptive incident and how your organisation will maintain and/or
recover its service, activities or functions.
Although the sections can be applied generically to any disruptive incident, the
actions or considerations in italics are focussed on the Tour De France ‘Grand
Départ’ and are intended as guidance to help to inform your planning.
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
Page 4 of 11
Part 4. People (Staff)
Objectives
Confirm the nature and
impact of the disruption.
Decide whether to invoke the
Business Continuity Plan.
Consideration should be
given to:
Enter specific actions or
considerations to address
loss of or disruption to staff
(including communications
requirements).
Actions/Considerations
 Establish what has happened?
 When did it occur?
 What services, activities or functions are
affected?
 How serious is the disruption?
 What is the estimated duration of the
disruption?
 Who has been informed?
 The impact of the disruption on staffing
levels.
 The organisations ability to maintain its
priority services, activities or functions.
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Are you keeping your staff informed and aware of
the potential impact of the Tour De France ‘Grand
Départ’? Do they know the dates?
Have you instructed your staff to ‘keep in touch’ and
ring in to their office or manager, client or customer
if they are going to be late due to the impact of road
closures, diversions or general congestion?
Staff using public transport may find that services
have been diverted, or that demand on the day is
so high that travel delays are inevitable. Have you
informed your staff to check with their transport
provider for re-routing of services prior to travel?
If you are anticipating that some staff will arrive late
can appointments or visits be prioritised to the most
urgent or critical?
Is it possible to have in place measures to maintain
and widen the availability of staff on the day i.e.
having additional staff available on standby if a
problem should arise?
Have you considered widening the availability of
core skills and knowledge in the event of a
reduction in staff availability i.e. through multi-skill
training of staff and documenting processes or
providing written instructions or checklists?
Staff such as team leaders, supervisors or coordinators may not be able to access their normal
place of work. Have you considered alternative
ways of working, such as alternative offices in
locations away from the route, or working from
home if the required ICT is available?
Are you carefully managing requests for leave from
staff during the weekend of the ‘Grand Départ’ to
ensure adequate staffing levels are available to
maintain services on the day?
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
Page 5 of 11
Part 5. Service Users
Objectives
Confirm the nature and
impact of the disruption to
service users.
Decide whether to invoke the
Business Continuity Plan.
Consideration should be
given to:
Enter specific actions or
considerations to address
loss of or denial of access to
premises (including
communications
requirements).
Actions/Considerations
 Establish what has happened?
 When did it occur?
 Who are the affected service users?
 What are their needs (medical, support
etc)?
 What services, activities or functions are
affected?
 How serious is the situation?
 Has anyone been harmed?
 What is the estimated duration of the
disruption?
 Who has been informed?
 Do the emergency services need
informing?
 The impact of the disruption on service
users.
 The organisations ability to maintain its
priority services, activities or functions.
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Have you identified all of your service users?
Where do they live?
What are their needs? Does the service you
provide need to be prioritised? Can some
appointments or visits be rescheduled for another
day or the same day before or after the event has
passed?
Are you keeping your service users informed and
aware of the potential impact of the Tour De France
‘Grand Départ’? Do they know the dates? And how
have they been informed?
Do your service users require transport to access
your service?
Do your service users have meals delivered to
them?
Do your services required medication / equipment?
Have you an emergency contact number for clients
and customers to ring if appointments or visits are
late or missed? Are your clients and customers
aware of this number?
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
Page 6 of 11
Part 6. Denial of access to buildings, premises & work environment
Objectives
Establish the current situation
at the affected premises.
Decide whether to invoke the
Business Continuity Plan.
Consideration should be
given to:
Enter specific actions or
considerations to address
loss of or denial of access to
premises (including
communications
requirements).
Actions/Considerations
 Establish what has happened?
 When did it occur?
 Is there access to the premises?
 What services, activities or functions are
affected?
 How serious is the situation?
 Has anyone being harmed?
 What is the estimated duration of the
disruption?
 Who has been informed?
 Do the emergency services need
informing?
 How quickly the business will be able to
enter the affected premises.
 The organisations ability to maintain its
priority services, activities or functions.
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Have you considered the impact of road closures or
diversions on your organisation? Road closures and
diversions are likely to be in place on the day by
07:00 through until 15:00 at the earliest making
vehicular access to certain areas and premises
difficult and cross city travel challenging. Have you
checked-out the Grand Départ website for road
closures and changes to public transport?
Although vehicular access may be limited,
marshalled pedestrian access or crossing points will
be maintained at specific points on the route up
until the procession (caravan) comes through and
during the race itself. Have you made your staff
aware of such crossing points? They will be able to
get to where they need to be, but it might take
longer or access might be on foot rather than by
vehicle.
Can workload or appointments be prioritised in
advance to reduce potential impact ‘on the day’?
Can some appointments or visits be rescheduled
for another day or the same day before or after the
event has passed?
Have you informed your customers or clients of any
changes to services, appointments, visits etc. and
that those already scheduled may be subject to
delay ‘on the day due to road closures, diversions
and congestion?
Have you instructed your staff to ‘keep in touch’ and
ring in to their office or manager, client or customer
if they are experiencing difficulties keeping to
schedules (particularly important where vulnerable
adults and children are involved)?
Have you an emergency contact number for clients
and customers to ring if appointments or visits are
late or missed? Are your clients and customers
aware of this number?
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
Page 7 of 11
Part 7. Interruption or loss of information communication technology & access
to data
Objectives
Confirm the nature and
impact of the disruption.
Decide whether to invoke the
Business Continuity Plan.
Consideration should be
given to:
Enter specific actions or
considerations to address
loss of or interruption to
information communication
technology and access to
data (including
communications
requirements).
Actions/Considerations
 Establish what has happened?
 When did it occur?
 Which ICT systems are disrupted?
 What services, activities or functions are
affected?
 How serious is the situation?
 What is the estimated duration of the
disruption?
 Who has been informed?
 How long will ICT systems be unavailable?
 Are the ICT systems disrupted required to
support time sensitive activities or
functions?
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Demand on the telephone network during the
‘Grand Départ’ is likely to be significant particularly
in densely crowded areas. Have you considered
alternative methods of communications as a
contingency in the event that there are issues with
mobile connectivity, particularly where staff have a
reliance on the use of mobile technology? Such
contingencies will need to include how you will
communicate with staff, clients and customers and
how they will communicate with you? Use of all
communication channels open to your business
should be considered including social media.
Have you considered contingencies in the event of
loss or interruption to your computer systems? Do
you have your ICT provider Help Desk or
emergency contact number to hand?
Do you have pre-printed templates to record
information in a consistent manner that can be later
input into the computer system once the problem
has been resolved?
Have you considered printing out key data held on
the computer system in advance for use ‘on the
day’ in case your computer system fails? Such data
might include appointments, visits, staff rotas, staff,
client or customer contact details etc.
Remember, if staff are relocated to alternative
premises away from the route of the ‘Grand Départ’
then desktop telephone, answer-phone and fax
numbers will be different and will need to be
communicated to staff, clients, customers etc.
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
Page 8 of 11
Part 8. Disruption to key suppliers and supplies – includes passenger
transport, community meals, equipment stores, other key stakeholders
Objectives
Confirm the nature and
impact of the disruption.
Decide whether to invoke the
Business Continuity Plan.
Consideration should be
given to:
Enter specific actions or
considerations to address
loss of or disruption to key
suppliers and supplies
(including communications
requirements).
Actions/Considerations
 Establish what has happened?
 When did it occur?
 What services, activities or functions are
affected?
 How serious is the situation?
 What is the estimated duration of the
disruption?
 Who has been informed?
 How long will key suppliers and supplies
be unavailable?
 Whether the key suppliers and supplies are
required to support time sensitive activities
or functions?
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Do you have adequate stocks of core supplies and
consumables required to support service delivery
during the ‘Grand Départ’?
Are your stocks of core supplies and consumables
in the right locations and accessible by staff?
Have you instructed staff to ensure that they need
to have adequate supplies of consumables in their
vehicles or on their person ‘on the day’?
Have you informed suppliers who have deliveries
scheduled ‘on the day’ of the ‘Grand Départ’ of the
potential for disruption due to road closures,
diversions or general congestion?
Have you identified alternative sources of supplies
in the event of disruption experienced by your
regular suppliers?
Have you considered joint planning with other
partner organisations i.e. loan of equipment, staff,
and joint planning in the event of a surge?
Have you requested Business Continuity Plans
from your key suppliers? This will help to provide
you with confidence in supplier resilience.
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
Page 9 of 11
Part 9. Key Contact List
An up to date Key Contact List is an essential aid for responding to a disruption or
emergency. The Key Contact List should contain contact details of those who need
to be informed or who will have a role responding to a disruption or emergency and
might include key stakeholders, partners and suppliers.
Name/Organisation Office Telephone
Mobile Telephone Email/Website
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
Page 10 of 11
Part 10. Incident Log
The Incident Log is used to record key information, especially in respect of decisions
made during a disruption. It is important that the log is completed for the duration of
the disruption.
Date
Time
Notes/Decisions/Actions taken
Recorded by
Part 11. Further Information
Sheffield Confirmer
Registration to Sheffield Confirmer provides warning and informing of incidents and
events in the Sheffield area. This is a free service; to register email your name, your
business name and address together with the telephone number that you want to
receive the alerts on to: epsharedservice@rotherham.gov.uk
Tour De France ‘Grand Départ’
Further information relating to the Tour De France ‘Grand Départ’ including road
closures and changes to public transport can be accessed at:
www.welcometosheffield.co.uk/grand-depart-sheffield
Business Continuity Management
Further information on business continuity including Good Practice Guidelines 2013
‘highlights’ can be accessed from the Business Continuity Institute at:
http://www.thebci.org/
Preparing for Emergencies
For information on increasing resilience and preparing for disruptions or
emergencies visit the South Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum website:
http://www.southyorksprepared.org.uk
This basic template is not intended to replace detailed planning specific to you and your business.
Sheffield City Council excludes any liability arising from the use of this template either in part or in full.
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