Business Continuity
and the Flu Pandemic
DISCLAIMER
“This template is provided as a guide only and intended to supply general information about carrying out a Business
Continuity Plan Exercise. It is not intended to replace detailed guidance and planning specific to you and your
business/organisation. If have any questions regarding the use of this document you should obtain professional legal
advice. To the extent permitted by law, Manchester City Council and Manchester Business Continuity Forum exclude
liability for any loss or damage arising directly or indirectly from the possession, publication, use of, or reliance on this
document."
Business Continuity Exercise
Today’s agenda:
– Walk through the various Business Continuity
Plans and procedures to help you deal with a
loss of staff
– Prepare responses and take action against
pandemic flu
– Identify any weaknesses and improvements
for your Business Continuity Plan
– Agree future actions
What is Business Continuity?
Business continuity processes are designed:
 To minimise any risk of disruption to services, by building
resilience into internal structures and processes
 To ensure we can maintain our essential services during
disruptions with different levels of severity
 To assist staff in the event of an incident and to ensure staff are
able to cope with the disruption
 To ensure that if a disruption does occur, the main priority will be
the recovery of key services within agreed timeframes
Business Continuity Processes
1. Conduct a ‘Business Impact Analysis’ (BIA)
2. Produce a Business Continuity Plan (BCP)
3. Test and validate the BCP
4. Evaluate the effectiveness of the BCP and amend
as appropriate
5. Review and maintain the BCP on a regular basis
Definitions
There are three stages to Business Continuity:
1. Risk Reduction
2. Incident
E.g. Producing a
Business Continuity
Plan
E.g. Activating the
Business Continuity
Plan
3. Recovery
E.g. Using and closing
down the Business
Continuity Plan
Why Bother with Business
Continuity?
Incidents do happen!
Examples of some recent Business
Continuity Incidents:
• BT Tunnel Fire
• The terrorist incident at Glasgow
Airport etc
[Include examples relevant to your
organisation]
Effective Business Continuity
Effective Business Continuity is built on seven P’s…
1. Programme – proactively managing the process
2. People – roles & responsibilities, awareness & education
3. Processes – all organisational processes, including ICT
4. Premises – buildings & facilities
5. Providers – supply chain, including outsourcing
6. Profile – brand, image, reputation
7. Performance – benchmarking, evaluation & audit
Source: Business Continuity Institute, 2003
Business Continuity Plan Test
Scenario…
Flu Pandemic
Business Continuity Plan
Testing Phase…
Effective Business Continuity Management should improve the
overall general running of an organisation. Business Continuity
processes require careful analysis and understanding of
different services and encourages the identification of
alternative working practices.
A Business Continuity Plan cannot be considered reliable until
it has been exercised and has proved workable.
The exercise is not designed to catch you out, we are testing
the plan procedures, not your individual performance. This
exercise is designed to help you feel more prepared and
comfortable in your Business Continuity role.
Ground Rules
•
The scenario has been designed as a learning exercise, all participants should
take it seriously and participate as if it were a real life incident.
•
The exercise should be viewed as an opportunity to rehearse responses to
problems- and potentially make mistakes- in a safe environment, without an actual
business impact.
•
All the information that you will receive will be either from the PowerPoint
presentation or from… [PLEASE INSERT CONTACT NAME/TEAM]– you must not
make assumptions and you will need to ask questions.
•
Outside of the exercise, no communication should be required and must be
avoided to prevent any false alarms.
•
Any comments, problems, issues or other contributions made by any participant
should be positive and may be made without criticism from any other participant.
•
Constructive feedback is welcomed and needs to be captured.
‘Walkthrough’ Objectives:
 To prove your BC Plan
 To understand the impact pandemic flu or other cause of a
reduction in staff may have on your service/organisation [amend
as appropriate]
 Validate the actions list and all sections of your BC Plan
 To understand what you could do to help prepare in advance of
pandemic flu
 To confirm the actions detailed in the BCP are complete and
achievable, given the circumstances at the time
 To give you practice in carrying out your role on a Business
Continuity Plan
 To test procedures outlined in the Business Continuity Plan and
explore any potential areas for improvement
Assumptions
• All people are in contact as you are now,
either physically or via telephone, etc.
• We are starting from a blank piece of
paper
• You have just found out about the crisis
and are the first to respond, no
assumptions are to be made about any
action (s) that may have taken place
already in response to the scenario
The Flu Pandemic Scenario…
It has been reported on television that the pandemic flu has
reached the UK.
The Manchester Evening News are reporting high levels of
sickness throughout the city.
Week 1
Today
You have just been informed by your admin
person that staff absenteeism is noticeably
higher than normal.
Week 1
Today
Several members of your team are coughing
and wheezing and complaining of feeling ill…
Initial Reactions…
• What staff issues are there?
• What are the implications?
• Can any of the staff work from home?
What would need to change to make this
happen?
• Who will you communicate with?
• Any other issues?
Week 2
Staff absence is now approximately 20%
higher than is normal for this time of the year.
A key supplier rings to tell you that they will not
be operating for the foreseeable future
because of the pandemic.
Actions of on-site team?
•
•
•
•
•
Who do you communicate with?
Is your contact list up-to-date?
Do you have a communication cascade tree?
What are the priorities?
What will be the implication of losing a key
supplier for the service?
• Do any members of the team have unique skills
or knowledge? What are the implications of this?
How can we reduce this risk?
• Anything else?
Week 2
The Department of Education has decided to close
all schools in the area due to staff shortages and
also to limit spread of the pandemic.
50% of your staff who are carers have phoned in to
say that they will not be attending work this week as
they will be staying at home to look after their
children or dependants.
Questions…
• What issues does this raise?
• How will you deal with staff who don’t attend
work to look after their children/dependants?
• How will you deal with the work load?
• Who will you communicate with?
Week 3
Following further staff absences, the number of
staff in work has dropped to 20%.
You have just been informed that a member of your
team has died in hospital.
A Manchester Evening News reporter has asked for
your response on this and the effects of the
pandemic.
Actions of on-site team?
• Who do you communicate with?
• How will you manage your resources, and your
workload, with only 20% of staff attending work?
• What are the implications for the team of a death of
a colleague?
• How will the media enquiry be dealt with?
• Anything else?
Actions of on-site team?
• You have managed to locate additional staff through an
agency/another team, which areas of work would be
your priority for these extra staff?
• Do you work with any vulnerable groups? If yes, what
are the implications of this group? How can you
minimise the impact on this group? What plans, if any,
are currently in place?
Week 8
• Now the pandemic has eased, are there any issues
that you would need to address?
• Are there any questions this scenario has raised
that you will now look into?
• Are there any plans you’d now put in place before
the 2nd wave hits?
• What lessons have been learned? How can this
knowledge be used to improve your Business
Continuity Plans?
Remember….
“Always plan ahead. It wasn't raining
when Noah built the ark.” Richard C. Cushing
Review Procedures &
Evaluation
•
•
•
•
What went well?
What did not go so well?
Comments and issues on the process
What was the effectiveness of information
gathering and decision making?
• Exercise Report
Summary
Business Continuity is concerned with:
People
Assets
Process
Feedback Forms Please!
Next Steps in Business
Continuity Management
 [Insert detail, as appropriate to your
organisation]
Thank you for your time!