Creating a 'Business Interruption Plan'

As a business, you are no doubt able to deal with day to day incidents that occur in your workplace, whether it be testing the fire evacuation procedures or dealing with staff calling in sick unexpectedly.

However, unplanned events can have a devastating effect on your business. A pandemic or severe damage to your business premises from storms can make carrying out your day to day activities very difficult, if not impossible. It could even mean complete closure for your business or having to find a new location to operate from.

A business interruption plan can give you some peace of mind by having specific instructions in place should events occur that may disrupt the running of your business, with the main aim of getting your business back up and running as quickly as possible.

Creating a business interruption plan

• Carry out a site threat assessment which will list the threats you feel your premises are exposed to, for example fire, loss of IT or phones, flooding or pandemic outbreak.

• Identify who is expected to do what in an incident, the location of critical documents and who has access to them.

• Make sure you have contact details of people who can help you, as well as details of key suppliers.

• Consider developing a generic statement to use should you need to get a consistent message out to the public, staff and/or media.

• Review your plan every 6 months and make sure copies are held off site.

For more advice, hints and tips visit the care and medical hub