Fire Safey Issues

by Janette Ballman

Is your business prepared for the additional hazards that winter brings? In addition to the usual cold weather preparations, businesses need to plan for the higher risk of fires. The peak period for facility fires is during the winter months. Each year thousands of fires and numerous casualties are reported as a result of fires at non-residential structures, including stores, offices, manufacturing facilities and industrial sites.

With proper preparation, the risk of casualty and property loss due to fires can be greatly reduced.
A comprehensive fire hazard plan should be established and tested. Some points the plan should address include:

• Evacuation and safety guidelines
• Site inspection for potential hazards
• Employee awareness
• Inspection or installation of alarms, extinguishers and sprinkler systems
• Evaluation of insurance coverage
• Identification of all utility shutoffs
• Inspection of all furnaces and heating elements
• Notification systems for contacting employees, service providers, etc.

During a winter storm, additional fire hazards can be created and should be included in a comprehensive fire safety plan. Dangers include:

• The incorrect use of alternate heating devices
• Damaged or downed utility lines
• Leaking gas lines or fuel containers
• Improperly installed or operating generators
• Damage to electrical components from burst water pipes, triggering sparks

Sign up for a schedule that suits your needs. Whether you are new to the industry or an advanced planner, you will find a variety of sessions. Choose from workshops, advanced tracks, best practices sessions, interactive simulations and more.

Sign up today or browse the entire brochure

Special Session on the Tragic Asian Tsunami
A timely and important special session has been added to the Spring World 2005 lineup. The recent tsunami disaster in Asia has caught the attention of the world. This disaster is unsurpassed in the number of deaths, the amount of destruction and the enormous amount of recovery efforts that are needed. In this session, you will hear first-hand accounts of the relief and recovery efforts that are being undertaken by the IBM Crisis Response Team. Within days of the December 26 disaster, members of the team were onsite in Southern India, and later in Sri Lanka and Indonesia, to begin assessment and relief work. CRT members have been utilized to develop and implement systems for tracking of missing persons, personnel and organization registration, logistics management, requirements tracking, web support, collaboration, child services support, and many other relief and recovery support systems. This session will be held Tuesday from 5:30 – 6:30 p.m. and is included in the registration fee. Recovery planners are sure to discover new methods, procedures and technologies as they hear the fascinating case studies surrounding this tragic tsunami disaster.

New Offering At Spring World 2005 Targets Advanced Planners
Do you have seven or more years experience in the business continuity field? Are you looking for information targeted to your advanced level? The answer can be found at Spring World 2005. An Advanced Networking Session will focus on issues relevant to continuity professionals who have been in the field for a number of years.
Topics to be covered include: pandemics, terrorism, program management, crisis management, program governance and regulatory compliance, BC/DR/CRM plan program integration, high availability/advanced technology solutions, global recovery techniques, event management, enterprise resource management, call centers and off shore risks.

If you have additional topics you would like to see discussed, please submit your ideas for consideration to patti@drj.com by Feb. 8.

Sign up today or browse the entire brochure

Please join us in participating in a research survey designed to develop a scale to measure perceived organizational business continuity readiness. The results will provide a practical and easy-to-use tool for assessing organizational readiness. Since this is an academic study, this tool will be available for your use.

Your input is extremely valuable, and we anticipate that you will be able to easily answer all of the survey questions within 10-15 minutes. After completing the survey, we will offer a summary of the project results to you.

Your responses are completely anonymous and will be held in the strictest confidence. Research results based on input of participants will be presented only in aggregate form and used exclusively for non-commercial academic purposes.

Thank you, in advance, for your participation in this important survey! For more information, please contact Terri Kirchner, MBCP, at Old Dominion University at tkirchne@odu.edu.

>>>>> Click Here to Participate >>>>>

Winter 2005 - Cover Article

Landing On Your Feet
Being Prepared in the 21st Century
Current and Emerging Trends in Business Continuity

By MICHAEL CROY

Since 2000, our world has seen dramatic changes that have caused an evolution in business continuity thinking. It used to be that recovery-minded organizations focused on preventing and avoiding disasters. Today, it seems inevitable that nearly everyone will be faced with unexpected “bumps” in the terrain from time to time. The focus is changing from avoidance of threat to “landing on your feet” in spite of it.
In other words, organizations have found it necessary to become better prepared and be more proactive about risk management. While the imagined “disaster” in a disaster recovery scenario used to be an environmental one – fire, flood, or tornado – thus far in the 21st century we’ve seen likely examples of “disaster” expand to include terrorist attacks with global political implications; strings of powerful hurricanes; international power grid failure; threats such as data worms and hackers; and ordinary business events such as mergers and acquisitions, increased outsourcing of business processes, and application process failures.
The bottom line these days is that if it’s disruptive to your organization, it’s a crisis, regardless of the cause. And the pressures for risk management planning are both internal and external.
At the midpoint of the first decade of the 21st century, certain trends in business continuity thinking have been established. A consideration of them, as well as several emerging trends, may help clarify what organizations need to consider today in order to prepare themselves for tomorrow.

Regulatory and compliance issues have increased dramatically
The impact of regulations such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, HIPAA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) has been enormous over the past five years. Regulatory issues have driven organizations to invest in IT initiatives that enable stronger financial controls and privacy measures.
We expect to see many more changes in the regulatory area in the next few years. A number of states are already working on regulations that may, in some instances, be stricter than current regulations. That may include privately held companies. This holds tremendous implications for the business, IT, and business continuity communities.
As case law grows in this area, regulations will become better defined. It will be easier for organizations to translate regulatory requirements into specific IT initiatives and to evaluate what they need to do from a business and an IT perspective to achieve compliance.

Click here to read the entire article

Additional Articles Found in Winter 2005 Issue of DRJ

• Being Prepared In The 21st Century
• Business Interruption Insurance
• Partnerships Help Ease Tough Times
• Insurance Coverage Alone Is No Guarantee
• The Crisis Facing American Business
• Terrific Table-Top Tips
• Hurricane-Ravaged Businesses Maintain Communications
• The Time Has Come For DRP Metrics
• More than Just Window Dressing
• The Fusion of Intelligence and Emergency Management
• Business Continuity and Satellite Communications
• Making Disaster Recovery Strategy a Reality
• IT Department Rises From the Ashes After Fire
• Cable Manufacturer Recovers From Fire in Unique Way
• An Internet Based Disaster Recovery System
• Tape-based Back-up Systems Require Care, Feeding
• Enterprise-Class Data Protection For Everyone
• Wide Area File Services Could ‘Save the Day’
• Addressing the Challenges of Data Protection
• Adaptive Backup: Beyond Due Diligence
• Branch Office Data Consolidation Adds Streamlined Recovery
• 2005 Business Continuity Consultant Survey (PDF)

BCP Media produces and distributes informative materials on Business Continuity Planning for both the public and private sectors. As a not-for-profit company, we encourage industry experts to share their knowledge and expertise with less experienced planners in the early stages of developing their contingency plans.

BCP Media takes pride in the breadth and depth of resources it makes available, looking to some of the most prominent experts in the business continuity industry to develop educational programs, including DVDs, CDs, videos, workbooks and software. And they have partnered with equally well-known organizations in the development and production of “Best Practices in Business Continuity Planning” available on both DVD and VHS 

Check them out today! (www.bcpmedia.com)

DRJ eXpress is published by Disaster Recovery Journal. We have added this exciting publication to our family to better update our readers on current events and happenings.

In the fast-paced world of business continuity, having current information is key to staying ahead of the challenges that can occur so quickly. This monthly eZine will contain a wealth of tips, statistics and technology updates. In addition, you can find information on local continuity events, meetings and more.

Get the information you need – quickly and easily with DRJ eXpress! Staying informed is essential – and we are here to help.

Copyright (c) 2005 Disaster Recovery Journal. All rights reserved.
Reproduction in whole or in part in any form or medium without the express written permission of Disaster Recovery Journal is prohibited.