The Noggin Blog

The imperatives of social distancing during the pandemic have created unprecedented changes to work. Foremost among them: the increased need for people to work alone or in remote arrangements.

For PCBUs (Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking), more people working alone mean more lone workers in need of a new class of safety protections, documented internal policies to keep this high-risk occupational group out of harm’s way. How to go about mitigating the risk so you don’t incur the liability?

We’ve said it before. Producing the assets that are relevant to the context of your organisation will only strengthen a business case for the business continuity planning resources needed to maintain acceptable levels of risk – once you’ve measured them.

But what would those resources look like? We argue, practical business continuity technology should be part of the mix. Why? Well, during moments of disruption, every minute matters. And manual processes are ill fitted to help you meet recovery time objectives (RTOs). Read on to find out why.

The reopening of the world’s economies from COVID-19-induced shutdown is happening at different paces. It continues apace in some areas that have contained community spread. In others, the emergence of new hot zones has caused a fresh wave of mandated business closures. Suffice it to say: after months of disruption, businesses are understandably eager to go back to normal as part of the recovery process. The question remains, though, have those businesses prepared themselves to resume operations at pre-crisis levels, especially in a public health environment marked by uncertainty?

Post-crisis business closures weigh heavily towards companies that fail to develop business continuity plans (BCPs) before major incidents. But the length and depth of the COVID-19 crisis suggest that not just any BCP will do.

Instead, it’s absolutely essential that your client’s BCP accurately identifies, quantifies, and minimises potential interruptions and risks before a crisis happens. And to that end, best-practice certifications, like ISO 22301, help clients bolster their business continuity planning risk mitigation strategy as they adjust to the new normal. 

Oh, how things have changed. Mere months ago, protective security entailed managing all physical security incidents, threats, and operations – reducing risks to keep people and physical assets safe.

Now, in the midst of an ongoing pandemic, organisations have had to redefine the mission of their physical security teams in an effort to ensure that employees and customers avoid likely health threats, specifically community spread of COVID-19. 

The near-unprecedented wave of cyberattacks on corporate and governmental systems has been an underreported story coming out of the COVID-19 crisis, with alarming business continuity implications for organisations still battling the fallout from the pandemic.

Already in March of this year, online threats had risen by as much as six times their February levels. Hacking and phishing attempts alone were up 37 percent month on month.

The surge would only accelerate. By June, reporting would find a staggering 400 percent increase in cyberattacks.

With the double-whammy of COVID-19 and a hyper-active weather season, volunteer disaster relief agencies already have enough on their plate. But the rapid increase in the number and severity of disasters is causing a worrying new phenomenon in volunteer management.

That trend is disaster fatigue. What is it, and how to plan for it this coming severe weather season?

PCBUs (Persons Conducting a Business or Undertaking) in the Australian state of New South Wales woke up this month to a more aggressive safety compliance regime.

Amendments to pre-existing safety law now put employers who fail to meet health and safety obligations on the hook for stiff new penalties should their negligence lead to a worker dying on the job. Those penalties include up to 25 years in prison for individual actors. Add to that, millions in fines for companies.

In the midst of the COVID-19 crisis, business continuity plans (BCPs), processes, and programs have never been in greater demand. But we’ve been here before.

Both the 11 September 2001 terror attacks and late 2000’s financial crisis spurred similar upticks in the popularity of business continuity management systems (BCMS). And yet, by the time COVID-19 came along, an alarming number of companies were unprepared.

Why didn’t business continuity management take off before; and how can you build a sustainable program today?

Ensuring compliance with regulatory requirements is critical to your client’s business. But crisis and business continuity planning – often mandated by law – shouldn’t be a box-ticking exercise. Unfortunately, too many of your clients fall into the trap. What risks do they face treating crisis preparedness as a compliance-first practice? 

First things first: regulatory mandates following crises are ubiquitous – that’s been the case far before the onset of the COVID-19 crisis. In the U.S., for instance, employers with more than ten workers must have written emergency action plans that specify what workers and others at the workplace should do in the event of an emergency.