Businesses planning for disruptive events such as a fire or terrorist attack need to look beyond their own organisations and take responsibility for those around them.

Business continuity plans that are developed and tested in isolation, run the risk of failing, and, more worryingly, disrupting the plans of other businesses within close proximity, especially in high density urban conurbations like the City of London, with a daytime population of approximately 300,000.

>This is an issue addressed in Five Steps to Collaborative Emergency Planning, the latest advice issued by CitySafe, a provider of web-based emergency planning tools.

A spokesperson for CitySafe says: "Localised collaborative planning is the key to ensuring an effective community response in times of crisis and emergency. Unfortunately, the message of community collaboration does not always get through. Many organisations still restrict their exercise and rehearsals to their own organisation. While some information must remain proprietary, where relevant, immediate neighbours, the local authority and emergency services should be informed of your plans."

CitySafe Advises:

1. Talk to other businesses on adjacent sites. It doesnt matter how good your response plan looks on paper if you haven't considered whether it is compatible with your neighbours' plans. For example, it is crucial the capacity of evacuation routes and rendezvous sites be assessed collaboratively.
   
2. In multi-tenanted buildings, appoint one business to co-ordinate the plans of all tenants. This will be the business managing the facility in many cases. If they aren't doing this already, ask them to.
   
3. Find a business in a different locale willing to provide reciprocal support following a disruptive event affecting either party. After the Manchester bombing, a major retailer was able to continue business on the premises of another major high street retailer it had a reciprocal agreement with.
   
4. Work with your key suppliers. Make sure you exercise closely with your critical suppliers in order to understand your supply chain dependencies and test your planning assumptions.
   
5. Collaborate with your local police service. Make them aware of your plan and provide ongoing updates. This is essential, for example, to gain cordon access (from those police forces or Local Authorities who hold such cordon databases) so you can enter your premises in the event of a disruption.

Corporate Social Responsibility
A recent report by the United Kingdom's tripartite financial authorities found that over forty percent of firms in the financial sector take no account of local authority emergency plans in their own planning, while some seventy five percent fail to involve neighbouring businesses.

For larger businesses, collaborative planning is emerging as an indicator of corporate social responsibility to the local community. With almost fifty percent of small businesses in London lacking a business continuity plan, according to the latest CBI/KPMG London Business Survey, the willingness of bigger organisations to assume this responsibility is an important factor in boosting the overall resilience of the local community.

For its part, CitySafe has made a basic version of its Virtual Exercise System - which allows emergency plans to be tested and improved - available to small and medium sized business and the general public at no charge.

Related links: (Open in a new window.)
www.communitysafe.gov.uk/
www.emergencyexercise.org/
www.londonprepared.gov.uk/business/businesscont/index.htm
www.pfe.gov.uk/business/index.shtm

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