Life like scenario tests are a must if Councils want to be properly prepared to deal with emergencies, according to Banyule City Council In Victoria. Business Improvement Manager, Chris Newman, said Banyule is now an acknowledged leader in business continuity planning because it undertook these exercises.
“No matter how prepared you are, there simply is no substitute for testing your systems and the people who operate them with life like scenarios,” he said. “Unless you do, you can’t be totally sure about their real effectiveness.”
As the result of recent real scenario based exercises, designed by and conducted under the guidance of business continuity consultants, Reputation Qest, Banyule Council strengthened its business continuity plan and improved the ties with its Municipal Emergency Management Plan.
Reputation Qest consultant, Andrew Larsen, said Banyule is among the first organisations to improve their business continuity capacity.
“Most organisations didn’t lift their risk management game until after Y2K,” he said. “It acted as a kind of trigger for them. Not so Banyule. Regular testing is critical to effective and sustainable business continuity planning and Banyule intends to expand their testing with Reputation Qest to incorporate emergency management within the next six months.
“Good communication is critical in effectively managing a crisis, and real life testing has highlighted the need to continue to improve our communication structures.”
Chris Newman said business continuity was now core business for Local Government, as well as helping to ensure that staff and the community are well protected in the case of an emergency.
“The process of continuity planning has also identified a range of business improvement opportunities, and has become a key part of our integrated approach to risk management,” he said. “Ironically, what can cause problems in crisis management is often the very qualities that every organisation encourages; professionalism and a proactive approach.
“Our exercise with Reputation Qest found that people’s willingness to try to fix problems, or deal with extraordinary pressures by themselves, meant that at times they tended not to engage other groups, and indeed the business continuity plan, as quickly as they might have. Our business continuity planning now ensures that staff have clearer trigger points for activating the plan and are encouraged to involve the larger group rapidly even if the scale of the crisis is uncertain.”
For further information please contact Chris Newman on (03) 9490 4397.
