An EPOs perspective on BCM Dawn Paish Emergency Planning Officer London Borough of Newham

Civil Contingencies Act Local Authorities are required to maintain plans to ensure they can continue to perform their functions in the event of an emergency, and to base these plans on comprehensive risk assessments, to exercise and review these plans, and to publish them. In other words the “GOOD PRACTICE” of Business Continuity Management becomes a statutory requirement.

No one plans to fail, they only fail to plan. (Anon)

BCM is a process that helps the council to continue to provide services to the community if there are serious disruptions such as power loss, flooding or other emergencies. (EP)

Business Continuity Management is an important constituent of risk management - the overall process by which risks are identified, evaluated and controlled.

Emergency Planning is an important constituent of risk management - the overall process by which risks are identified, evaluated, controlled and dealt with if they develop into a crisis.

BCM / EP Encompasses crisis management and disaster recovery.

BCM/EP is an essential component of being prepared to meet any crisis.

BCM supports EP by holding all the various departmental plans together, dovetailing into the Major Incident Plan, to retain core service functions.

 EPOs and BC professionals share a determination to learn from every incident.  They share a determination to expedite the recovery process.