Page 24 - Insurance Times February 2023

transportation or due to natural events leading to serious
effects inside or outside the installation likely to cause loss of
life and property including adverse effects on the
environment.

Emergency : Emergency is an unplanned event that
significantly: Disrupts normal operations, poses serious threat
to persons or property, cannot be managed by routine
response, requires a quick and coordinated response across
multiple departments or divisions.

Threats that can lead to emergency /

disaster / catastrophe
1. Environmental Disasters: Tornado, Hurricane, Flood,
predetermined time after a disaster or extended disruption.
Snowstorm, Drought, Earthquake, Electrical storms, Fire,
The logistical plan is called Business Continuity Plan. In plain
Subsidence and Landslides, Freezing conditions,
language BCP is how an organization prepared for future
Contamination and environmental hazards, Epidemic.
incidents that could jeopardize the organization's core mission
2. Organized and/or Deliberate Disruption: Act of and its long term health. It is aimed at reducing operational
terrorism, act of sabotage, act of war, theft, arson, labor risk associated with information management controls. Most
disputes / industrial action. organizations implement a phased methodology to analyze
potential areas of vulnerability, define viable strategies, and
3. Loss of Utilities and Services: Electrical power failure,
implement business continuity plans.
loss of gas supply, loss of water supply, petroleum and oil
shortage, communications services breakdown, loss of
Phase I - Initiation: In phase one, an organization sets to the
drainage / waste removal
fullest extent practicable." forth the overall goal for the BCP
4. Equipment or System Failure: Internal power failure,
effort - validating the scope of the plan, and taking an
air conditioning failure, production line failure, cooling
inventory of the processes or business units needed for the
plant failure, equipment failure (excluding IT hardware)
project. It identifies key stakeholders in the process including
5. Serious Information Security Incidents: Cybercrime, executive sponsors, steering committee, and any other
Loss of records or data, Disclosure of sensitive subject matter experts. This phase sets the parameters, and
information, IT system failure. trains the team in the project objectives and methodology.
6. Other Emergency situation: Workplace violence, Public
Phase II - Business Impact Analysis and Risk Assessment:
transportation disruption, Neighborhood hazard, Health
The business impact analysis is the next step in creating a
and safety regulations, Employee morale, Mergers and
business continuity plan. This part of the process serves as
acquisitions, Negative publicity, legal problems.
the foundation of any viable recovery planning effort. It
includes all the critical business functions and processes, along
Plan for Business continuity (Business
with their potential threats. Here risks are identified,
Continuity Plan (BCP): prioritized, and managed; the various single points of failure
A business continuity plan is a comprehensive statement of for the business including external dependencies are
consistent actions to be taken before, during and after a identified; and the overall business impact of these risks and
disaster. The plan should be documented and tested to ensure SPOF are calculated. Recovery Time Objectives, Recovery
continuity of operations and availability of critical resources Point Objectives and Recovery Communication Objectives are
in the event of a disaster. also identified for each critical business process. This phase is
also utilized to identify regulatory requirements and best
Business Continuing Plan is an interdisciplinary peer monitoring practices or standards that need to be followed; and the
methodology used to create and validate a practiced logistical time and effort required in implementation of the BCP.
plan for how an organization will recover and restore partially
or completely interrupted critical function(s) within a Phase III - Strategy Development: Leveraging the

22 January 2023 The Insurance Times