Disaster Recovery Guideline 10 – Point Core Plan

by Engr. Kh. Mashiur Rahman | Jan 11, 2017 | Compliance

Disaster Recovery Guideline

Purpose

The purpose of this guide is to establish a core/basic outline of planning for and reacting to a disaster. It provides a means for authorized personnel to find the right information quickly and to adjust to the disaster.

The 10-Point Core Plan obviously does not address all aspects of the management, but is intended to provide:

• A guide for interim management of operations in the event of a disaster.
• A definition of responsibilities for those involved in the recovery of the disaster.
• A foundation for the development of a formal Disaster Management Program.

Priorities

• To protect the people who work in or visit your location(s).
• To protect corporate assets located in your location(s).
• To resume business and service as quickly and effectively as possible.

Introduction

The following checklists are intended to help you consider some essential of a core/basic emergency plan. The checklists correspond to the functions outlined below:

The Core Plan

The ten points listed below must be considered as you develop your plans. You may adapt or combine them to meet [CLIENT] specific requirements. The following checklist will help [CLIENT] to review and evaluate the current state of emergency planning relevant to your operations and to identify planning gaps and weaknesses.

1.Direction and Control

Your emergency plan must provide for a coordinator (and alternate coordinators) that will exercise direction and control during an emergency. The coordinator is responsible for:

• Directing the operations of the emergency team members.
• Coordinating all emergency activities.
• Gathering and analyzing information needed for emergency decisions.

Your plans for central direction and control should also designate alternative locations for an Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and/or subordinate command posts.

Your plan should include:

2. Communications

Communications between the coordinator and the emergency teams is essential. Your Emergency Plan must therefore provide for establishing, maintaining and securing a backup for all means of communication.

Key personnel must understand all communications procedures. These procedures that are part of daily operating systems are likely to work best in an emergency. Equipment must be regularly maintained and the staff must know how to adapt these systems during the emergency period.

Your plan should include:

3. Alerting and Warning

During an emergency, the Coordinator will need procedures to alert all response staff and other employees to anticipated hazards. Warning may arrive by:

• Switchboard operator, Public Address System, or word-of-mouth reports.
• Alarm devices activated by smoke or heat detectors, sprinkler systems, etc.
• Announcements from the Weather Service or local authorities.

These warning systems, in turn, depend on communication systems to alert all employees and to request assistance from police or fire departments.

Your plan should include:

4. Facility Shutdown

Your Emergency Operating Procedure (EOP) must offer guidelines on when and how to shutdown your facility. This involves developing criteria for making the decision to stop operations and elaborating procedures for shutting down equipment, utilities and the entire facility.

This function also includes establishing emergency protection measures and damage control and assessment techniques.

Your plan should include:

5. Evacuation

The goal of evacuation is to move people and resources (equipment, supplies and inventory) away from threatened areas. Successful evacuation depends on sufficient warning of an impending disaster.

In planning for an emergency, you must establish clear and detailed procedures for carrying out complete or partial evacuation from buildings or from an entire neighborhood. Neighborhood evacuations require coordination with all elements of your Disaster Management program, as well as with government authorities in the communities affected.

Your plan should include:

6. Shelter

In some situations, evacuation of the effected site may not be possible. Under these conditions, an EOP considers how to provide shelter for employees and visitors. Your Plan should describe the conditions under which people would be placed in shelters and the criteria for making this decision. The Plan should describe the capacity of on-site shelters and identify public shelter facilities that local emergency management officials have allocated for company employees.

Your plan should include:

7. Emergency Services

Implementation of an emergency response depends on the availability of trained personnel. Providing the following emergency services internally, if possible, allows for a faster response time from individuals familiar with company facilities.

• Security
• Fire fighting
• Rescue
• Medical and health
• Engineering support

Your plan should include:

8. Emergency Information

In developing your Plan, consider how to increase the employees’ awareness of hazards and how to advise employees about appropriate actions before, during and after an emergency. Effective collection and dissemination of information will help to focus emergency action and minimize confusion. Your Emergency Plan should also establish procedures and responsibility for dealing with the media.

Your plan should include:

9. Supporting Materials

Your Emergency Plan will be much more helpful if you supplement it with the following information:

• Floor plans and maps (site and street) that indicate the location of manpower and equipment.
• Assignment charts (simple organizational charts) that show the names, titles, addresses and phone numbers of key emergency personnel. These charts should also indicate the responsibilities of each person during an emergency.
• Call-up lists contain the names, addresses and telephone numbers of the people responsible for emergency operations. Alternates should be named in case the primary personnel are not available.
• List of local resources that provide additional labor, equipment and supplies.
• Mutual aid agreements that indicate companies willing to assist during emergencies.
• A glossary that defines the terms. The plan should use words that mean the same thing to everyone.

Your plan should include:

10. Administration and Logistics

Emergency Plans require approval from senior management and agreement from departments that will be providing services during an emergency.

Senior management should also direct that testing and updating of the Plan be done on a regular basis, and/or changes occur with personnel or facilities.

Your plan should include:

FORM I

NOTIFICATION PROCEDURE

Anyone on premises will call security (or other) to report fire or other situations. Follow department emergency procedures to evacuate personnel, secure the area, or perform other duties as required by the nature of the situation.

Once immediate danger from the emergency is under control, security must telephone or otherwise notify the Senior Executive Management with preliminary assessment of the damage. The Senior Executive Management will notify the Disaster Recovery Coordinator or alternate, with instructions. If an interruption of services has occurred or will occur as a result of emergency, the Disaster Recovery Coordinator telephones the Disaster Recovery Team Members to meet at a designated location (see Form II for meeting sites). The team members notify their key personnel to standby for activation of the recovery plan. The Senior Executive Management is to be kept informed of the situation by the Corporate Disaster Recovery Coordinator.

• Notify outside emergency services
• Direct facility shutdown

The flow chart below will delineate the chain of command:

This working draft should be reviewed and approved by Corporate Counsel and Senior Management.

FORM II

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

 MEETING SITES AND ALTERNATES

0 – 48 Hours After Disaster

The Disaster Recovery Team will convene in one of the following locations based on the scope of the disaster and its effect on the corporation:

FORM III

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

 MEETING SITES AND ALTERNATES

 LONG-TERM RECOVERY STAGING/DISTRIBUTION

Facility to be selected form the following alternatives:

1. Lease Warehouse Space:

Location:        

2. Lease Office Space:

Location:        

3. Etc.

Location:        

FORM IV

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

The Coordinator [__________________________________] will determine if and to what extent an evacuation will take place. In the event of the Coordinator’s absence, the below listed personnel, in order listed, have the authority to order such evacuation.

Procedures to Effect Evacuation:

The Coordinator (or the designee) will announce the evacuation procedures via the methods:

[CLIENT] to fill in this portion with those procedures that will allow for safe and efficient evacuation.

FORM V

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

 EMERGENCY SUPPLIES

We are subject to regional disaster such as [events] and will be prepared by storing emergency supplies. We will also contact our local emergency management agency, (sheriff, American Red Cross, etc.) for specific recommendations.

We have developed the following list in anticipation of [the event].

Have on hand the basic materials:

1. Heavy duty plastic bags
2. Supply of plastic sheeting or tarps
3. Masking or duct tape to secure plastic
4. Battery radios AM/FM
5. Battery lights
6. Spare batteries
7. Large ice chests
8. Rope
9. Bottled water
10. Non perishable food
11. Can and bottle openers
12. Toilet paper
13. Paper plates, cups, napkins and plastic forks, knives, spoons
14. First Aid Kit
15. Flashlights

FORM VI

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

Duties and Responsibilities

In order to carry out our plan effectively and efficiently, we will assign responsibilities to individuals for the vital components of our Plan. The following assignment are:

Safety & Emergency Coordinators

Safety committee will:

• establish and enforce safety rules;
• maintain and inspect facilities regularly; and
• train and inform supervisors and employees.

Emergency committee will:

• assume command in an emergency;
• coordinate the activities of outside agencies; fire, police, medical services, security services, maintenance and repair teams, emergency and salvage teams;
• communicate with management; and
• contact media.

Emergency Planning Committee

The person assigned responsibility for facility security in disaster situation would generally be the same person who is normally responsible for facility security. Special concerns of the Security Officer in a time of disaster would be:

• Preventing access to the premises by unauthorized personnel
• Assisting police in security operations
• Clearing access for emergency vehicles
• Protecting vital records
• Protecting essential equipment (e.g., computers)

If the company employs an Occupational health Physician or an Occupational Health Nurse, the Disaster Planning Committee should work with these health professionals in developing this section of the plan.

A nurse or doctor already on site at the time of the disaster occurrence can begin providing emergency care or take charge of injury management before outside medical emergency teams arrive. Medical personnel can be expected to assume these types of responsibilities:

• Provide emergency medical care

Where no medical personnel are on site, and especially when medical emergency response from the outside is delayed for any length of time, first-aid trained members of the Emergency Response Team would be expected to assume many of these duties. Their main limitations would be in the level of emergency care they could provide and in assessing the severity of injuries.

The team managers must be familiar with operations within their respective areas to effect continued operation. The plan is not a mechanical checklist and does not address every eventuality that could occur but relies heavily on the skills of team members and other employees that may be involved. It will be up to each individual to determine how best to effect recovery and resume normal operations relaying that information to the Coordinator.

Communications/Public Relations

One person is usually assigned to coordinate or direct communications efforts, but in most cases more than one person is needed to carry out these responsibilities. Some of the activities assigned to communications personnel are:

FORM VII

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

 Critical Personnel

This list identifies critical personnel. Personnel are listed by function, job title, and the number of people required.

FORM VIII

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

 Workspace

This list documents the work environment we will require to restore our operations.

FORM IX

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

 Office/Communication Equipment

The list of office and communication equipment will be needed to restore all operations.

                                                Critical              Immediate         Initial                 Extended

                                                10 hrs.                72 hrs.                3day-6wk          6wk-18mo

Telephones                             (Quantity)          (Quantity)          (Quantity)          (Quantity)

Standard                                  ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

Special                                     ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

Typewriters

Standard                                  ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

Special                                     ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

Calculators

4 Function                               ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

Special                                     ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

Microfiche Readers

Fiche 4″ x 6″                            ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

Roll Film                                 ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

Personal Computers

Make & Model                        ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

FORM IX (con’t)

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

Office/Communication Equipment (con’t)

                                                Critical              Immediate         Initial                 Extended

                                                10 hrs.                72 hrs.                3day-6wk          6wk-18mo

Printers                                  (Quantity)          (Quantity)          (Quantity)          (Quantity)

Make & Model                        ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

CRT/Video Terminals

Make & Model                        ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

Software

Program Name                        ___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

___________     ___________     ___________     ____________

FORM X

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

 Vital Infrmation

After a disaster, we will require retrieval of information that has been identified in advance as “vital” and safeguarded at an off-site location.

This form will identify vital information, explain how to retrieve it, and develop a strategy for ensuring that this information is always current.

1. dentify vital information (use one form for each category of information, e.g., accounts payable, accounts receivable, general ledger).
2. Information Description/Document Name:
3. Information media:

Paper              

Microfilm – 4×6 fiche             

Microfilm – 16mm roll film                

Diskette                      

Magnetic tape             

Other              

1. Retrieval equipment:

Microfilm Reader – fiche                    

Microfilm Reader – roll                       

PC                  

Software                    

Mainframe                  

Other              

FORM XI

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

 Raw Stock and Supplies

In order to continue operations after a loss, we must have raw stock and supplies necessary to produce our finished product. This section addresses the issues that affect replenishing raw stock and supplies after a loss.

In addition to the information requested in this section, we give special consideration to:

• alternative sources for suppliers with only one location in case of a loss on their property;
• other manufacturers or suppliers who participate in the actual processing of our product (i.e., subcontractors who assemble or refine your product); and
• expert buyers needed to make very specialized high tech purchases.

FORM XII

EMERGENCY OPERATIONS CENTER

 Communication

Between [client] and Other [client] Locations and Business Firms

After a disaster, normal communication channels may not exist. Some divisions may have to resume immediate contact with specific persons or organizations (internal and/or external). List these contacts, the regular means of communication, and the time frame in which the communication must be resumed.

FORM XIII

RECOVERY TEAM CONTACT LIST

FORM XIV

EMPLOYEE CONTACT SYSTEM

In the event a damaging magnitude occurs while you are at home, please do the following:

• Wait from one to three days depending on damage before trying to telephone the office.
• If you can’t reach the office, attempt to call [ ] or the Command Center at [       ].
• Tune into [local radio station-call numbers/letters] which are [client] official news announcement stations.
• If you are a member of the emergency response team or the salvage team, attempt to call the office at [ ] or the Command Center at [        ].
• A copy of everyone’s home numbers is in the “Emergency Plan” and when service is available, everyone will be contacted.
• A copy of all employee phone numbers is also in the appendix [option].

Employee Notification

This list identifies the coordinators who will notify employees of a disaster and tell them when they are to report for work. The list also identifies the employees to be contacted.

FORM XV

COMMUNICATIONS

Vendor Notification

This list of vendors should be notified if our company is severely affected by a disaster. We want to tell them about the recovery locations and changes in scheduled deliveries, etc.

FORM XVI

COMMUNICATIONS

 Emergency Assistance Organizations

After a disaster, normal communication channels may not exist. Some divisions may have to resume immediate contact with specific persons or organizations (internal and/or external). List these contacts, the regular means of communication, and the time frame in which the communication must be resumed.

FORM XVII

HANDBOOK MAINTENANCE

The Emergency Plan is to be maintained by the Disaster Recovery Coordinator. Any changes, additions, deletions, etc., are to be sent to the Coordinator.

Any change, addition, etc. (with the exception of telephone numbers and addresses) will be updated and distributed on a monthly basis.

Review of the Emergency Plan will be made every six months, unless otherwise indicated by the revision date.

FORM XVIII

TRAINING

A variety of training needs are identified in connection with executing an effective disaster recovery plan. The training should be provided by persons who have expertise in the specific area. For example, someone outside the company might be used to provide first-aid/CPR instruction or for training in the use of emergency respirators. Other training needs can usually be met by using persons within the company.

Special training needs are identified as:

• General – involving all employees such as:

–           Knowing evacuation plans;

–           Knowing how to reach their disaster station or shelter;

–           Recognizing alarm signals;

–           Knowing how to report emergencies;

–           Knowing what type of emergencies could occur.

• Special – involving only certain persons assigned to special or high risk tasks such as:

–           Emergency Response Team Members;

–           Medical response personnel, including first-aiders;

–           Communications personnel;

–           Command positions.

Once the plan is completed and “tested”, the company will be in a better position to cope with a disaster situation. Any failures of the system, identified during the test, should be reviewed and changes made.

The plan should never be allowed to become obsolete or ineffective. Changes in a facility, such as growth in size, change in operations and additions or deletions or hazardous materials, can cause the plan to become obsolete. Loss of key personnel, lack of ongoing management support or an influx of new employees can damage the effectiveness of the best plan.

To maintain a viable plan, the plan should be reviewed and updated at least twice a year to reflect changes in the facility, facility personnel, the community and its resources, and the law. Telephone numbers will be updated monthly.

FORM XIX

A degree of risk exists in everything we do in life. [Client] is committed to providing a safe working environment policy and protecting employees, property, customers, and suppliers through ongoing loss prevention and managing potential disasters. To this end, [client] has assigned the development, implementation and administration of corporate safety and security procedures referred to as our Disaster Management Program. Guidelines and assistance will be provided by specified department(s) or individual(s).

anywhere or anytime, from the responsibility of being alert to unsafe conditions and taking timely action to correct them.

Creating and maintaining a safe working environment also requires the interest and cooperation of every employee throughout the [company]. The observation of safety and security procedures must be an integral part of our daily working hours.

As a [top manufacturer/developer] of [name products and/or services] in the [U.S., Canada, and throughout the world,] we will do everything in our power to retain our market position and image.

Name [President, Chairman and/or CEO]

Company Name

Date

This working draft should be reviewed and approved by Corporate Counsel and Senior Management.