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Disaster planning.

Article Excerpt
[check] This checklist aims to help those putting together a disaster plan for their organisation. It covers physical disasters such as fire, flood, or terrorist attack. Steps in crisis planning are the subject of a related checklist.

Having a disaster plan means that many decisions are made before the disaster strikes, so that the first crucial days after the disaster are spent on dealing with the situation and not on deciding how to deal with it.

Definition

A disaster plan (DP) aims to prevent or reduce the likelihood of a disaster by identifying threats and taking the necessary preventative action, and to ensure that the organisation is prepared to deal with an emergency effectively.

Benefits of disaster planning

In the event of a disaster, a DP:

1. supports continuity of operations

2. mitigates the financial consequences.

Drawbacks of disaster planning

3. Poor planning or an out-of-date plan may be worse than no plan at all.

4. The planning process can be time-consuming.

Action checklist

1. Establish a disaster planning team

This team should include staff responsible for personnel, buildings, public relations and IT as well as someone with general management responsibility. You may want to include an external adviser with experience of disaster planning. The appointment of a team leader and a deputy is vital. Senior management should make their...

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