Bouncing back

DISASTER READINESS

As I’ve said already, disaster can strike at any time, and they are often hard to predict. However, making sure you have clear procedures in place for such scenarios can make all the difference.

Planning ahead for every eventuality is part and parcel of a robust health and safety plan. Put simply, disaster readiness is the difference between effective operational recovery, and loss of equipment, resources and customers. Being prepared can also reduce the impact that such an incident has on wider supply chains due to loss of production. So, it is critical to business success.

Businesses should make sure they’re one step ahead by having a disaster recovery plan. Before an incident occurs, you should work with a trusted disaster recovery partner to do a survey of your facilities, systems and critical assets, to identify and plan a critical path to business recovery.

Your supplier will then recommend practical, proven steps to prevent or solve potential problems before they become reality.

As an example, a RED ALERT service is structured to work with a client’s own emergency procedures so that when the unexpected happens, an action plan can be initiated with speed and effectiveness. After a thorough survey of a site, a blueprint is created to ensure key locations and assets are accounted for and are thoroughly reviewed en-route to the location, meaning the recovery team is ready to spring into action as soon as they arrive.

This service also enables customers to jump straight to the top of the queue when an incident occurs, meaning an experienced team will be sent directly to the site within four hours, or less, in most cases. It is certainly worth investing in such a service to ensure that if the worst does happen, your incident takes precedence, enabling you to get back up and running sooner than the rest.

Integrating this process into your business continuity plan will not only minimise business interruptions but will help you get back to operational excellence as quickly as possible.

CASE STUDY

When a specialist machinery manufacturer had a major fire in the paint finishing section, the facility suffered heavy soot contamination, with high chloride levels. The area with the most damage was the stock holding area, which had over 66,000 items with a replacement value of £1 million.

A dedicated technical team worked on site for three weeks to get operations back to normal. From implementing an ultrasonic cleaning methodology to installing a large dip bath line to clean affected equipment, this rapid response prevented any secondary damage and minimised significant business interruptions.

Equally, when a coastal storm surge flooded a medical technology manufacturer’s global head office location the business was soon put on a path to rapid business recovery. The 550,000 sq ft site, which comprised clean room manufacturing, office blocks, R&D labs, archives and warehousing, was left with no power or lighting, and was surrounded by flood debris. The bespoke manufacturing machinery and electronic equipment (£3 million value), IT servers, cold and chemical stores, archive documents and stock were all affected by flood water. The hazardous site conditions made this recovery incredibly complex.

BELFOR UK’s M&CL Operations Director arrived on site within 12 hours of the incident and its management team joined the customer’s crisis and recovery team to establish a critical path for recovery. An immediate response was assembled bringing in technical experts from Germany, Netherlands, Poland and DeHaDe. An on-site restoration centre was established, and a complex drying programme began.

Thanks to the collaborative approach to recovery, critical business production restarted within five days and 97 per cent of machinery and electronics were recovered and restored. The customer was also supported with a subsequent flood resilience project to ensure they had a robust plan in place for any future disasters.