Emergency Preparedness & Disaster Recovery
In today’s well attended Virtual Breakfast Forum, two of our members spoke to the group regarding emergency preparedness and disaster recovery.
Mark Bunz, CEO of Dynaflex Group spoke to the group from his offices in Salmon Arm. The North Okanagan has very dry conditions, so the threat of fire/being prepared for fire is very real. Mark shared what his organization has done, particularly due to a recent threat of fire that was very near to his own home.
Some of his recommendations to the group were:
- an event can happen on day shift, a night shift or weekend shift – ensure everyone on each shift is aware of what to do.
- Make sure that all internal, external and client contact information is up to date.
- Consider how could your organization support your employees with evacuation orders.
- Review your business structure – is there any way of mitigating total loss, by adjusting the location of where work is being done?
- When creating a plan, be in the moment. It’s easy to create a plan when there are no pressures and you might overlook certain things.
- Review your insurance coverage to be sure that you’re totally covered as organizations can grow, gain more equipment, have more stock and more property over the years.
- Do frequent reviews / drills with your team on all of your emergency plans to ensure the more fresh it is in your mind in the event that things do happen.
We then heard from Dann Konkin with Ampco Manufacturers out of Coquitlam. Dann spoke to us about a drill his organization had, regarding potential cyber security breaches. He shared that some of the organizations they work with now require business continuity/disaster recovery plans, including cyber security.
Dann and his team used the drill to identify and correct potential gaps in the business’s online presence. The drill took 2 hours to implement, and provided an insight into what could happen in the event of a cyber-attack.
Insurance brokers, such as Acera/Capri CMW, can provide free risk assessments on cyber security in your organizations.
Please join us for our last 2023 Virtual Breakfast Forum on Thursday, December 7th at 8:00am, where the speaker will be from the Employers Advisors Group (part of the Ministry of Labour). Their job is to help employers navigate WorkSafe BC. We welcome you to invite guests that you think might benefit from the presentation.
Moving into 2024, we will be holding Virtual Breakfast Forums once a month, every 3rd Thursday of the month.
