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Guidance from Police for a Firearms and Weapons Attack

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What to do in the event of a terrorist  Fire & Weaspons attack

The National Police Chiefs’ Council have launched advice on what the public should do in the event of a terrorist attack. Attacks in the UK and abroad remind us all of the terrorist threat we face, which in the UK is considered as ‘severe’, meaning an attack is highly likely. 

Police and security agencies are working tirelessly to protect the public but it is also important that communities remain vigilant and aware of how to protect themselves if the need arises.

Why only grown-ups should be allowed to use computers.

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Cyber Security and SME Business

The risks of doing nothing and the problem with SME's

The response received from most small businesses when we talk about the threat that they expose themselves to simply by connecting to the Internet, is normally along the lines of, “Oh we’ve got that covered”.  When we’re met with such a blasé attitude, we sense some sport and probe a little further.
 
The term ‘covered’ turns out to be an interesting phenomenon, as connecting to the Internet can be likened to waking up one morning and finding a rabid dog sitting on your bed - if you’re lucky you’ll be fine, but there’s a very strong probability of things going horribly wrong, resulting in a potentially deadly infection. For most, a more technical definition of ‘covered’ is probably the router provided by their Internet service provider (ISP) and some free antivirus software.
 

Business Continuity for Dummies launched by Cabinet Office and Wiley publishing

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The popular yellow cover Dummies Guides from Wiley adds a new title to the series today focusing on  Business Continuity. The Dummies Guide to Business Continuity has been published with support from the Cabinet Office especially to help support the 4.5 million small and medium sized enterprises in the UK  understand, quickly apply and gain the benefits of good Business Continuity practices.
 
SMEs matter and are vital in supporting their local communities cope with disasters and that’s why the government ensured that the Strategic Defence and Security Review (SDSR) committed to help SMEs improve their resilience to civil emergencies.  In partnership with the private sector, including the Continuity Forum and with sponsorship from the BCI and EPS, this new Dummies Guide aims to provide easy access to expert advice to help them prepare and cope with disruption of all kinds.

What is business continuity?

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What is Business Continuity?
 
Business Continuity is defined by the International Standards Organization as the: 
"capability of the organization to continue delivery of services or products at acceptable predefined levels following disruptive incidents"*
*Source ISO 22300 Vocabulary 
Why is Business Continuity important?
 
Organizations of all types and sizes, public and private are effected all the time by "disruptive incidents'. These can be extreme, such as a natural disaster or more likely something mundane, such as a burst water pipe, the loss of power or other services, ICT issues and other forms of incident that disrupts the normal work of the organization.  The disruption caused usually impacts on the capability of the organization to perform its normal activities and as a consequence impacts on customers or other stakeholders, adding additional costs and creating the potential for losses in financial and even social terms.
 

3PQ wins Business Continuity award

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Business Continuity initiative wins industry recognition The 3PQ project team has won the Best Contribution to the Business Continuity Profession prize at the annual BANG Business Continuity Awards recently held in London.
 
 
3PQ is a free resource designed to deliver practical help to those in involved in managing Business Continuity in the Supply Chain. It provides a structured framework of questions that help establish the BCM capability and priorities that is both consistent and adaptable to a wide range of organisations. 3PQ stands for Third Party Questionnaire.   
 
Gayle Hedgecock, Chair of the 3PQ committee commented at the awards “We are pleased to see that the 3PQ has been focused upon once again and that the team’s work has now been recognised with this prestigious award. Now is the right time for organisations to fully embrace this questionnaire and to review the Business Continuity Management (BCM) capability of their supply chain, as part of their preparedness for the London 2012 Olympics, any unusual events and for day-to-day operations.”
 
Vice-Chair of the committee Sara McKenna added "People need a wide range of tools to deliver effective BCM. With the 3PQ they have an easy, yet capable resource that can immediately help identify problems and build Continuity and Resilience in a difficult area. By making it free to use there really is no excuse for not addressing the supply chain risk with a bit more rigour."
 
The 3PQ project team deserves mention and big thank you should go to: Natalie Cooper, Robin Dunford-Green, Matt Innerd, Colin Ive, Roger Jarvis, Sharad Karia, Simon Maddox, John Robinson, Bob Simpson, Andy Tomkinson,, Bill May, Nestor Alfonzo Santamaria and Steve Yates. 
 
After six months in the wild and over 13,000 downloads the first review of the Questionnaire is currently being planned.
 
You can download and provide your feedback on this industry award winning initiative by visiting the 3PQ Project Page.
 
The awards night brought another prize for the Continuity Forum with Russell Price winning the Rocket Science award (we don't what it means either!) and Sara missed out by the finest of margins in the tighest vote of the night for the most helpful person in the industry award ... probably as she was just too busy to vote! 
 

 

 
  

Getting Started Events Continuity Forum

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Getting Started with Business Continuity - Events
Getting started with Business Continuity, Risk and Resilience
 
The Continuity Forum has built a special series of education events designed to get your planning off to the right start and help you and your colleagues develop the right skills as your planning develops and matures.
 
Our approach is to break down the whole Business Continuity Management Cycle into manageable chunks that help ensure the lessons learned can be applied between sessions.
 

Webcasts and videos from the Continuity Forum

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Podcast

Webcasts and Videos from the Continuity Forum 
 
Over the past few years the growth and value of Webinars and video has grown hugely. The ease of use and the convenience laptops, smartphones and tablet devices means that new avenues have opened to communicate with people around the world. 
 
The Continuity Forum is using  this capability to support our work promoting Business Continuity and offers us an exciting tool to communicate on a range of issues and in a number of diverse ways. 
 

MIR3 advises checking Preparedness & DR Plans ahead of Hurricane Season

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Hurricane season approaches, MIR3 checklist helps Business Continuity Planners prepareWith the 2011 hurricane season set to officially begin June 1, MIR3, the innovator of real-time Intelligent Notification™ and response technology, is urging employers to review their current business continuity and disaster recovery (BC/DR) plans to keep employees safe and operations running should a hurricane or tropical storm hit.
 
 
According to the Colorado State University forecast team, the 2011 hurricane season is anticipated to be an above average season, with 16 named tropical storms and nine hurricanes likely to form in the Atlantic basin, with five expected to develop into major hurricanes of Category 3 or higher. Employers with staff along the eastern and Gulf coasts of the Atlantic must prepare for risks associated with these storms that can negatively impact business operations including mass power outages, property damage and potential harm to employees.
 

Project Argus across the UK

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ARCHIVE 

Project Argus is a National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NaCTSO) initiative that explores ways of helping business to prevent, handle and recover from a terrorist attack.
 
Project Argus is a three hour event that utilises multimedia presentations of a simulated terrorist attack and a series of questions and hands on challenges that help participants detail ways in which the organisation could have coped better or indeed have identified the threat earlier.
 

Video - Showing your side of the story

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This video is aimed squarely at the challenges of managing during a transport disruption. With the past few years in mind these lessons are both timely and relevant to any Business Continuity Manager
 
Tony Coll speaks on the kind of action you can undertake to illustrate just how your organisation can demonstrate the how your Business Continuity planning is kicking in, maybe turning you from the bad guy to the good one.
 
If you would like to know more about how Crisis Management and Communications can help your organisations Business Continuity Planning do get in touch with us directly here.
 

Video Advice on Negative Social Media comment

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This video covers some thoughts on how you might address negative commentary appearing on Facebook, Twitter and other Social Network sites. We hope that you will find this useful in building the communications aspects of your organisations Business Continuity Management process. 
 
The short video from Ruth at AHA Creative sees her sharing advice on what you can do to mitigate the situation if you find the organisation being criticised on Social Networking Sites. 
 
If you would like to know more about how Crisis Management and Communications can help your organisations Business Continuity Planning do get in touch with us directly here.
 

Advice on managing a PR crisis - Video

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This is a nice little video covering the principle points surrounding Media Communications that we hope you will find useful in building your organisations Business Continuity Management process.
 

Introducing the Vulnerability Self-Assessment toolkit - VSAT

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The Business Continuity Forum, National Counter Terrorism Security Office and VSAT
 
VSAT - Vulnerability Self Assessment Toolkit
In February, the Continuity Forum and the National Counter Terrorism Security Office (NACTSO) launched a major new tool to help organisations simply and quickly assess and understand the vulnerabilities of their organisations.
 
In front of an audience of very nearly 250 people Lord Reid, former Home and Foreign Secretary and one of the most distinguished parliamentarians of recent generations, the Deputy Mayor, Richard Barnes, who chaired the London Assembly 7/7 report and Sir David Veness, one of the most distinguished counterterrorism experts in the world stood alongside the National Counter Terrorism Security Office and Russell Price of the Continuity Forum to launch VSAT, the latest resource designed to help build resilience and create continuity.
 

Security and Continuity for Major Events

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This guide is intended to give protective security and Business Continuity advice to those who are responsible for organising major events and event security, irrespective of size and capacity and is not specific to any particular type of event.
 
This advice is aimed at those events where there may be a risk of a terrorist attack either because of the nature of the event or the number or nature of the people who host or attend it. It highlights the vital part you can play in the UK counter terrorism strategy.
 
Terrorism also includes threats or hoaxes designed to frighten and intimidate. These 

Security and Continuity advice for Aviation including Flying Clubs and owners

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The ‘General Aviation’ sector is extremely diverse. It involves aircraft such as balloons and airships, gliders, micro-lights, helicopters, light aircraft and business jets. Their activities cover anything from agricultural use, aerial surveys, delivery of goods, corporate flights and leisure. The aerodromes that support these activities vary from individual landing strips or helipads to regional airports.
 
This guide is intended to give protective business continuity and security advice to those who work within the General Aviation sector to reduce the opportunity of a terrorist attack occurring, or limit the damage such an event might cause. It also contains crime prevention material and guidance on business continuity. This advice is not mandatory but may assist those engaged within the sector to enhance security to an appropriate level at their site.
 
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