What if things go wrong?
Business Continuity Management has been implemented to allow Merseyside Fire and Rescue Authority (MFRA) to operate in the event of any Major Business Interruption. Major Business Interruption is defined as a business interruption which affects a number of service areas entirely or more than one specific site. A major business interruption can also be defined as a business interruption that affects its normal business and requires activation of the specific Business Continuity Plan to meet its obligations under the Civil Contingencies Act 2004. This Business Continuity Procedure establishes an operational framework for proactive resilience to disruption, interruption or loss in supplying Merseyside Fire and Rescue Services.
Business Continuity Management is an ongoing process of risk assessment and management with the purpose of ensuring that MFRA can continue to operate if risks materialise. Business Continuity Management should not be in reaction to a Business Interruption incident, but a planned response, requiring planning across all areas of the organisation. The processes and responsibilities contained within this Procedure have the full support of the Merseyside Fire & Rescue Authority and Corporate Leadership Team (CLT), as MFRA resilience depends equally on its managers and operational staff, as well as on technology.
What does the Business Continuity Plan do?
Every year around 20% of organisations suffer a major disruption through, fire, flood, storm, terrorism, power outages or ICT failure.
This document will enable MFRA to identify the impact of potential losses arising from such Business Interruption incidents, to formulate and implement viable continuity strategies, and to develop continuity plans which will ensure continuity of Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service in the event of a Business Interruption incident.
This overarching Procedure links to Business Continuity Plans for all departments. These plans are a documented collection of procedures and information that are developed, compiled and maintained in readiness for use in a Business Interruption incident, not to be confused with Disaster Recovery, which is the enactment of the selected Business Continuity Plan in reaction to a Business Interruption incident. Part of Business Continuity Planning will be a requirement to conduct a Business Impact Analysis for all departments within Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service. To assess the quantitative (e.g. Financial and Service levels) and the qualitative (e.g. operational, reputation, legal and regulatory), impacts and loss resulting from a major Business Interruption incident. To conduct a Business Impact Resource Recovery Analysis that will assist in identifying the minimum level of resource required to enable recovery for each department. I.e. Laptops, Mobiles phones, personnel etc.
The plans consider:
- Total loss of any Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service department
- Significant or partial damage to any Merseyside Fire & Rescue department
- Significant or partial failure of the Information Technology system
- Loss of or damage to information or data
- Loss of staff or pandemic
- Loss of suppliers
The appropriate sections of this plan and associated departmental plans will be activated or deactivated by the Strategic Leadership Team if any one or more of the events above occurs.