Site Map - Contingency Planning \ Disaster Management

11/27/2007 - New game-based training simulations are designed to reduce the cost and increase the effectiveness of disaster planning.

11/27/2007 - A survey of mid-size to large companies that are members of the American Management Association shows that fewer have emergency action plans in 2004, 61 percent, than had them in 2003, 64 percent. The number of groups that had a crisis management team also slipped in that same period, from 52 percent to 44 percent. Though part of the difference may be due to the margin of error, it suggests at the very least that the numbers are flat. @ Link via SM Online to a survey summary.

11/27/2007 - If you're the victim of a biological attack, should you quarantine yourself at home or go to a hospital? If you're in a high-rise during a nuclear attack, where should you go? A reference card by the RAND Corporation answers these questions, explaining how individuals should prepare for and respond to nuclear, biological, chemical, and radiological attacks. @ Get the card via SM Online.

11/16/2007 - The best laid emergency plans can go awry if they fail to incorporate certain critical steps and principles.

11/13/2007 - The financial services industry in Chicago is collaborating with city, state, and federal officials to create a regional group that will work together on disaster recovery plans. The initiative, which others can use as a model, is described in a new report by the U.S. Department of Treasury: Improving Business Continuity in the Financial Services Sector: A Model for Starting Regional Coalitions. @ Visit SM Online or the full report.

11/13/2007 - The financial services industry in Chicago is collaborating with city, state, and federal officials to create a regional group that will work together on disaster recovery plans. The initiative, which others can use as a model, is described in a new report by the U.S. Department of Treasury: Improving Business Continuity in the Financial Services Sector: A Model for Starting Regional Coalitions. @ Visit SM Online for the full report.

11/13/2007 - A December 2003 report by Trust for America's Health showed that the nation's public health system was insufficiently prepared for bioterrorism. The prognosis isn't much better more than a year later. A follow-up report concludes that "states across the country are still struggling to meet basic preparedness requirements and have inadequate resources to juggle the competing health priorities they face." Ranking states on ten "key indicators to assess the states' public health emergency preparedness capabilities," the report found Florida and North Carolina to be in the best of health, notching nine of the ten indicators. At the other extreme were Massachusetts and Alaska, which achieved the sickly score of three. Twenty states fell in the middle with a score of six, while another 19 garnered scores of 5 or 7. he ranking was based on indicators such as state spending of federal funds, level of state public-health budgets, bioterror capabilities of state labs, and surveillance and tracking capacity. For example, only five state public-health labs report the ability to adequately respond to a chemical terror threat, while two-thirds of states don't electronically track disease outbreak information using national standards, making early warning difficult. SM Online has the full 72-page report, as well as an executive summary.

11/13/2007 - Three and a half years after 9-11, building codes are just starting to reflect lessons learned from the World Trade Center collapse

11/09/2007 - Only “collective international public health action” will stem the spread of a future infectious disease pandemic, according to the annual World Health Organization health report. It warns that the threat of a “pandemic of influenza from this virus is still a matter of when, not if.”  

11/09/2007 - Social networking Web resources, like Twitter, can help organizations and government expand their communication networks during emergencies, says blogger W. David Stephenson. Major organizations like the American Red Cross are giving it a try.

11/08/2007 - Disaster planning need not be merely a necessary administrative burden. It can be a marketing tool. As the authors of The Disaster Recovery Handbook shrewdly observe, disaster preparedness and recovery is really a service for the client. Customers in effect enter into a partnership with their suppliers for their business essentials, so a disruption in supply can be catastrophic to a customer. Thus, disaster planning can be sold to customers as a pledge that the provider will keep their businesses going even in adverse situations.

11/08/2007 - A bill (H.R. 285) introduced by Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) would establish a national cybersecurity response team that could analyze threat information and provide early warning of attacks on the cybersecurity infrastructure. The team would also be tasked with providing information and assistance to restore the infrastructure after an attack.

11/08/2007 - Even the most thorough disaster plan can't contemplate every possible contingency. In some cases the victimized company will need to procure unanticipated services or products such as water-purification equipment, microfilm drying, or cots and bedding. The publishers of the Disaster Recovery Yellow Pages have been positioning themselves as a one-stop shop for everything related to business continuity and disaster recovery in the United States. The 2005 version, the directory's 14th edition, is now perfect-bound. More than 3,000 product manufacturers and service providers are listed in the resource, in 355 categories ranging from computer equipment and training materials to cleanup services and file- and data-recovery software. Published by Edwards Information, the hard-copy version of the directory is available through ASIS International