Business Continuity Planning Note

In the face of all types of disasters, it is imperative that companies ensure their survival. Disasters include weather events such as flood or hurricanes, but a pandemic could also be a threat. IMCA Note SEL 12/10 is generic but gives some major pointers toward what considerations should be made, such as outsourcing, control of the supply chain, transport and a variety of other risks and common failures - when developing a business continuity plan and links to existing guidance.

Companies need to consider how they would carry on safely and efficiently were a disaster to strike, and knock out fundamental parts of their communication infrastructure, perhaps through flooding of the IT headquarters, or remove the ability to communicate or manage, through the significant absence of personnel due to a pandemic.

"Our members need to consider this subject in the light of their own circumstances," explains Hugh Williams, Chief Executive of the International Marine Contractors Association (IMCA). "This may include the need to continue communication with, and management of, a number of sites 24/7, whether they are a sea-going fleet or shore-based facility.

"It would be difficult to write concise guidance for business continuity planning that would be appropriate for all our members, and there is already good guidance available. Our Security Task Force has instead written a high-level information note based on members' experience and advice from consultants."

An approximate guide to the necessity of business continuity planning is taken from one consultant's information who stated that 20% of companies had a major failure affecting business continuity every five years; 90% of failures resulted from IT; 90% had at least one security breach in two years; and 70% were affected by a systems downtime at least once a year at an average cost of GBP52k per hour.

Like all IMCA Information Notes, this information is available to IMCA's members.