Court Reporting Firm Disaster Recovery

Getting Started

Begin with a brainstorming session with your team members with the dual objective to build awareness of the issue of disaster planning, plus identifying potential risk areas that you might not even expect. Your employees are your finger on the pulse of potential problems and risks that you might not even consider.

Part of the risk process is to review the types of disruptive events that can affect the normal running of the organization.

There are many potential disruptive events and the impact and probability level must be assessed to give a sound basis for progress. To assist with this process the following list of potential events has been produced:

Environmental Disasters

• Tornado
• Hurricane
• Flood
• Snowstorm
• Drought
• Earthquake
• Electrical storms
• Fire
• Subsidence and Landslides
• Freezing Conditions
• Contamination and Environmental Hazards
• Epidemic

Organised and / or Deliberate Disruption

• Act of terrorism
• Act of Sabotage
• Act of war
• Theft
• Arson
• Labour Disputes / Industrial Action

Loss of Utilities and Services

• Electrical power failure
• Loss of gas supply
• Loss of water supply
• Petroleum and oil shortage
• Communications services breakdown
• Loss of drainage / waste removal

Equipment or System Failure

• Internal power failure
• Air conditioning failure
• Production line failure
• Cooling plant failure
• Equipment failure (excluding IT hardware)

Serious Information Security Incidents

• Cyber crime
• Loss of records or data
• Disclosure of sensitive information
• IT system failure

Other Emergency Situations

• Workplace violence
• Public transportation disruption
• Neighbourhood hazard
• Health and Safety Regulations
• Employee morale
• Mergers and acquisitions
• Negative publicity
• Legal problems

Although not a complete list, it does give a good idea of the wide variety of potential threats.

Brainstorm internal/external, natural/man made, accidental/intentional, warning/sudden, and controllable versus uncontrollable threats.

Here’s a checklist to help you get started.

• Does your local Fire and Police Departments have contact information for your company?
  
  
• Have you tested to be sure you actually read and restore your computer and back-up files?

• Do your alarms work without electrical power (do they have battery back-up)?

• Is your safe fireproof as well as burglar proof?

• Do you have after hours contact number for your insurance agents?

• Do you have after hours contact information for your company’s plumber and electrician?

• Do you have at least one telephone line that works if your PBX loses power or breaks?

• Are your payroll and personnel records safe?

• How well protected are your telephone and electrical service rooms protected?

• Do you have a list of all employees’ voicemail passwords? In the event of a serious event, you may need to retrieve messages from the mailbox of an employee who is not available.

• Do you have an emergency kit that contains, at least, matches and candles, flashlights and a radio with extra batteries, a well-stocked first-aid kit, and coins for any vending machines?

• Do you have at least one exit available that does not need a key? You may find that your site literally locks in your employees after business hours.

When you consider these potentials against your critical business operations, you’ll be able to identify your vulnerabilities and start to quantify potential losses. Your objectives are to protect your people, processes, data, communications, assets, and your organization’s goodwill and reputation.

Finally, be prepared to negotiate the troubled waters that will be the aftermath of the event. You need to accept that the post-event period will be characterized by the immediate ‘limited operation’ span followed by a period of makeshift operations which will be largely governed by your advance contingency plans. This second stage may last for days, weeks or even months. This phase is should include a campaign of communications to assure the community at large and your established customers that you’re up and running and, if not fully recovered, moving in that direction.