Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity is one of the eleven competency areas as identified by the International Facility Management Association’s global job task analyses.
What is Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity?
- Emergency preparedness is a set of policies and planned procedures to use in the event of an emergency situation.This helps the facility manager and staff direct employees and visitors to actions and locations that support a safe evacuation from the facility.
- Business continuity is a coordinated process that makes sure another physical location is available for operations in the event of an emergency.
Why is Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity important?
- Helps increase the safety of occupants during and after an emergency situation.
- Helps with the restoration and recovery process.
- Helps the organization maintain its financial standing and public image.
How the Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity competency helps the
Facility Manager?
Reduces risk of:
- Death and significant injury to building occupants and the public.
- Physical or environmental damage.
- Shutting down a business.
- Disrupting business operations.
Examples
- Support management-developed risk management plans.
- Develop emergency management plans and procedures for the organization’s facilities with enough details to ensure success.
- Assist in the design of simulations or exercises to test the emergency management and business continuity plans. The facility manager and staff are key organizers for all exercises to test and revise these plans.
- Manage the execution of simulations or exercises to test the plans. The facility manager sets the regular execution of simulations and exercises with other support departments to test these plans.
- Secure technology systems and services. Suppliers provide a key service in these areas from equipment and software to the alternate physical location(s) where the organization can continue business.
- Develop a business continuity plan. Senior management must provide guidance on the issues and timing that the continuity plan must address.
- Specify response times for vendors to come to your building in the event of an emergency repair situation.
- Identify natural hazards in the facility’s surroundings. For example, if the facility is near a river, the river could rise and flood the facility.
The Competency Areas
All the 11 competency areas are:
- Technology.
- Real Estate and Property Management.
- Quality.
- Human Factors.
- Emergency Preparedness and Business Continuity.
- Communication.
- Environmental Stewardship and Sustainability.
- Leadership and Strategy.
- Finance and Business.
- Project Management.
- Operations and Maintenance.
Image credit: Peggy und Marco Lachmann-Anke from Pixabay
Kazeem Olugbade, ProFM, is a facility management professional who has extensive knowledge and skills in the subject areas.
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