Business continuity exercise feb 13

www.northwardshousing.co.uk

Annual Business Continuity Training Exercise

Aims of Today

1. Test the effectiveness of the plan and identify any gaps2. Be familiar with the latest version of the plan and practice

our response to a crisis3. Practise and develop a consistent approach to initial

assessment


1. Is it a business continuity incident? Yes or No?2. How did you go about reaching your decision?1. Is it a business continuity incident? Yes or No?2. How did you go about reaching your decision?

It’s February, 5pm on Friday. You left work half and hour ago and you have just taken a call from one of the retirement scheme managers. There has been a power cut across the whole of north Manchester.



You have just received a call from a manager at the Customer Service Centre. There has been a serious house fire. 5 people have been seriously injured and taken to hospital. There is a suggestion that it has something to do with faulty wiring. There is a current rewiring programme in the area.



You have just been advised via a manager in the Home Improvement Team that a contractor has lost a USB stick. It is believed that the content included personal data for several schemes that have just started on site.



A tenant board member has just emailed you. It’s Mid July, a blazing hot summer and 1000 homes in the area have had no water supply since 6.00am. The reason is unknown. It is now 9.30am. United Utilities hope to provide an update in approximately 4 hours.



You’re eating your Rice Krispies watching BBC Breakfast when you hear about a major fire overnight in the city centre. All offices and retail outlets in the Piccadilly area of the city are affected, including the Daisy Data Centre where our file servers are hosted. Police have cordoned off a large area.



Mrs Jones, a tenant had just phoned the office to express her condolences. She sounds upset. Whilst out shopping near Manchester Fort she witnessed her Neighbourhood Housing Officer being taken into the back of an ambulance following a serious road accident – she looked to be in a very bad way and the car was on its roof.



There has been an attempted robbery at the White Moss Rd Housing Office. A masked man threatened staff and assaulted one of them causing injury. The man managed to escape with a small amount of cash. An ambulance has arrived. The staff are very distressed.



The local housing manager has been contacted by the police who advise that an adult, believed to be a Caretaker, has fallen from the top of a multi storey block and been killed. They have asked if someone can attend the scene to give them access to the Caretakers office and accommodation.



You have just been informed by MWL that their staff are planning a series of one day strikes over the next six weeks starting next week.



You’re watching the evening news. It’s pleasing to note that following the gloriously hot weather over the last few weeks, it’s set to continue with a mini heat wave and a minimum temperature of 340C

comfort break



Tuesday lunchtime at the Cheetham Hill Rd Office. It’s 1.15pm and Miss Scarlet the NHO was expected back from her home visits 1:45 mins ago. A colleague has tried to call her but her phone appears to be dead.

Consider your next course of action


You are the local neighbourhood housing manager and Mr Cool comes to see you. He is rather agitated because he can’t find an ASB case file he’s been working on. The last time he recalls seeing it was yesterday when he took several documents from it during a home visit to interview a witness. You attempt to clarify what exactly is missing. It appears to be a confidential statement from a complainant called Ms Confident, about the ASB her family has been suffering from a local resident Mr Nasty.



Mr Cool tells you that after his home visit yesterday he called at the petrol station and left the file on the passenger seat of his car. When he returned from paying the cashier he noticed the file had been opened and the papers had moved. He’d left his window open and assumed the wind had just blown the papers around a bit.

Meanwhile there is still no sign of Miss Scarlet



Mr Jelly the NHO has just returned from the sandwich shop where he bumped into Miss Scarlet. She got delayed on her last visit caught up in a rather tricky domestic abuse case when the alleged perpetrator returned home. She couldn’t say anything else as there was a shop full of customers.



The police have called to speak to you to report that a statement containing confidential information has been handed in to them by a member of the public. It has Mr Cool’s name on it as well as someone called Ms Confident.Whilst on the phone a member of the team is signalling to you that someone from the communications team is on the phone about an enquiry they’ve received from the MEN concerning personal information that appears to have been found on the forecourt of a petrol station.



A loud gunshot is heard outside the office and you look out of your window to see Miss Scarlet lying on the pavement. A man, who you think you recognise as Mr Nasty, is kneeling down beside her before running off down the high street.



Ms Scarlet has been shot in the leg. She is waiting for the ambulance to arrive. She is disorientated and in a lot of pain. You see a note that is falling out of her jacket and pick it up to read it. It says,

“You’re all going to pay for this Northwards Scum! Watch your back, I’m going to take you

out one by one”



15 minutes later the main reception at Hexagon Tower telephones floor 6 to say there is a man in reception. Is it okay to send him up? The receptionist on floor 6 agrees and Mr Nasty makes his way to floor 6.



As he exists the lift on floor 6, Mr Nasty comes face to face with Mr Lazy from the White Moss Rd Office, someone he knows from when he used to live on the Dam Head estate. He pulls out his gun but Mr Lazy reacts quickly and pushes Mr Nasty out of the way. The gun goes off and the bullet hits the door shattering glass all over. Mr Nasty appears to panic and makes off down the stairwell.On floor 6 panic sets in as it emerges there has been a shooting.



On his way down the stairs Mr Nasty meets one of the building managers. He quickly pushes them, threatens the manager with the gun and runs out into the main reception area where he proceeds through the doors down towards the gym. The receptionist unsure what to do decides to activate the fire alarm to evacuate the building. People start filing down the stairs on to the car park. The police arrive.



Mr Nasty is seen outside the White Moss Rd office.

Later that day the MEN run a story on how confidential information was found on a garage forecourt and is believed to be connected to several shootings. There was no one available from Northwards for comment.



It is now the following day. Mr Nasty is still at large. An number of staff are shocked and traumatised by yesterday’s events and several have failed to show for work today. At Cheetham the staff are too frightened to do any work away from the office.



Almost a week later and staff from other parts of the organisation are starting to ask questions about their own safety and whether it is safe to be seen wearing a Northwards jacket and whether in fact the offices should be open at all. The Trade Unions demand an urgent meeting.



Feedback and lessons learned

THE END OF THE EXERCISE

Business continuity exercise feb 13

Business

business continuity

mr nasty

miss scarlet

confidential

white moss

petrol station

area

appears