Risk & Business Continuity
Risk Management and Business Continuity Management contribute to the underpinning of the overall Essex County Fire and Rescue Service governance arrangements.
Risk Management
Risk management consists of a layered approach to the threats and hazards that a modern fire and rescue service faces. Significant aspects are:
- The National Risk Register and the Local Risk Assessment Guidance issued by the Cabinet Office.
- The Service’s Strategic Assessment of Risk provides a wider context on the challenges that ECFRS faces in the County of Essex, using the most up-to-date data available over a cross-section of themes.
- The Provision of Operational Risk Information, (PORIS), provides fire station based evidence of the most noteworthy risks within its area of operational response.
Business Continuity Management
Essex County Fire and Rescue Service has a simply articulated mission, although at times there can be challenges in execution. The mission is, “To save and protect lives, property and the environment.”
There are two branches to our work. First, there is the legal obligation of operational response and the delivery of the core functions determined by the Fire and Rescue Services Act 2004 through our Area Commands. Secondly, the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 requires the Service to ensure that it has prepared, so far as is reasonably practicable, to continue to provide critical activities and an emergency response during any serious business interruption.
In order to achieve our mission, the Service has to consider the potential impacts of business interruptions, amongst other risks. The public has a reasonable expectation that the Service will continue to deliver core functions in all but the most extreme of circumstances. Accordingly, there are arrangements for business continuity arrangements.
The Essex County Fire and Rescue Service Corporate Business Continuity and Recovery Plan sets out the central strategy for our business continuity.
Further details are available on request.
Your Business Continuity
What are you doing about securing your business against an interruption such as:
• A sudden and significant reduction in staff?
• Denial of access to your building, one of your sites or a whole geographical area?
• Unexpected loss of mains electricity, gas or water?
• Significant disruption to transport?
• Disruption to the availability of fuel?
• Loss of telecommunications or internet?
• Loss or disruption to your computer systems?
• Disruption which affects your key suppliers or partners? What if they go into liquidation?
Try this 10 minute assessment to see how prepared your business is.
The link below provides a starting point for embedding Business Continuity into your organisation:
An Introduction to Business Continuity from the world’s leading institute for business continuity and resilience professionals
https://www.thebci.org/knowledge/introduction-to-business-continuity.html