As a follow-up to completing the Coastal Community Resilience Index, the city of Ocean Springs determined they wanted to invest time and energy into business continuity planning. The city has been working with the local Chamber of Commerce to identify standards for business continuity plans and is offering a business continuity workshop on Tuesday, Oct. 15, at the Ocean Springs Community Center, where Coast businesses can walk through a template to begin their own individualized business plans.
A natural disaster can derail years of hard work in a single day. A business continuity plan can save businesses time and money by identifying strategies to minimize downtime, restore normal operations and reduce impacts to employees and customers. By continuing the performance of essential functions through and after a natural disaster, communities can ensure essential services are provided to citizens. This enables local communities to assist in a more rapid and effective response to, and recovery from, a national emergency.
The city of Ocean Springs conducted a survey of over 50 local businesses and found:
- 68% have experienced a business disruption due to extreme weather.
- 38% have experienced business failure due to a natural or manmade disaster.
- 39% have trained their employees in post-emergency procedures.
- 37% indicated that they “know what needs to be done” but have no written plan.
Using this information, the city has reached out to businesses that provide essential functions and invited them to attend the October workshop so they can begin a conversation about how to stage resources, how to apply for re-entry passes and how to ensure the supply chain is resilient even during disruption. Coast businesses outside of Ocean Springs are also invited to attend.
During the Oct. 15 workshop, participating businesses will walk through the development of a business continuity plan in the following four phases:
- Assessing the threats, risk, and vulnerabilities (loss of utilities, security of records, threats to core assets).
- Analyzing impacts (human, financial, property, company reputation).
- Developing a strategy (risk evaluation and control, emergency response and preparedness).
- Test and maintain the continuity plan (train participants, identify business and customer needs).
At the end of the morining workshop, each business will take home a flash drive with resources for their business, a partially completed plan using the provided template and an opportunity to learn about how the city can coordinate with them before, during and after a disaster.
To learn more about the event visit: http://ci.ocean-springs.ms.us. Registration is $15.
Sea Grant is proud to be a part of this workshop and is committed to continued support of local businesses and building increased resilience for the community.
Meet the author
Tracie Sempier, Ph.D.
Resilience Engagement Lead
Tracie Sempier serves as the resilience engagement lead at Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant. She engages with communities to help them become more resilient and works to decrease negative impacts of... Read more
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