A contingency plan is the actions that an organization would take to ensure its business continuity in a crisis.
It applies to any business organization. For example, Governments apply it to prepare disasters recovery and big economic crisis.
In short, It is preparation to rough times.
3 major aspects a contingency plan must include
Define the greatest risks to a business continuity
- What is your business-critical operations and resources?. Those are the resources the business can’t operate without.
- What the risks and the threats to these resources?
- What are priority functions to keep running during the crisis?
Preventive steps
- What policies and procedures to prevent a crisis?
- Who is part of the plan and what is the role of each one?
Response to a crisis and recovery plan
- Identify the procedures and the protocols to maintain critical functions and minimize losses
- Evaluate the new situation and mitigate collateral fallout. Then,
- Focus on back to normal situation
Is it necessary to have a contingency plan?
A contingency plan has a tiny probability to happen. As a result, many would not see the urgency to have one. But without one, a business is at risk. It’s like an insurance, it is never useful until the accident occurs.
A contingency plan is a proactive strategy to be well prepared for unplanned situation. So, it is a preparation of what may come. A response of a what if question.
Physical Security and contingency plan
The crisis situation could be a natural disaster, or a human made. For example, fire, hurricane, terrorist attack, cyber-attack…
The security staff is the key in all steps of the contingency plan. Starting from preventing policies to the crisis management. In addition, It is up to the security department to implement security protocols to prevent risks. It is also their duty to educate the organization staff on security behavior. Evacuation procedures are also security department tasks.
What are the benefits
- Better preparation for the worst and better flexibility
- Quick reactions and quick recovery
- Minimize losses
- Prevent panic
