Clarifying Emergency Response and Business Continuity

Imagine the following:

You are sitting in your office when you hear the fire alarm go off . You sigh, look around to see if anyone else is leaving , log out of your computer, and head toward the exit. Once outside, you see the problem: smoke is streaming from an upper office window. People on the sidewalk are taking photos, messaging family members and offering reassurance that they are ok. The fire department has pulled up and ambulances arrive to assist the wounded. It takes an hour for the fire to be located and put out, the building is cleared and the injured are taken to the hospital. It is obvious that no one is going back inside to work today. The question is, what happens tomorrow? Or the next day? What about next week?

A lot of businesses have trouble sorting out the difference between Emergency Response and Business Continuity response when an incident occurs. This is why organizations should plan in advance to:

• Identify and understand the difference,
• Know what emergency response services expect of them, and
• Be able to explain the steps taken to stakeholders.

Emergency Response vs Business Continuity

In a nutshell, Emergency Response focuses on the safety and protection of life, assets, and the environment. On the other hand, Business Continuity response focuses on continuing the critical operations of the business until it can return back to normal. Many organizations use an Incident Flow Chart, similar to the one shown below, to help them through the Emergency Response steps and decide whether or not to activate their Business Continuity Plan (BCP).

*ERMT = Emergency Response Management Team

Emergency Response steps are all of the steps that take place from the time the incident occurs up to the point where the ERMT chooses to declare a disaster (the second diamond shape in image above). Only when a disaster is declared can the BCP be activated.

Declaring a Disaster

Some organizations might choose to declare immediately given the extent of the damage that is evident. Others might wait for 24 hours to gather more information before making this decision. Regardless of when that decision occurs, there should be a previously identified standard that describes the guidelines for choosing to activate, or not activate, the BCP. It is important to remember that while Emergency Response and Business Continuity are two different things, it is possible that some Emergency Response steps will be carried out at the same time as some Business Continuity steps, depending on the incident.

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If you found this post helpful, you may also want to read about the difference
between Business Continuity and Disaster Recovery. To see all three (Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery and Emergency Response) compared/contrasted in one post, check out our "Emergency Response (ERP), Disaster Recovery (DRP) and Business Continuity (BCP) are not the same thing." post.