Cookie-Cutter Disaster Plans

Dear DR Dan,

Most cookie-cutter disaster plan outlines and presentations focus on tornados, floods, and other major events. My experience is that at least half of the "floods" I've had to deal with were from pipes within the building. Several of the power outages that shut the offices down were electrical problems within the building. Another example was not the classic nearby train tank car derailment, but smoke from a fire across the street that forced our building to be evacuated. Could you share some of these non-cookbook problems that you've seen? How is the preparation for these different from plans for the "big one?"

Lucien Jones. Oklahoma City

Hi Lucien,

As you obviously realize, the problem with cookie-cutter plans is there's no such thing as a cookie-cutter disaster. To your first question, the "non-cookbook" problems we've seen range from the drunk driver who takes out the main power transformer to the janitor who accidently disconnects the primary call center server. My point is that we've seen more unconventional disasters than traditional events you hear about on the 5 o'clock news.

My answer to your second question is simple, but not easy. Your disaster preparation is only as effective as your risk assessment (RA) and business impact analysis (BIA). You must know your vulnerabilities and threats (RA) and their impact (BIA) in order to plan accordingly. Oh yeah, the plan for your company or agency is unque because it has unique risks, based upon geographic location, industry, and your neighbors. "Neighbors" include hazmat caches, transportation routes, potential meth labs, and high-value targets, to name a few.

An effective RA will identify EVERYTHING that can impact your organization, from a nano-second power outage to a smoking hole scenario. That includes risks in 4 realms: physical, technology, personnel, and process.

Following completion of the RA, your BIA prioritizes those risks based on their impact in 3 areas: financial, physical, and psychological. This process helps you identify those risks you should be most concerned about.

Hope this helps...

DR Dan