Disaster Due Diligence July 30, 2010
Is your business ready?
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Natural disasters
HEADLINE: Chicago area recovering after flooding
SUMMARY: Torrential downpours last weekend flooded Chicago’s 43 viaducts and caused widespread damage throughout the region. Several cities and towns declared themselves disaster areas to receive additional help from the state. The near-record rainfall forced the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District to discharge sewer water into Lake Michigan at the Chicago River locks and the Wilmette pumping station, leading to a swimming ban at Chicago-area beaches.
STORY LINK: http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2010-07-25/news/ct-met-0726-flooding-20100725_1_chicago-river-disaster-areas-flooding
ANALYSIS: More people die from floods than any other disaster. The flooding in Iowa a few years ago resulted in 800 businesses closing and never reopening.
We seem to be continually surprised by floods despite the fact these are recurring events -- annually in many places. Flooding impacts businesses, their employees, customers and suppliers. Do any of your employees live in flood-prone areas? Are any of your critical suppliers in flood-prone areas? Have you asked? Why not?
Disaster denial is an inappropriate behavioral response to disasters and fear. We tend to dismiss or minimize these types of events. As managers, we have a responsibility to indentify vulnerabilities and develop plans to mitigate their impacts. Have you planned for the threat of flooding to your business?
--Jim Satterfield, Firestorm President/COO
HEADLINE: Power outages hit DC area after storms; 2 dead
SUMMARY: Powerful storms barreled through the nation's capital and surrounding areas on Sunday, killing two people and downing power lines and countless trees. At one point, about a quarter-million customers were without power. A utility spokesman said that not only were power lines down, but electric poles were broken and numerous transformers damaged. Outages also affected transportation, as numerous traffic signals were out throughout the region and more than a dozen Metro rail stations lacked power, the transit agency said.
STORY LINK: http://www.businessweek.com/ap/financialnews/D9H6PMM80.htm
ANALYSIS: In a matter of seconds a city or region can go back in time over a hundred years. Electric power drives every business and home. We take it for granted.
Storms, grid failure and solar flares can have immediate impacts. You and your business are vulnerable. What happens if you have no electricity? What is your plan? What happens if lasts a few hours or a few days? What would be the impact on your business?
What can you do? How do will you communicate? How will you get your business back up and running? What do you need to do first?
Your business and employees will lose power at some point. It is just a matter of when and for how long. How long can you survive without power, employees, customers or cash flow? Are you ready?
Cyber security/privacy
HEADLINE: Employees Flout Social Network Security Policies
SUMMARY: Despite efforts by many organizations to prevent employees from accessing social networking sites on company time, about 50 percent log onto these sites at least once a week, according to new research from Cisco. Many admit ignoring corporate policies banning the use of social media tools, and more than a quarter said they change the settings on business devices to access prohibited applications. While the lure of social networks proves too strong for many employees to overcome, cybercriminals also target users of these sites as a way to enter corporate networks.
STORY LINK: http://www.informationweek.com/news/security/vulnerabilities/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=226200128&subSection=News
ANALYSIS: As new social media tools are introduced and evolve, they have become accepted as a “standard” way individuals communicate with their social and business associates. Many businesses fully utilize the power of social media to communicate corporate messages, promotion and brand identity, especially when targeting products and services to individuals within the demographic profile most likely to use these same tools.
As the boundaries between personal and business computing waver, more and more individuals will use social networking and their associated computing devices throughout the workday. As a result, companies run a higher risk of security breach, brand exposure and overall compromise of their ability to conduct business on a daily basis. Can this, or should this, be controlled? That is a question that is becoming more and more of a debate; do we limit an employee’s routine daily interaction with friends and family? Should we lock down our networks in such a way that only approved devices can be used? Do we monitor an employee’s every keystroke to determine who they are communicating with and when they are doing so? If companies allow employees to use the telephone to communicate, why shouldn’t they allow a text message?
Corporations need to create comprehensive policies directed toward social media, as well as the devices used. They must make these policies known during the orientation process and spend time reviewing and training on them. Companies have the responsibility to make employees aware of the penalties for not following these policies and enforce them as required.
At the same time, businesses should be adopting ways of combating security holes that present themselves with increased usage of non-approved devices. Policing the workforce should not be the primary responsibility of an IT department or security team. Rather, adapting to this shift in culture that has become so prevalent by putting more intelligent security protocols in place would be a more cost effective and productive solution.
Health matters
HEADLINE: Experts hint at C. difficile link to food
SUMMARY: Two articles this month point to the prevalence of food tainted with Clostridium difficile bacteria. Researchers from the CDC report how food contamination could be related to the emergence of cases of illness caused by C. difficile bacteria circulating in the community. “Some of the C. difficle strains most commonly identified in food animals appear to be emerging as causes of disease in humans,” they write, “especially among humans with community associated C. difficile infections.” People typically pick up infections with C. difficile while in hospital. Another report speculates that changes in the way antibiotics are used in farm animals have led to an increase in the presence of C. difficile, making an overlap between animals and people much more likely.
STORY LINK: http://www.eht-forum.org/news.html?fileId=news100722083052&from=news&find=org.fghp.beans.NewsBean@4c668473&index=0&itemsPerPage=100000&id=0&tw=T&lw=T&tm=&ac=&dispatch=executeNews
ANALYSIS: Advances in public health and medicine over the past century have produced remarkable decreases in disease and increases in life expectancy. Yet, emerging diseases continue to threaten mankind. Tracking the increase in C. difficile infections and the source of that increase involves all the investigative prowess of an “NCIS” episode, even if these investigators toil in relative obscurity compared to their more glamorous television counterparts. C. difficile is a bacterium found naturally in humans that can becomes a problem when the “healthy” bacteria that normally counters it is disrupted, such as during treatment in a hospital.
How does this relate to a Culture of Preparedness, resiliency and continuity of operations? Regardless of how much we anticipate, it is impossible to prepare for every eventuality. Disasters, by their very definition, befall us by exceeding our ability to prepare. Despite this, only a fatalist would place his or her future in the hands of unguided fate. Much like we teach our children to look both ways before crossing the street, people, families, businesses, and communities can assess vulnerability, reduce exposure to risk and optimize the ability to recover from the unexpected.
The sad truth is preparedness almost always resides on the “I’ll get to it one day” list. Are your important personal documents in a place that is both safe and from which you can move them at a moment’s notice? Are your employees cross-trained and do they know what to do in a crisis? If your answer is anything but a resounding “yes”, you are a tragic story waiting to be told. The investment in preparedness may seem an annoyance, but is can be the most important outlay you ever make. When it comes to anticipating a safe and secure future, the relevant question was posed by no other then Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry: “Do I feel lucky?”
--Dr. Don Donahue, Director, Firestorm Healthcare Response Team
HEADLINE: Growing outbreaks of whooping cough raise health fears
SUMMARY: Public health officials fear that sporadic vaccination practices may be contributing to the rising number of cases of pertussis, which has infected 1,500 and killed six children in California and also has been reported in Idaho, Texas, South Carolina and Michigan. In some communities, parents have refused recommended vaccinations, often because they fear complications from the shots. That breaches what’s known as "herd immunity," the necessary level of protection that keeps disease from spreading to vulnerable sectors of the population.
STORY LINK: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38447752/ns/health-infectious_diseases/
ANALYSIS: In a recurring theme often examined in these pages, the emotional apprehension regarding vaccination appears to be overcoming the historic benefit of immunization. As with any medication, there is always a remote possibility of an adverse reaction following an immunization. Parents whose children have succumbed to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS), have been diagnosed with autism, or have suffered from any number of infirmities have associated those tragedies with immunizations, sometimes administered shortly prior to the tragic event.
There is, however, no credible evidence that these events – sad as they may be – are directly related to the vaccination, occur at a greater rate than in the general population, or are not a result of other factors. Conversely, six children dead from 1,500 sickened is a clearly enumerated and entirely preventable matter.
Whether considering building in a flood plain, deciding to immunize your children, or contemplating investing in emergency preparedness services for a business or community, conducting an honest and unbiased risk assessment is the first step toward enlightened decision making, a process that can result in a literal life-or-death decision. It is profoundly tragic that six innocent lives could be lost to a preventable disease. It is an individual and organizational query: Am I assuming needless risk by not taking precautions? Sadly, the answer often arrives in the form of heartbreak.
Infrastructure failure
HEADLINE: Experts worry about increase in deficient U.S. dams
SUMMARY: An 88-year-old dam at northeast Iowa's Lake Delhi gave way this weekend amid warnings from experts about potentially catastrophic consequences involving thousands of aging U.S. dams. The American Society of Civil Engineers, in a report on infrastructure last year, gave a "D" to the nation's system of 85,000 dams. The average dam is 51 years old, and more than 4,000 are deemed deficient, including some 1,800 that could potentially cause a loss of life if they failed. One of the worries is that new development is occurring below many dams, dramatically increasing the consequences of failure.
STORY LINK: http://www.desmoinesregister.com/article/20100727/NEWS10/7270358/-1/WATCHDOG/Experts-worry-about-increase-in-deficient-U.S.-dams
ANALYSIS: Only some fine wines improve with age. More than 40,000 dams are over 50 years old. We are experiencing are period of increased flooding and increasing exposure to these dams. Local and state governments are under increased financial pressures. These financial difficulties impact monitoring and needed repairs. This is a time bomb waiting to explode. If you knew there were over 1,800 imminent terrorist attacks, what would you do?
We are all on notice that thousands of dams are at high risk. Do you know if there are nearby dams that could impact your business, disrupt local travel, or place your employees at peril? What is your plan? Time is not on your side.
There are many types of vulnerabilities that impact businesses. Have you identified all that are likely to impact your business? Do you have a monitoring plan for each? Have you identified the triggers to activate your plans? Have you tested your plans?
Preparedness groups
Join Firestorm’s LinkedIn groups and help build a Culture of Preparedness for your family and organization:
DISASTER READY PEOPLE: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1914314&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
WORKPLACE VIOLENCE: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1898572&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
COMMUNICABLE ILLNESS: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1899278&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
SWINE FLU: http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=1921222&trk=myg_ugrp_ovr
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