Recent high-profile incidents within prestigious hotels has raised the question ‘Is your business ready to manage the unexpected?’
When a gas explosion ripped through the basement of a luxury 5-star in central London the General Manager recalls ‘the biggest challenge we faced was to accommodate the needs of the 600 guests who were staying with us’.
After evacuating the guests to alternative hotels, a major priority revolved around the large number of people taking medication. Advice from hotel management was to ensure there are arrangements in place with a local pharmacy within your emergency plans.
A major fire broke out at the historic Macdonald Randolph hotel in Oxford. However thanks to the effective emergency plans in place the damages were controlled, the staff and guests managed to efficiently evacuate the building and all the fire doors were quickly closed which prevented the blaze causing further damage. In addition, all guests were accommodated at alternative hotels.
3 steps to develop robust emergency plans for your business
1. Production
Have you ever considered how a fire, an IT system failure or even a terrorist attack might affect your business? The failure to plan could be as disastrous as the event itself.
Your planning process should:
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identify potential crises that might affect your business;
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determine how you intend to minimise the risks of these disasters/ events occurring;
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outline how your organisation will react if a disaster occurs within the business continuity plan
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establish a routine for regular testing of your plans
2. Implementation
When implementing emergency plans consider the probability and consequences of each different crises that could affect your business and who would be involved in this process so you can assemble your emergency teams.
3. Testing
The actions in the first hour after an emergency are critical in minimising the impact of the event. While it is difficult to replicate the scenario of a ‘live’ situation, the familiarity with the plan will increase chances of success in real time. This is why you should test the plan to ensure that it works as intended.
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