Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
or relocating personnel to continuity facilities, existing facilities, or virtual offices.
Continuity personnel should be provided supplemental training and guidance on
relocation procedures.
A major section of your plan revolves around the concept of identifying an
alternate facility or backup location for each of your primary facilities. Imagine if
your workspace or building was unusable due to an event. Your organization would
be confronted with many immediate questions, including
◾
Where do we relocate our operations; what facility?
◾
What do we need in place at that alternate facility?
◾
What items are already at the alternate facility?
◾
What other items do we need to bring, and in what quantities?
Every organization has different needs and requirements to operate; therefore, they
need to think these questions through for themselves. An organization should dis-
cuss and decide upon as many of these questions as possible ahead of an event to
ensure that relocation to a new facility is accomplished as efficiently as possible.
An organization should try to identify at least two alternate facility choices for
each its primary facilities. The first choice facility should be a facility close to the
primary facility and easily accessible assuming a small-scale disruption that only
impacts the single building or work area (fire, pipe burst, mold in the walls, etc.).
The second choice facility should be on a regional level and should assume a large-
scale event has impacted the surrounding area (tornado, hurricane, earthquake,
etc.).
For each alternate facility, it is important to provide specific details about the
facility, including the resources that are located at this location versus the resources
that would need to be transported to this location to continue operations. Resources
to identify might include computers, communication equipment, office furniture,
emergency supplies, and any other amenities the organization relies upon to oper-
ate. Table 3.4 is an example of how to identify and list the requirements of an alter-
nate facility, including a detailed list of items that are prepositioned at the alternate
facility in addition to the extra items that need to be transported to the facility for
operations.
In many instances, organizations have a difficult time identifying a specific
facility ahead of time that would be available for relocation. The fact is that there
usually is no empty working space just waiting around for people to move into.
This fact should not deter an organization from moving forward with its plan-
ning efforts. In this case, it is recommended to address a facility as “to be deter-
mined.” With this approach, an organization does not immediately have to be able
to identify a specific location to relocate, but can at least begin the discussion about
the specific types and number of resources needed for operations. Once a list of
resources is developed, the planning team should then have a better understanding
of the type and size of location its organization would require for operations.
