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Education - Case Study
Schools
Glen Abbot has carried out significant work with nursery, primary and secondary schools to assist them in writing their Business Continuity Plans as part of their Local Authority's compliance with the Civil Contingencies Act.
- Templates, (School Continuity Plans) were developed in conjunction with the Local Authority's Education Department for both Primary and Secondary schools
- These plans where developed to cover all the activities required in the event of a major disruption.
- It was recognised that the care and prevention of harm to the pupils is of paramount importance, these templates addressed this requirement first, followed by steps to be taken to restore the teaching environment. One key aspect of safe and successful incident management is the effective pre-planning of documents that will be required and these were identified in conjunction with teaching staff and noted in the plans.
- Strategic decisions where made in consultation with various council departments about indoor muster areas to keep the children warm, dry and safe following an evacuation
- The plans where provided in an easy to understand template format with comprehensive guidance and training for completion. These plans where customised for each Council to reflect any individual requirements.
- Implementation of these plans was achieved by each school being visited by a fully trained Business Continuity consultant from Glen Abbot for a more detailed one-to one walkthrough of the plan and also reflect any individual requirements back to SBC if they where not already are of. This was seen to be the most comprehensive method of delivery both for the schools and the Council
The following are comments received in conjunction with the work undertaken with one local authority.
"The plan templates make it very easy for schools to identify and document the actions required in a variety of situations"
Head of Schools: Primary and Early Years
"By using the templates we have ensured a consistent approach across the authority"
"The template method has supported head teachers in meeting their requirements with minimal impact on their heavy workloads"
University
An exercise was recently delivered to a university in Glasgow consisting of about 30 students.
The exercise consisted of three scenarios presented through "snapshots" representing specific time frames. The scenario was a hypothetical situation involving the potential outcomes of a pandemic. This exercise was facilitated and observed by Consultants from Glen Abbot and any external inputs where also run by Glen Abbot.
It gave students the opportunity to review the scenario followed by a facilitated discussion period. The intent of the discussion was to foster interaction and coordination among the members present.
This ensured that better understanding of the roles and responsibilities of the team managing the business response to the pandemic and also gave students a very realistic insight into real command and control of an incident using BCP.
Other areas covered included
- Identify internal & external notification protocols and pathways.
- Identify if and how additional resources (people, equipment, etc.) will be activated, deployed and controlled throughout the incident
- Evaluate the robustness of the Pandemic Plan, identify gaps (if any) and develop action plans to address the gaps.
- Validate the ability to maintain a seamless relationship between crucial business processes.
Another realistic aspect included was a Media Response, where the participants where given guidance and than advised to prepare a media press conference and be prepared from questions from the media.
This exercise as last year was well received and from the reaction of many students it again posed to be a real eye-opener to many of them and what is to be expected in the business world.
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