Annual Business Continuity Training Exercise

Annual Business Continuity Training
Exercise
Aims of Today

1. Test the effectiveness of the plan and identify any gaps
2. Be familiar with the latest version of the plan and practice
our response to a crisis
3. Practise and develop a consistent approach to initial
assessment

www.northwardshousing.co.uk

It’s February, 5pm on Friday. You left work
half and hour ago and you have just taken a
call from one of the retirement scheme
managers. There has been a power cut
across the whole of north Manchester.

1.
1. Is it a business continuity incident? Yes or No?
Is it a business continuity incident? Yes or No?
2.
2. How did you go about reaching your decision?
How did you go about reaching your decision?


You have just received a call from a manager
at the Customer Service Centre. There has
been a serious house fire. 5 people have
been seriously injured and taken to hospital.
There is a suggestion that it has something to
do with faulty wiring. There is a current
rewiring programme in the area.

1.
2.


You have just been advised via a manager in
the Home Improvement Team that a
contractor has lost a USB stick. It is believed
that the content included personal data for
several schemes that have just started on
site.

1.
2.


A tenant board member has just emailed
you. It’s Mid July, a blazing hot summer and
1000 homes in the area have had no water
supply since 6.00am. The reason is unknown.
It is now 9.30am. United Utilities hope to
provide an update in approximately 4 hours.

1.
2.


You’re eating your Rice Krispies watching BBC
Breakfast when you hear about a major fire
overnight in the city centre. All offices and
retail outlets in the Piccadilly area of the city
are affected, including the Daisy Data Centre
where our file servers are hosted. Police have
cordoned off a large area.

1.
2.


Mrs Jones, a tenant had just phoned the
office to express her condolences. She
sounds upset. Whilst out shopping near
Manchester Fort she witnessed her
Neighbourhood Housing Officer being taken
into the back of an ambulance following a
serious road accident – she looked to be in a
very bad way and the car was on its roof.
1.
2.


There has been an attempted robbery at the
White Moss Rd Housing Office. A masked
man threatened staff and assaulted one of
them causing injury. The man managed to
escape with a small amount of cash. An
ambulance has arrived. The staff are very
distressed.

1.
2.


The local housing manager has been
contacted by the police who advise that an
adult, believed to be a Caretaker, has fallen
from the top of a multi storey block and been
killed. They have asked if someone can
attend the scene to give them access to the
Caretakers office and accommodation.

1.
2.


You have just been informed by MWL that
their staff are planning a series of one day
strikes over the next six weeks starting next
week.

1.
2.


You’re watching the evening news. It’s
pleasing to note that following the gloriously
hot weather over the last few weeks, it’s set
to continue with a mini heat wave and a
minimum temperature of 340C

1.
2.


comfort break


Tuesday lunchtime at the Cheetham Hill Rd
Office. It’s 1.15pm and Miss Scarlet the NHO
was expected back from her home visits 1:45
mins ago. A colleague has tried to call her but
her phone appears to be dead.

Consider your next course of action


You are the local neighbourhood housing manager and
Mr Cool comes to see you. He is rather agitated because
he can’t find an ASB case file he’s been working on. The
last time he recalls seeing it was yesterday when he took
several documents from it during a home visit to
interview a witness. You attempt to clarify what exactly
is missing. It appears to be a confidential statement
from a complainant called Ms Confident, about the ASB
her family has been suffering from a local resident Mr
Nasty.



Mr Cool tells you that after his home visit
yesterday he called at the petrol station and left
the file on the passenger seat of his car. When
he returned from paying the cashier he noticed
the file had been opened and the papers had
moved. He’d left his window open and assumed
the wind had just blown the papers around a bit.

Meanwhile there is still no sign of Miss Scarlet



Mr Jelly the NHO has just returned from the
sandwich shop where he bumped into Miss
Scarlet. She got delayed on her last visit caught
up in a rather tricky domestic abuse case when
the alleged perpetrator returned home. She
couldn’t say anything else as there was a shop
full of customers.



The police have called to speak to you to report that a
statement containing confidential information has been
handed in to them by a member of the public. It has Mr
Cool’s name on it as well as someone called Ms
Confident.
Whilst on the phone a member of the team is signalling
to you that someone from the communications team is
on the phone about an enquiry they’ve received from
the MEN concerning personal information that appears
to have been found on the forecourt of a petrol station.



A loud gunshot is heard outside the office and
you look out of your window to see Miss Scarlet
lying on the pavement. A man, who you think
you recognise as Mr Nasty, is kneeling down
beside her before running off down the high
street.



Ms Scarlet has been shot in the leg. She is
waiting for the ambulance to arrive. She is
disorientated and in a lot of pain. You see a
note that is falling out of her jacket and pick it
up to read it. It says,

“You’re all going to pay for this Northwards
Scum! Watch your back, I’m going to take you
out one by one”



15 minutes later the main reception at Hexagon
Tower telephones floor 6 to say there is a man in
reception. Is it okay to send him up? The
receptionist on floor 6 agrees and Mr Nasty
makes his way to floor 6.



As he exists the lift on floor 6, Mr Nasty comes face to
face with Mr Lazy from the White Moss Rd Office,
someone he knows from when he used to live on the
Dam Head estate. He pulls out his gun but Mr Lazy
reacts quickly and pushes Mr Nasty out of the way. The
gun goes off and the bullet hits the door shattering glass
all over. Mr Nasty appears to panic and makes off down
the stairwell.
On floor 6 panic sets in as it emerges there has been a
shooting.



On his way down the stairs Mr Nasty meets one
of the building managers. He quickly pushes
them, threatens the manager with the gun and
runs out into the main reception area where he
proceeds through the doors down towards the
gym. The receptionist unsure what to do decides
to activate the fire alarm to evacuate the
building. People start filing down the stairs on
to the car park. The police arrive.



Mr Nasty is seen outside the White Moss Rd
office.

Later that day the MEN run a story on how
confidential information was found on a garage
forecourt and is believed to be connected to
several shootings. There was no one available
from Northwards for comment.



It is now the following day. Mr Nasty is still at
large. An number of staff are shocked and
traumatised by yesterday’s events and several
have failed to show for work today. At
Cheetham the staff are too frightened to do any
work away from the office.



Almost a week later and staff from other parts
of the organisation are starting to ask questions
about their own safety and whether it is safe to
be seen wearing a Northwards jacket and
whether in fact the offices should be open at all.
The Trade Unions demand an urgent meeting.



Feedback and lessons learned

THE END OF THE EXERCISE


Annual Business Continuity Training Exercise

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