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New Civil Contingencies professional development standard recognizes Business Continuity

26 January 2009

The level of expertise required of Civil Contingencies response teams across local and national government, the emergency services, commercial organisations, utilities and the voluntary sector, continues to rise across the UK. More is expected of emergency services and others who work in these areas. Skills for Justice (the sector skills council covering all employers, employees and volunteers working in the UK justice system) has responded to a perceived lack of skills in this area by setting up some new National Occupational Standards. These are practically based continuing professional development qualifications for employees of all types, to support Civil Contingencies activities.

National Occupational Standards (NOS)

NOS describe competent performance in terms of outcomes. They are a tool for managing a highly skilled workforce and can be used to support individual and organisational development and quality assurance at all levels. They provide benchmarks of good practice across the UK. As such they tailor well with the formal national Standards such as BS 25999 parts 1 and 2 as well as other assurance based management systems style standards such as BS ISO 9001 and BS ISO 14001 for quality and environmental management systems.

The new NOS for Civil Contingencies may be relevant to more than just category 1 and 2 responders who include police, fire and rescue services, health bodies, local authorities, environment bodies, utilities, transport, oil and chemical industries, and security providers as well as not-for-profit agencies. They are also relevant to individuals and organisations that have a role in civil protection such as those involved in consultancy, communications and business management.

Some 18 new NOS have been developed to describe the core functions for preparing for, responding to and assisting recovery from emergencies. They are listed below along with a short statement for the first seven about who might benefit from taking these standards. Many TalkingBusinessContinuity.com readers will certainly find themselves amongst the target audience.

CC AA1

Work in co-operation with other organisations for those who work with people from other organisations in planning for, responding to, or assisting recovery from emergencies

CC AA2

Share information with other organisations for those who work in co-operation with other organisations

CC AA3

Manage information to support civil protection decision making for those who identify, interpret and communicate information to support decision making in civil protection

CC AB1

Anticipate and assess the risk of emergencies for those with specific responsibility for risk assessments covering a locality or localities, sector or organisation, including practitioners who advise local responders

CC AC1

Develop, maintain and evaluate emergency plans and arrangements is recommended for those who are involved in developing, maintaining and evaluating emergency plans and arrangements

CC AD1

Develop, maintain and evaluate business continuity plans and arrangements is recommended for those who are involved in developing, maintaining and evaluating business continuity plans and arrangements. This includes managers in organisations and those with specific responsibility for co-ordinating business continuity arrangements.

CC AD2

Promote business continuity management for those who provide advice and assistance on business continuity management to other organisations and the wider community, including the public, private and voluntary sector

CC AE1

Create exercises to practice or validate emergency or business continuity arrangements

CC AE2

Direct and facilitate exercises to practice or validate emergency or business continuity arrangements

CC AE3

Conduct debriefing after an emergency, exercise or other activity

CC AF1

Raise awareness of the risk, potential impact and arrangements in place for emergencies

CC AF2

Warn, inform and advise the community in the event of emergencies

CC AG1

Respond to emergencies at the strategic (gold) level

CC AG2

Respond to emergencies at the tactical (silver) level

CC AG3

Respond to emergencies at the operational (bronze) level

CC AG4

Address the needs of individuals during the initial response to emergencies

CC AH1

Provide on-going support to meet the needs of individuals affected by emergencies

CC AH2

Manage community recovery from emergencies

One of the key pieces of knowledge and understanding required for each of these units is that you are aware of and understand current legislation, guidance and standards relevant to business continuity management. For those of you working with BS 25999 it may be worth the time to look into these qualifications.

For more information contact Julie Benson at julie.benson@skillsforjustice.com and look at further details on the website www.skillsforjustice.com

Photo source: Shropshire Fire and Rescue Service