Bay Bridge Closure and How to Mitigate Workforce Disruptions

Workforce disruptions can be caused by a large number of different events such as strikes, protests, workplace violence, absenteeism due to illness (think pandemics and epidemics like the current H1N1 virus) and even transportation issues.

Typically the impact of these events can be mitigated, but to do so requires planning for the event ahead of time.  Including these types of events in your continuity planning and enterprise resilience will certainly put you ahead of the game when these incidents arise.

In the past I have witnessed several of these types of disruptions in both large and small scales and in many of these cases the businesses that had plans in place fair far better than those that do not.

In the last two months the Bay Bridge has been closed down twice for repairs. The first was a planned shut down during a holiday weekend, but extended due to discoveries of needed repairs. The second occurred after the recent repair job failed.

There are many ways to mitigate the impact from these events ranging from staggered and flexible work hours for employees, making arrangements for key employees to stay in other locations, having some employees work from home, car pools, planned shuttle services, utilization of other transportation services, etc.

Each of these can help your business reduce impacts from these types of events and each of these also presents their own problems which is why you should be planning these things in advance and making them a part of your continuity management programs.

Knowing what you will do in these types of events will also assist you for planing other events that may also cause workforce disruptions. If you are considering creating a plan or would like other solutions to supplement what you are already doing please give us the opportunity to assist you. Visit our site at: Continuity Corporation or give as a call 877-565-8324

Disaster Tip of The Week: Learn How To Treat Water

After a disaster water is both extremely scarce and important to your survival. In some cases you may run low or even completely exhaust your supply of drinking water be things return to normal.

If this is the case you will need to know how to treat any available water before using it to cook, drink or brushing your teeth.

Here are some quick tips for treating water:

1. First, if you can't find clear water or the water is cloudy you should filter the water through clean clothes, towels or other cloth. If nothing is available to filter the water allow the water to settle and draw off clear water for boiling.
2. Next, if possible boil the water for one minute. Then allow it to cool and transfer to clean containers.
3. If you are unable to boil water, you can use house hold bleach (use only regular bleach, do not use scented or color safe bleach, these contain other chemicals that may be harmful) add 8 drops or 1/8 of a teaspoon for each gallon of water to be treated. Let stand for 30 minutes and then transfer to clean containers.

This should cover the basics but if you want more information see the links below which are PDF's from the EPA on the treatment of water.

EMERGENCY DISINFECTION OF DRINKING WATER

Desinfección de Emergencia del Agua Potable

DÉSINFECTION DE SECOURS DE L'EAU POTABLE

Red Cross Survey 1 in 5 Adults Going to Work With H1N1

A recent survey conducted by Caravan Opinion Research Corp. on behalf of the Red Cross, indicates that in one out of every five U.S. households, someone has gone to work or school when they were presumed to be sick with the H1N1 virus.

"People who have the flu should stay home from work or school to help prevent passing the illness on to someone else," Sharon Stanley, chief nurse of the American Red Cross, said in a statement.

"Each of us has the responsibility to be a good neighbor. To help keep others from becoming sick, do your part by washing your hands, sneezing into your arm, using hand sanitizer and staying home when ill."

The survey also shows that woman are taking the risk of becoming ill with the H1N1 virus more seriously than men.

For more see Red Cross Survey.

Flooding of Green River In Washington May Cause Disaster

As we are nearing the rainy season on the Northwest Coast officials are warning that flooding of the Green River located in King County, Seattle, Washington could leave about 800,000 residents without sewage treatment for months. 

County officials fear the river may flood because the Howard Hanson Dam upstream has been weakened, which according to the report may be due to over-development in the area.

China's Cyber warfare Capabilities Highlighted in Report to Congressional Commission

The U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission report which was produced under contract by Northrop Grumman's Information Systems Sector highlights the Cyber warfare capabilities of China.

The report also includes basic information on China's capabilities to conduct other Unconventional Warfare such as EMP (Electromagnetic Pulse) attacks, using kinetic energy weapons against satellites, and its use of Laser dazzling to disable U.S. satellites.

Though the report focuses largely on China's cyber warfare capabilities, it does make the point of how the country plans to use the other means mentioned to dominate information warfare arena.

The report also mentions the collaboration between China's military and the private black-hat hacker community. This is not the first time this relationship has been written about as other reports have made mention of this relationship, and have spoken about how the Chinese hacking community feels that it is their duty to help wage this unconditional warfare.

According to the report here are some of the actual attacks through cyber warfare that have been conducted in recent years:

• In May 1998, anti-Chinese riots in Indonesia sparked a series of Chinese hacker attacks on multiple Indonesian Websites.
• Following the accidental bombing of the PRC embassy in Serbia in May 1999,
  Chinese hackers mounted their first large scale attack on the White House led
  by the group Javaphile according to one of its founding members, who uses
  the “screen name” CoolSwallow.
• The 1999 comments by then Taiwan President Lee Teng-hui that Taiwan
  deserved to be treated as an equal state by the PRC catalyzed massive PRC
  hacker attacks on the Taiwan National Assembly, Presidential Executive Office
  and many additional government Websites, according to Western press
  reports of the exchange.
• In May 2001, the Honker Union of China claimed that it had attacked over
  1,000 US Websites—approximately the same number that US hackers
  claimed they attacked in the PRC—following the collision between a US EP-3
  surveillance aircraft and a Chinese fighter.
• In 2001, following a large scale denial of service attack against the White
  House, the People’s Daily, the official newspaper of the Communist Party,
  issued an editorial in its online edition that decried the Chinese attacks as
  “Web terrorism,” and said that the attacks by the Honker Union of China on US
  Websites were “unforgivable acts violating the law," effectively withdrawing
  Beijing’s tacit and explicit support from the hacker groups’ campaigns.