By S. S. Suarez
It was a scene from the movie Contagion which I was watching the other day over HBO channel. The plot of Contagion documents the spread of a virus transmitted by fomites, attempts by medical researchers and public health officials to identify and contain the disease, the loss of social order in a pandemic, and finally the introduction of a vaccine to halt its spread. Unlike influenza epidemics, which occur seasonally and result in an average of 36,000 deaths in the U.S. each year, influenza pandemics (global epidemics) occur sporadically, and have the potential to result in hundreds of thousands of deaths nationally over the course of one year.
According to Wikipedia, a fomite is any inanimate object or substance capable of carrying infectious organisms, such as germs or parasites, and hence transferring them from one individual to another. Skin cells, hair, clothing, and bedding are common hospital sources of contamination. Fomites are associated particularly with hospital acquired infections (HAI), as they are possible routes to pass pathogens between patients. Stethoscopes and neckties are two such fomites associated with health care providers. Basic hospital equipment, such as IV drip tubes, catheters, and life support equipment can also be carriers, when the pathogens form biofilms on the surfaces. Careful sterilization of such objects prevents cross-infection.
Then it hit me. What if such scene will actually happen today or tomorrow? Are we ready for such kind of disaster? Nowadays, companies have become more conscious in preparing for disasters. The scientific approach for disaster risk reduction is related to business continuity. In my Google searches, “Business continuity management is defined as ensuring the continuity or uninterrupted provision of operations and services. Business continuity management is an ongoing process with several different but complementary elements, including disaster recovery, business recovery, business resumption, contingency planning, and crisis management.”
Business continuity is the activity performed by an organization to ensure that critical business functions will be available to customers, suppliers, regulators, and other entities that must have access to those functions. These activities include many daily chores such as project management, system backups, change control, and help desk. Business Continuity is not something implemented at the time of a disaster; Business Continuity refers to those activities performed daily to maintain service, consistency, and recoverability.
The foundation of Business Continuity are the policies, guidelines, standards, and procedures implemented by an organization. All system design, implementation, support, and maintenance must be based on this foundation in order to have any hope of achieving Business Continuity, Disaster Recovery, or in some cases, system support. Business continuity is sometimes confused with disaster recovery, but they are separate entities. Disaster recovery is a small subset of business continuity.
In my next issue, I’ll be sharing the components of the Business Continuity methodology. The components will guide us on how to set up your BCM and be ready for disasters like a pandemic flu.
