Disaster Recovery Journal, Fall 2009

nCRISIS MANAGEMENT

Planning for Senior Executive Mishaps that Affect the Corporation

By WILL GUNTHER

Every business conti- nuity manager devel- ops contingency plans for fires, floods, earthquakes and other disasters. The focus of these plans is to protect life, limit damage, and maintain business functions.

One of the most overlooked concerns is that of a critical person becoming ill or missing while visiting remote or austere regions of the world. Traffic accidents, falls, heart attacks and other illnesses are far more common than major catastrophes but are often overlooked. Of course there are the more notable but less common instances of corporate kidnapping or aircraft accidents like the disappearance of American businessman and adventurer Steve Fossett in 2008.

As a business continuity professional, one must be aware of the nature of travel used by senior executives. This will assist in determining the types of locating devices and flight plans filed by the pilots. Fossett owned and operated the plane he was flying. His plane had an emergency locator transmitter (ELT) but no signal was received.

Senior executives should be encouraged to maintain their own personal

40 DISASTER RECOVERY JOURNAL FALL 2009

locator beacon (PLB) that transmits a satellite signal to identify the registered owner’s whereabouts. Some of the latest models also transmit a GPS location. These devices can be manually activated by the owner or anyone else (such as the security detail) in the event of a serious incident. Once the signal is received by the satellite, the satellite company contacts the number provided by the registered PLB owner. This would allow corporate executives to begin the emergency response process and make the necessary critical decisions. A PLB could be effective in locating a kidnapping victim as well.

The time and cost necessary to recruit and hire key personnel often is very long and very expensive. However, both of these issues pale in comparison to the potential financial cost and loss of reputation because share holders lose confidence in the company’s profitability due to the unknown whereabouts or health condition of critical personnel. In these situations, there can not be the slightest appearance of a lack of business continuity planning. The following recommendations can help limit this potential disaster.

In general, we think of maintaining communications to mean a cellular phone,

pager and a good contact number at the hotel when key personnel are traveling. However, in times of disaster these methods of communication don’t always work. It is a good idea to maintain a satellite phone that may be used from anywhere in the world. In addition to just having the phone, dialing instructions should be maintained at the office and with the user. These instructions should clearly explain how to use the phone in various locations in the world and vice versa.

In addition to disasters and other emergencies it is good to keep a satellite phone when traveling to less-developed nations. For example, sometimes in West African countries, the phone system will go down for hours.

If a senior decision maker is out of the communications loop that long, it could mean the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars due to an inability to provide timely decisions on various projects. There are several different satellite phone systems that provide various services, capabilities and coverage. Some phones can even provide the user with their current geographical coordinates or enough bandwidth to use the Internet.