Posted: October 13th, 2022

Technology

Computer Sciences and Information Technology
An explosion has occurred at a chemical plant two miles from the . Local news media are reporting that an undetermined number of the chemical company’s employees have been injured or killed, and officials are trying to determine to what extent deadly toxins may have been released into the air. No one is sure yet, who or what caused the blast.

Area hospitals are crowded with people reporting breathing difficulties, and public health officials are encouraging people all over the city to “shelter in place” as a precaution.

is currently upwind of the explosion. management needs to decide what to tell its employees to do but isn’t sure whether it has the legal right to tell people not to leave. People are speculating that terrorists caused the explosion. Employees begin to send text messages of a similar nature to colleagues in other districts, family and some to external media sources.

After approximately 25 minutes in discussions with legal counsel, management tells employees not to leave the building, but many do anyway, saying that they don’t trust what they’re hearing and that they need to get home and take care of their families.

Several employees are attending to a Procurement and Contract Specialist who appears to have collapsed, the reason for his collapse and his immediate condition are unknown. None of the attending employees have medical training or experience.

News media begin texting employees looking for inside “scoop” as to reaction and internal “situation.” The Vice Chair of the Board is calling wishing to immediately speak with president. She wants an update and status as to the local conditions, employee safety and what actions will be taking.

IT operations management is awaiting a decision whether to declare a disaster and to move forward with its continuity plan, which involves in part, ceasing local operations and moving essential recovery personnel and services to an alternate site.

The security guards at the front door also want to know what to tell people on the street who want to take shelter in the company’s lobby. The cafeteria reports that it has already sold out of lunches, water and that some personnel are bullying others in order to obtain foodstuffs.

In answering this week’s discussion question, prepare your response to the following questions related to the above scenario:

Using YOUR COMPANY as the basis for developing your response, what actions are detailed in your company’s current incident/disaster management plan, to address this scenario?
If this had been an actual scenario unfolding at your company, be honest, would your company and its personnel have been able to respond in a quick, safe and thorough manner?
Based on a scale of 1 (woefully unprepared) to 5 (primed for any event) rate your organization’s disaster continuity/business interruption preparedness. Provide an explanation for your rating.

Please be sure to provide your response via the proper thread under the discussion question link for this chapter. Please do not submit your reply via email, use only the thread provided by Canvas to submit your responses.
Technology
The company’s current incident/disaster management plan gives actions that need to be followed to address the scenario. As a basis for responding to the scenario, an off-site incident plan should implement led by the emergency coordinating officer in commanding the off-site activities. Detecting and alerting all the company members about the incident through the creation of an incident ticket, documentation of the initial findings, and classification of the initial incident. Raising the alarm and notifying the local management. The incident plan also advises evacuation from the local area in an effort to avert further effects from the airborne chemicals.
Actions are required to focus on understanding the scope of the disaster at hand. In the scenario, in preventing the further spread of anything airborne chemicals, all windows and doors should be closed and contained where possible. Clear information should be obtained about the incident and the threat that the company employees face. The incident of several employees collapsing should be understanding through further investigation of the cause of the collapse and their immediate condition.
If it had been an actual scenario unfolding at the company, the company and the personnel would have responded in a quick, safe and thorough manner. The company current incident/disaster management plan covers and provides actions that should be taken in many types of incident and detailed actions for practical response. Based on a scale of 1 to 5, the organization’s disaster continuity/business interruption preparedness can be rated 4. There is an excellent disaster continuity and business interruption preparedness as stipulated by the disaster management plan, however, the employee’s preparedness and mental strength would be poor in handling the disaster continuity preparations.
References
Oloruntoba, R., Sridharan, R., & Davison, G. (2018). A proposed framework of key activities and processes in the preparedness and recovery phases of disaster management. Disasters, 42(3), 541-570.
Timms, P. (2018). Business continuity and disaster recovery–advice for best practice. Network Security, 2018(11), 13-14.