Blog Archive

This is part 2 of last week’s bulletin, discussing the dire impacts of a cyber attack on healthcare services. Communications Communications are incredibly important in a healthcare setting, especially as they are looking after many patients. Any incident, changes, or location swap affecting the patients must be rapidly communicated to the patient’s loved ones or

After conducting cyber incident exercises in a hospital this week, Charlie is sharing his key take aways and research, looking specifically at healthcare organisations. Earlier this week at PlanB Consulting, my colleagues and I wrote and then delivered two exercises for a hospital in the UK. We delivered the first exercise for the Gold Team

This week, Charlie talks about operational resilience in today’s world and why it is important to become resilient in order to survive. I believe right now there has never been a more important time for organisations to be resilient. The certainties of the last 10 years are shifting like sand under us. Interest rates are

In the age of camera phones and social media, it has become harder for public figures to hide from the public eye. Charlie discusses how two different Prime Ministers handled leaked pictures from a crisis communications angle, and what lessons BC professionals can learn from this. I have been following the story of Finnish Prime

If you’re thinking about buying software for your business continuity roll out, this bulletin discusses what you have to be aware of and be ready to deal with before you make the plunge. I am a great fan of business continuity software, I love how your whole BCMS is in one place, you are able

This week, Charlie discusses the evidence behind cyber attacks indirectly causing the death and injury of people. Also, the importance of exercises to train employees on how to work efficiently during a cyber attack. This week there was a cyber attack on NHS 111, with the hackers targeting its software supplier, Advanced. As healthcare is

After witnessing a near miss incident during a fishing competition, Charlie reiterates the importance of health and safety checks, risk assessments, and great response plans. A couple of weeks ago, I was involved in a near miss accident at the Isle of Coll fishing competition, so I wanted to share a few thoughts on this

This week, Charlie discusses why using a simpler incident response model is better suited for clients. For a long time, I have been working on developing and refining a framework for responding to and managing incidents. The framework has to be simple, as those who are going to use it will likely have limited training,

This week, Charlie discusses pandemic plans that were suggested back in 2006, and how they compare to the actions that were taken during the height of the COVID pandemic. I came across the booklet ‘Flu Pandemic Guidelines for Businesses’ produced by Survive when we were moving our office. I thought it might be interesting to

This week, Charlie discusses the big question…why do we not trust warnings, that we believe to be completely outrageous? Also, why business continuity professionals need to implement this crucial fact into our plans. I recently watched the Jimmy Saville documentary, ‘Jimmy Saville a British Horror Story’ on Netflix, and was fascinated by the idea of

This week, Charlie needs your help and advice when it comes to RTOs! Read on to learn more about his questions and thoughts regarding the changing world of business continuity. This week, I will be sharing some of my thoughts regarding RTOs as I am slightly struggling, and hope some readers of the bulletin may

“Protecting people, assets and reputation through effective emergency response and business resilience.” PlanB are delighted to be attending this year’s F24 event in Aberdeen on the 24th June. PlanB and other strategic partners will be hosting exercises across the day for crisis managers, emergency responders and business continuity practitioners.  Our Founder and Director, Charlie Maclean-Bristol,

In this bulletin, Charlie discusses business continuity in Saudi, where he has been conducting exercises and workshops. This week, I have been in Riyadh delivering a series of workshops, exercises, and business continuity reviews. Therefore, I will be sharing some thoughts on what I have learned. I have been to the country many times before

Business Continuity Awareness Week (BCAW) has been running this past week to raise awareness about the new hybrid work environment and how organisations need to rethink the way they embed, validate, and raise awareness amongst their staff of Business Continuity Plans. The theme for BCAW 2022 is Building Resilience in the Hybrid World and for this

Charlie shares his thoughts on the recent CYBERUK 2022 conference. This week Dawn, the Business Development Manager from PlanB Consulting, and I, attended CYBERUK 2022 at the ICC Conference Centre in Newport Wales. Therefore, for today’s bulletin, I will be sharing some of the highlights and my thoughts on the event. The event is the National Cyber

This week, Charlie discusses his experience with power cuts in Johannesburg, and previous famous power cuts, such as in Auckland. I am currently in Johannesburg, South Africa, delivering an MSc module to a client from Glasgow University; the module is on “Work-Based Resilience, Continuity and Crisis Management”. After a day of lecturing, I took a

This week, Charlie creates a checklist for you to follow in case of a product recall situation. This week I carried out a product recall exercise for a pharmaceutical company. I do not claim to be an expert in the finer processes of a product recall, but some of the issues associated with product recalls

This week, Charlie discusses why it is so important to look after your staff after a cyber incident. Yesterday, I taught the pilot of a new Cyber Incident Management course. This course is a day-long course which I developed for a client to use internally to ensure that the managers within the organisation have a

This week, Charlie discusses why scenario-specific plans are an important addition to business continuity plans. Over the last couple of months, I have been part of the team working on two different standards. Firstly, rewriting the Business Continuity Institutes’, ‘Good Practice Guidelines’ (GPG). Secondly, the ISO 22361, which will be titled ‘Crisis Management – Guidelines