What is this thing we call resilience? There are various definitions dependent upon the context in question. We tend to talk about ‘organisational resilience’ or ‘personal resilience’ without necessarily understanding the relationship between the two. In the personal context, resilience is generally understood to be how we react to challenging life circumstances, how we recover,…
When you establish your crisis management capability, conduct crisis management exercises, or actually go through crises, what are the most common issues or gaps that are uncovered? Within this article, I define a few of the more common issues that we see when conducting simulation exercises within the corporate space as well as reviewing reports…
Communities are not just made up of homes and apartments. Many communities have businesses that provide jobs and other services to those communities. Major cities have businesses that are heavily integrated into their communities and so do some smaller cities and even towns. It’s imperative that businesses understand their communities and it is equally important…
As the fall out is being assessed from this year’s major wildland fires on the U.S. west coast and in the Canadian context, the most costly disaster in Canadian history “the Fort McMurray Fire” risk assessors and public policy analysts are re-considering our planning and preparedness models. Wildfire incidents in North America are increasing in…
As we start this years Olympics and millions of people converge on Rio, the publicity machine is starting its usual move into overdrive-both negative and positive. Already the media doom mongers are running stories (and have been for some time) that it will be a disaster and that Brazil isn’t ready for the Games. Turn…
When was the last time you looked at your security from a hostile’s perspective? Have you ever? The majority of hostiles go through an online reconnaissance of their targets before they attack. In fact, many will review various targets online first to see what they can obtain in terms of security at those locations. If…
Does your organization have a workplace violence policy? Are there procedures to follow? Has your organization conducted an active shooter or other violent intruder drills or exercises? Are your staff and other key stakeholders prepared for such an attack? How would your staff respond and how would you manage the event? Answers to the above…
Violent situations can happen at a moment’s notice and are typically planned events. Dallas police just experienced an active shooter situation that took five police officers lives during a peaceful demonstration. How do you prepare yourself and your organization for violent attacks? Do you have a process for evaluating your organization’s ability to respond to…
In episode 17 of the PreparedEx podcast, we discuss five security tips for the business traveler. Although we focus on the business traveler, anyone travelling for pleasure may also find this useful. When traveling to a foreign place on business or for pleasure, it is important that you understand the inherent dangers associated with that…
The great game of people watching. Always a fun pastime (especially when it’s part of your job). Next time you’re in a public place such as an airport, try this game: “Guess the Nationality”. Apart from obvious facial features and tribal dress, people from certain countries inadvertently (or purposefully) advertise where they are from. In…