11 April

Workshops to help businesses survive, recover

Northland’s Civil Defence officials are to offer a series of workshops next month to help the region’s business owners and operators survive – and better recover from – emergencies.

Kim Abbott, an Emergency Management Officer with the Northland Civil Defence Emergency Management Group (CDEM), says too many of the region’s business owners are ill-prepared to survive and recover from an emergency.

“While many businesses, especially our smaller ones, are familiar – and relatively comfortable – with coping with adverse events like flooding and bad weather, they still need to know more about how they can respond and recover from a wide range of incidents from fires to power cuts.”

Ms Abbott says New Zealanders wanting a graphic example of the problems disasters could throw at businesses had to look no further than the Christchurch earthquakes.

The quakes had reinforced that an inability to access premises, contact staff or customers or deliver goods could lead to significant financial losses and closures. Even now, more than two years after the quake, Cantabrians were still facing a prolonged recovery.

With that in mind, Northland’s business owners and operators are once again being invited to attend one of a series of free business continuity workshops being run in Dargaville, Whangarei, Kaikohe and Kaitaia next month. (Similar workshops were held around the region about six months ago and proved very popular, prompting the latest series.)

The half-day workshops are designed to be easy to understand and will be limited to just 24 participants a time. They’re a collaboration between the Northland CDEM Group, New Zealand Fire Service and the Northland Chamber of Commerce.

Ms Abbott says a relatively small amount of time spent planning for disasters through a good business continuity plan can keep an organisation up and running during interruptions of any kind.

The workshops aim to strengthen and enhance the ability of businesses to respond and recover from adverse events that may affect or interrupt them; from an isolated event like a fire, an ongoing disruption through things like power cuts or road closures to a major regional event like a storm.

Ms Abbott says the first workshop will be held in Dargaville on Thursday 09 May from 9.30am–12.30pm, followed by another at Kaikohe, from 1-4pm on Wednesday 15 May. The next workshop will take place in Kaitaia the following day, Thursday 16 May, from 9.30am-12.30pm with the final workshop scheduled for Whangarei for Thursday 30 May, again from 9.30am-12.30pm.

“Basically, these workshops are designed to enable business owners/operators to undertake the business continuity planning process with the aid of qualified business and emergency mentors.”

She says a Northland-specific kit has been developed in simple English to assist businesses to prepare. Included for all workshop attendees, it encompasses details about what a business continuity plan entails as well as the most likely risks Northland businesses face. It also includes learnings from both local storms and Christchurch businesses and help to complete an individual plan.

Meanwhile, Ms Abbott says members of the wider public interested in Civil Defence or community response are invited to attend the annual Northland Civil Defence Forum in Whangarei from 9am-1pm on Thursday 02 May.

Speakers include Civil Defence Minister Nikki Kaye and Ministry of Civil Defence Emergency Management Director John Hamilton while others will give personal insights into recent New Zealand disasters including Pike River mining, the Christchurch earthquakes and the Wairarapa hot air balloon tragedy.

About 200 people are expected to attend.

Ms Abbott says those interested in pre-registering for the Northland workshops – or the annual Civil Defence Forum – should contact her on (0800) 002 004 or email her on kimab@nrc.govt.nz for more information.

ENDS

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