The heavy snow & cold weather in the UK has caused some disruption in recent days.

On Tuesday evening, the roads around our HQ were deserted. The main M1 motorway had the same amount of traffic as a quiet Sunday night. Even the local petrol station closed.

So does snow cause such disruption in the UK?

Every year it seems, talk is of running out of grit, schools being closed unnecessarily and angry parents grumbling about the same.

Personally, I don’t think it is the snow that causes the problem – It is lack of effective disaster planning.

So how to carry out effective disaster planning?

Well, I thing that disaster planning can be broken down into three broad areas.

1. Staff can’t get to work (for whatever reason)

How do staff get to work at the moment?

Can you organise car sharing now & file it away somewhere?

Who can walk to work?

Who can work from home and what do they need to do this?

2. Usual place of work/Business premises not available (for whatever reason)

This could be anything from terrorist attack to water/gas leak.

Who can work from home and what do they need to do this?

What technology needs to be put in place?

Who else can take customer phone calls and can this work can be done in preparation.

3. Tools & equipment not available (for whatever reason).

This could be anything from virus attack to flood or fire.

Very similar preparation to the above.

Yes this is a lot of work – But not so much compared with the time it will save in cases of snow and ice.