http://jder.ssu.ac.ir eISSN: 2588-6150 2019; 2(2): 91-109 10.18502/jder.v2i2.1515 Providing Business Continuity Plan after Natural Disasters: A Case Study in the Staff Area of Water and Wastewater Company of Tehran Vahid Shafaie 1,2 , Farid Darvish 1, Mehrdad Nazariha 1, Saeed Givehchi 1 1 Department of Natural Disaster Management, Graduate Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran 2 Department of Natural Disaster Management, University of Applied Science and Technology of Red Crescent, Qazvin, Iran ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Introduction: Each economic and non-economic institute is inevitably forced ORIGINAL ARTICLE to pay special attention to the post-crisis phase to keep its organizational alive, Article history: carry out its missions, and reduce the damages and costs caused by various Received: 16 May 2019 crises. In this research, we tried to extract the Business Continuity Plan (BCP) Revised: 20 July. 2019 after the natural disaster of earthquake in the staff area of Water and Wastewater Company of Tehran within the localized framework of BS-25999 Accepted: 10 Agu. 2019 British Standards Institution (BSI). Methods: In this regard, a questionnaire was used for data collection. Analysis *Corresponding author: of the questionnaire results was performed by SPSS19 and Expertchoice11 Vahid Shafaie applications. Results: The manager of Water and Wastewater Company of Tehran was Address: found to be the best authority for managing the emergency so that the company University of Applied Science and can continue its operation and return to normal situation. According to the Technology of Red Crescent of findings, the hot site was selected as the best location for business continuity of Qazvin, Beheshti Blvd., Qazvin, Water and Wastewater Company of Tehran, which could be an alternative site Iran. to continue the activities and services after the disaster. Conclusion: A localized post-earthquake Business Continuity Plan (BCP) was Email: suggested in the staff area of Water and Wastewater Company of Tehran. In [email protected] this site, necessary actions can be perfromed to continue the activities before, Tel: during, and after the disaster. Furthermore, organizational chart and task +98-28-33365879 description can be redefined in it. Keywords: Standard BS-25999, Business Continuity Plan (BCP), staff area of Water and Wastewater Company of Tehran. Introduction very organization is subjected to the danger data to confront with these emergency E of potential events, such as natural conditions (1). disasters (floods, earthquakes, and etc.) and In 2007, British Standards Institution (BSI) environmental disasters (pollution and leakage formulated BS-25999 standard called " Business of dangerous materials). In this regard, Continuity Management (BCM)". The first providing and keeping a Business Continuity approach of this standard is to prepare organizations Plan (BCP) helps the organization to ensure and companies to confront various kinds of crises. about possession of the required resources and This standard, as the first standard of management This paper should be cited as: Shafaie V, Darvish F, Nazariha M, Givehchi S. Providing Business Continuity Plan after Natural Disasters: a case stusy in the Staff Area of Water and Wastewater Company of Tehran. Journal of Disaster & Emergency Research. 2019; 2(2): 91-109. Providing Business Continuity Plan after Natural Disasters of business continuity, creats an appropriate size, and nature of the business, it should be management system and tries to help the applicable in all organizations (or at least parts of organization to continue working even in the most them). unpredicted severe conditions. In this way, it The Water and Wastewater Company has the reduces the risk of failure, supports the prosperity responsibility of supplying and keeping water as an and security of staff as well as validity of the essential element of life. Therefore, continuation of organization, and provides the ability to guide and its activities is of great importance in disaster time. continue main activities. This standard was If this organization can keep on its regular operation published in two parts late in 2006 and early in in emergency conditions, the society can return to 2007 (2): normal situation more rapidly. So, it is necessary to 1- The first part of BS-25999 is introduced as a plan for the continuity of activities in critical manual and expresses how to make a business conditions before the disaster happens. continuity management process. It also provides Shimoda reported an integrated set of necessary examples and appropriate suggestions. Generally, it data on security issues in urban water and is a standard that: wastewater system, which was the consequence of A. Makes processes, rules, and related terms to broad research in the United States. This research BCM. was presented as a source on security issues of B. Provides an introduction for implementation water and wastewater system for a wide range of and measurement of the durability of Business catastrophic factors (3). Continuity in the organization. Mozaffari also considered the vulnerability of C. Can be executed and implemented in various water supply systems against earthquakes and organizational scales. examines solutions for crisis management in this 2- The second part of BS-25999, which contains system (4). the specifications and features of the management After examining the research background, the schema, contains the needed requirements for theoretical foundations of BCP in the crisis implementation, execution, and advancement of a management system is addressed in this paper. In business continuity management system (BCMS). the case study section, the general specifications of This part enables the organization to validate and Tehran and Water and Wastewater Company of formalize arrangements of the business continuity Tehran province are studied and then, research management by an external audit. In other words, methodology is described. Finally, the results were they can have an independent audit for this purpose. presented. It makes shareholders, clients, and insurance Theoretical Foundations agencies more assured about management process In this section, to clarify the theoretical of the business continuity in the mentioned foundations of the research, three topics were organization. focoused on: the place of BCP in crisis management The main purpose of the standard is to offer basic cycle, the life cycle of business continuity, Plan- concepts for understanding, making, and Do-Check-Act, which are used in research and implementing business continuity in an formulation of the plan. organization. Additionally, it looks for assurance of organization relations with its clients and other The Place of BCP in Crisis Management Cycle organizations. This standard enables the The initial goal of crisis management is to avoid organization to evaluate and measure the casualties and losses of life caused by the crisis and management ability of the business continuity being prepared to deal with them. Then, in the case through an integrated and predefined method. The of a crisis, the aim is to make a quick relief and defined needs and requirements in British Standard reduce the effects and consequences of the crisis. are general. It is expected that regardless of the type, One of the critical parts of the crisis management 92 Shafaie V, et al. J Disaster Emerg Res 2019; 2(2): 91-109. cycle is the recovery and improvement after the initiate immediately after occurance of a disaster in disaster. Business Continuity Plan can be considered an organization and should be continued until as a pass from the response to the recovery phase of beginning of the complete renovation and recovery disaster cycle (Figure 1). This planning should plans. Figure 1. The relationship between Disaster Management, Business Continuity Management, and Business Recovery(5) The Life Cycle of BCP Although the prospect and structure of the BCM As Figure 2 shows, the life cycle of BCM program and also the amount of follow up and comprises of Six sections (Understanding the investment can differ with regard to conditions of Organization, Determining BCM Strategies, every organization, all of these parts should be Developing and Implementing a BCM Response, performed. The scope and structure of this Exercising, Maintenance and Reviewing). These program can be varied and activities can be parts can be implemented at any organization extended according to the particular needs of each with any size. It should be considered that the complex, yet the main phases of the cycle (Figure type of organization (public or private) does not 2) are necessary (6) . have any effect on the elements of this cycle. 93 Providing Business Continuity Plan after Natural Disasters Figure 2. Business Continuity Lifecycle (6) Plan, Do, Check, and Act Models procedures related to risk management and The BS-25999 standard uses the Plan-Do- development of business continuity in order to Check-Act (PDCA) model to make, implement, achieve results consistent with policies and general operate and execute, check, practice, maintain, and missions of the organization. activate development of a business continuity Do: it includes implementing and executing the management system of an organization. This Business Continuity policies, controls, processes, guarantees a level of consistency with other and procedures. standards of management systems, including ISO Check: it contains checking