Friday, May 18, 2012
   
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Disaster Simulation Practice Makes It Perfect

insurance SINGAPORE, 1 October 2010 – 0800 hours, Thursday 17 September, the Chief Information Officer of an insurance company calls for a meeting with Top Management and staff, informing them that a major bank has just reported a bomb threat at its headquarters. While staff get into their disaster response mode, unbeknown to the fact that this would be one of a series of disaster drills or simulations, that was scheduled the day before by the Crisis Management Team (CMT). The CMT consists of key executives, essential key supporting players and the heads of business with critical functions start to deploy the crisis management plan.
One of the foci of disaster planning in the insurance industry has been the use of simulations to train employees in and to test aspects of disaster response. In fact, many BCM Managers in the insurance industry revere the simulation as an essential business continuity exercise to teach its executives and employees how to deal with disasters: everything from anthrax and bombs to an outbreak of severe food poisoning. These simulations can include actors and civilian volunteers who play roles of victims, looters and other people who may be encountered during a disaster and extensive planning may go into such simulations. While the insurance industry’s BC approach to continuity planning is extreme, so are the stakes. Insurance companies provide property, casualty and life insurance and banking, brokerage and investment management services to civilians and businesses. So, as an insurer, insurance companies are also in the risk management business where superior risk assessment analysis of historic and real-time data about customers and shipment participants are desirable tools to help them deal with unanticipated disasters. If you need help in putting together a disaster simulation for the insurance or other industries, we invite you to drop us an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it


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