ESB International first to test 'hot site' for ESB
ESBI had an "emergency" situation on 15th of June forcing the company to invoke part of its contingency plan at the assigned 'hot site' location in Swords. As part of the Corporate Business Continuity Project, ESBI is the first organisation in the Group to run such a simulation exercise.
The day revolved around the potential loss or partial loss of an ESBI premises and was designed to test the Work Area Recovery Plan (WARP), the group's various business unit Business Continuity Plans and the Information & Communication Plan. All of which form part of a series of contingency plans that come under the ESB wide Business Continuity Project (BCP).
The purpose of the hot site simulation test was to familiarise staff with the premises itself – a 600-seat site run by Hewlett Packard offering fully equipped emergency office accommodation within four hours of an authorised 'invocation'. The finer detail of the Business Continuity Plans was also tested. Up to 60 staff participated on the day, representing a number of core business processes that had been identified as critical in the continuity project.Functions tested on the 15th included: ESBI Engineering and Facility Management (Asset Management Services, Power Plant, Key accounts, Investments, Automation & Communications and Business Consultancy Group); ESB Independent Energy, ESBI Investments and ESB Independent Generation. Also present on the day were a number of the ESBI group services, such as Human Resources, Health & Safety, Facilities and Information Communications Technology. The exercise was overseen by the BCP project manager, Dave O'Dwyer, as well as senior management from ESBI.
Commenting on the success of the exercise, Frank Kelly, Business Continuity Coordinator, ESBI said: "Since July 2006, we've had a team of over 20 staff feeding into the BCP with the aim of protecting our businesses in the event of an incident. Today's exercise was a great experience. We had a chance to put our plans into action and find and fix any gaps we found.
"This is actually our second simulation and I am confident what we have learned here will assist us in improving our Business Continuity Response. We will also be sharing our experiences with our colleagues in the other Business Units engaged in the Business Continuity Project."
ESB INTERNATIONAL
