Business resilience in Leicestershire and Rutland

On 31st January, Climate East Midlands facilitated the third in our series of business resilience workshops, this time for businesses across Leicestershire and Rutland. The workshop was hosted by Severn Trent Water at the Leicester Water Centre, and the purpose was to help local businesses to increase their resilience to severe weather and climate change. These workshops are part of Climate East Midlands' Building Business Resilience project, funded by the Environment Agency.

First up was Howard Perry, Climate Change and Carbon Analyst at Severn Trent Water (STW). Howard explained the issues that STW grapples with when considering climate change and severe weather, the tools they use to understand the potential impacts, and the way that they approach decision-making to increase their resilience. STW's priority is maintaining their service to customers, and successful adaptation to climate change means balancing risk and cost, and careful decision-making about how quickly to implement adaptation measures. They use the UKCP09 climate projections, and map out the activities they undertake to deliver a particular service, in order to understand the likely impacts of climate change. They work in partnership and consult stakeholders to develop their plans. More information about STW's work to adapt to climate change is available on their website.

Julie Goddard, Business Continuity Manager at Leicestershire County Council, explained the principles of business contintuity management, illustrated with real-life examples from around the world. Risks need to be anticipated and prevented as far as possible, but where prevention fails, a robust business continuity plan which is realistic, practical and rehearsed is needed. Julie emphasised the importance of exercising your business continuity plan, and making sure that your suppliers have business continuity plans of their own in place. A representative from Leicestershire Fire and Rescue Service participated in the workshop, and shared his experience of how they work with businesses during emergencies. More information about business continuity can be found on Leicestershire County Council's website.

In keeping with our other business resilience workshops, we also provided information on flood risk mapping and flood warning, thanks to the Environment Agency (EA). The speakers at this workshop were Lucy Jarvis and Zoe Wharmby, who both work in flood risk management. They explained the various sources of flooding (rivers, surface water, groundwater and structural failure; coastal flooding not being an issue in Leicestershire) and described the past impacts of flooding in the East Midlands. EA staff have special roles during flood events, including flood warning, operational actions, data collecting and flood ambassadors. EA and Met Office staff monitor river and sea levels 24/7. Duty officers interpret the information and make judgements based on forecast thresholds, local knowledge and on-site observations. If needed, flood warnings are issued. Find out more about flood warnings, and check flood risk in your area, on the Environment Agency website.

The workshop included a new perspective on severe weather impacts, from the Institution of Occupational Safety and Health (IOSH). Phil Bates, Senior Policy and Technical Adviser, introduced the health and safety implications of severe weather events, e.g. flood hazards including the dangers during the clearing-up phase, personal protection kit, heatwave hazards, windstorms/tornado hazards, winter hazards, and advice on ways to help staff cope with such events, both to ensure business continuity and to protect their health and wellbeing. IOSH is the world's biggest professional health and safety membership organisation.

Interesting issues raised in discussions included how severe weather impacts in the surrounding area, and impacts on customers, could impact on a business indirectly, even if it wasn't directly impacted. For example, if roads are flooded, a business could have difficulty getting staff, goods and services on and off site, even if the site itself isn't flooded. The EA's flood warning service can be useful here, because businesses can register to receive flood warnings on an "area of interest", e.g. a key road that is at risk of flooding. Other issues included partnership working to share 4x4 vehicles during severe winter weather, and volunteer groups of 4x4 owners. It was also suggested that there are benefits to businesses getting to know their neighbours, as they may be able to call on each other's expertise during an emergency.

Participants commented that the workshop was "Very useful" and "Very valuable". Some intended to follow it up by sharing the information with their colleagues, and by indentifying specific actions to undertake.

If you would like to find out about forthcoming business resilience workshops, please see our Events section.