In light of the Business Continuity Awareness Week (BCAW), ten of the biggest disasters that have affected businesses were looked at, demonstrating that business disruption can happen to anyone in any sector. Without a thorough business continuity programme, there are high risks of negative consequences to businesses, such as lost inventory, lost data and most importantly, loss of revenue. It was estimated that the total cost to the UK’s insurance sector, businesses, individuals, communities and governments was a shocking £5-5.8 billion as a result of winter 2015/2016 flooding.
Here we have looked the five biggest disasters:
Storm KatieOne of the most recent severe storms that Britain has seen, storm Katie left 200,000 properties without power and more than 130 flights were diverted due to the 130mph winds that battered the UK over the March bank holiday in 2016.
Storm Desmond
Rainfall from storm desmond broke all previous UK records, with the met office saying areas in Cumbria received 341.4mm (13.4in) of rainfall in 24 hours. The early December storm caused power outages in 60,000 homes and more than 1,000 people had to be evacuated.
Saltley Recycling Centre
800 tonnes of metal and plastic were accidentally set ablaze at a recycling plant in Birmingham. More than 100 firefighters were called to the scene to tackle the fire that raged on for several days as the power supply to 4,000 properties had to be cut off.
Holborn Fire
An underground electrical fault sparked a fire that burned for 36 hours, causing 3,000 properties to be left without power and more than 5,000 people to be evacuated from the are in Central London.
Heathrow Airport
Power was cut to Heathrow terminal 5 for three hours, due to problems with a supplier. The baggage system was affected and more than 50 BA flights left behind cases and other equipment, leaving 3-4,000 people without their luggage.