Terrorism Simulation Exercise Validates the Importance of Business Continuity Planning

The recent Covid pandemic has thrust business continuity and resilience into the corporate spotlight, with businesses and organisations re-evaluating how they manage unexpected scenarios.

The pandemic was a high-profile global issue affecting most businesses to some degree, but the team at RAB have noticed that it has triggered a wider change in attitude by clients who are now testing all aspects of their operational processes and procedures.

One recent example involved the RAB Resilience Team developing and running a bespoke exercise for the Motor Insurers’ Bureau (MIB). They were given additional responsibilities in 2019 to provide compensation to victims involved in motor terrorism incidents. Policies and procedures were put in place, but the team at MIB wanted to test and validate these through a comprehensive exercise that simulated a terrorist related motor vehicle incident.

The team at RAB developed a scenario exercise which involved a car being deliberately driven into a crowd of people enjoying a night out. The outcome included fatalities, life changing injuries and property damage.

The exercise was delivered by way of a ½ day simulation, providing staff at MIB with an opportunity to test their roles and responsibilities, as well as validate wider company operational procedures.

Feedback from participants was very positive and resulted in a range of suggestions to improve their readiness to respond. These could only have arisen from a professionally simulated exercise, and thereby justified MIB’s decision to commission RAB.

Bryan Nelson, Resilience Director at RAB said: “This was the first exercise of its kind for the Motor Insurers’ Bureau. The engagement, energy and appetite from participants was extremely encouraging and the lessons identified will ensure the organisation continues to develop its response arrangements”.

Iain Morgan, Operations and Resilience Manager at MIB echoed these comments: “We are focused on delivering the very highest level of service to our customers and being given this added terrorism related responsibility required appropriate procedures, testing and due diligence. RAB have a proven track record of delivering business continuity and resilience services, and we are delighted with the exercise and simulation they developed for the team at MIB.”

Further information about RAB resilience, business continuity and emergency planning services can be found our website: www.rabconsultants.co.uk. Or you can contact us directly: enquiries@rabconsultants.co.uk / 0330 223 6475.