Earlier this year, we achieved and continue to maintain the highest accreditation within the security industry, NSI Gold; including the strict criteria of BS5797. BS5979 is often referenced in our industry and by insurance companies, yet most people may not be aware of what this entails.
To achieve the contingency element of BS5979, the Contingency Manual, written by ourselves, provides a step by step guide on what action to take and how to recover from loss of service, data or disaster to ensure our service to clients is undisrupted and our staff are protected.
Threats such as
- Connection / Broadband loss to the control room
- PC Failure at operator terminals, including data loss
- Complete loss of power to the building
- Fire inside the building
- Loss of Directors and key personnel, including death and gross misconduct.
- Structural failure for example train or plane crashing into the building, plus lightning strike
- Attack, vandalism, ram raiding
- Bomb threats and terrorism
In great detail, for each scenario, we have considered 1) what could happen 2) what we will do in response and 3) what we can do in advance to reduce the risk of them happening.
Our Uninterruptable Power Supply (UPS) gives us enough power to operate for at least 4 days should a power loss or disaster occur. However, in the event of short term evacuation, PSM’s entire operations will be transferred to our temporary control room which has already been fitted with pre-loaded PC’s, telephones, network points and pre configured routers (ready to divert alarms).
In the event of long term evacuation, arrangements are in place with a contractor and building owner to convert an industrial unit into our new control room.
We regularly hold contingency rehearsals and training sessions to ensure that our staff can respond calmly and effectively to any eventuality.
In part 3 of PSM Towers, we will delve into our Quality Manual and service delivery.
