Periodically, RMLC faculty post their research for review and
comment.
Consider the following as drafts offered to enhance and support your
own Risk Management projects and programs...
Rich Woldt
Rich Woldt , CPP, CFE, Private Detective,
ACFEI Homeland Security Level III |
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Risk Management Faculty: New Releases - Incident
Reports, Comments, White Papers, etc. |
2004
2005
2006 |
CLICK on the title to NAVIGATE This
Page:
White Paper - Comments - & Opinions:
Paul Bergee -
Pandemic -
Is this Y2K-II?
Paul Bergee
New Release -
Pandemics - business considerations for debate...
Paul Bergee
New Release -
Pandemics - Can we survive with 40% fewer employees?
Paul
Bergee - BRPAW
Event 2-15-06
Paul
Bergee -
Pandemic Planning Survey
Results
Toni Conti - Incident Report on Katrina
Florence Rogers - Looking back 11 years "Memories and
Reflections" on the Oklahoma City Bombing.
Dave
McGuinn - Katrina SD Box Unclaimed Contents
Posted May 16, 2008
Dave McGuinn -
Supreme Court Drives Nail Into Self-Service Box Coffin Posted February 14, 2006
Please reprint as you see fit...
Dave
McGuinn -
Faulty Marketing Threatens Safe
Deposit Integrity
Posted August 11, 2006
Please reprint as you see fit...
Deep Throat 007
Katrina Incident Report
Rich Woldt - Release on hurricanes of
2004
Rich Woldt -
White Paper
on
Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs and the
International Credit Union Movement!
Rich
Woldt -
White Paper on An Introduction to International Risk Management
/
Rich Woldt - White Paper on
Risk Management Lessons Learned During Hurricane Season 2005
Statements & Opinions From Victims &
Witnesses:
DARRELL SCOTT:
Testimony to House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on Columbine shooting,
prayer in schools, and the NRA:
Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a victim of the Columbine High
School shootings in Littleton, Colorado, was invited to address the House
Judiciary Committee's subcommittee What he said to our national leaders
during this special session of Congress was painfully truthful. They were
not prepared to hear what he said or for his candor. Those who heard him on
that Thursday said,
"There is
no doubt that God sent this man as a voice voice crying in the wilderness.
Every parent, every teacher, every politician, every sociologist, every
psychologist, and every so-called expert should hear his poem and read his
comments!"
Click here for a portion of the transcript and
his poem: |
Florence Rogers - Memories & Reflections "We will not
forget!"
Florence looks back over the
past 11 years and shares a personal perspective on her "Road
to Recovery!" (Edited by Rich Woldt - Original draft
filed in Deep Throat files) |
Memories & Reflections
By
Florence
Rogers
“We Will Never Forget”
Florence was the Chief Executive Officer of Federal
Employees Credit Union when terrorist Timothy McVeigh bombed
the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City
April 19, 1995. Eighteen of her staff died in the explosion. –
Rich Woldt
Introduction by Rich Woldt: Florence Rogers was always a leader in the credit union
movement, always a staunch advocate of the “People Helping
People” philosophy, and always willing to rescue members in
need or in harms way. So, on the day she calls “that fateful
day” few were surprise when she took command and inspired a
world shaken by the first terrorist attack on US soil. To
say she inspired others that day is an understatement.
Within hours of being rescued herself from the ledge of the
bombed building,
Florence was on the frontlines assessing damages and
planning her credit union’s recovery. I remember, we found
her on the sidewalk doing what she could to console
survivors.
During a recent visit with
Florence, we talked about all the water that’s gone under
the bridge since
April 19, 1995, and how memories of those lost have sadly been
replaced with recent memories of 2005 tragedies including
the tsunami, hurricanes, and terrorist attacks. We talked
about her “Road to Recovery” and the path she followed as
she moved on. At some point, we discussed the need to
document her progress and share her recovery path with the
victims of 2005.
Specifically,
Florence decided to sit at her typewriter (talk about moving
on) and record her memories and reflections starting that
fateful day, the first 45 days, the period up until she
retired and than bring us up to date on her progress. We
agreed that tragedy was frozen in history but the memories
of what happened that day will never be forgotten. Florence
was to keep it “free flowing” so we might learn both from
her experience and the recovery path she followed up until
today.
She said she’d do that if I’d edit it before adding it to
our library, so I lied and said I would. In fact, I’ve kept
the editing to a minimum. To edit anything that comes from
the heart runs the risk of losing its meaning. For those
registered to access our “Deep Throat” files, her original
draft will be there for future historians. If you have not
visited the Oklahoma City National Memorial, please go to:
http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/
As you read her paper, note her first focus is on
physiological needs during the first 48 hours, than
belongingness needs during the first 45 days, and eventually
her progress toward redefining her future and charting new
paths to self esteem and self actualization. Note also, how
11 years later, her core values and true grit has
resurfaced, meaning it was always there and no doubt
supported her every step of the way.
Memories and Reflections: By Florence
Rogers
April 19, 2006
Much water has gone under the bridge since you’ve heard from
me. I hope this finds everyone well and hard at work serving
your members. I’m well, enjoying my retirement and keeping
busy. Rich asked me to share my thoughts and memories of the
bombing in the hope they might help those recovering from
the hurricanes and tsunami of 2005.
April 19, 1995 –
April 19, 2005
It’s been 11 years since so many lives were changed in
Oklahoma by what than was the worst terrorist attack ever
committed on U.S. soil. Not a day has gone by without me
thinking of that “fateful day” when the offices of our
Federal Employees Credit Union were totally destroyed. In a
split second 18 of my staff who collectively worked 128
years for me were killed without any warning or time to say
good bye. I’m sure like at your credit union, we too were
like family.
Eleven years has helped me deal with the pain. I now find
myself remembering some of the pleasant and fun memories as
opposed to the memories of those terrible few weeks that
followed the bombing. At the time the weeks seamed endless.
Each day we had to deal with learning of confirmed deaths as
victims were dug from the rubble of the
Alfred
P. Murrah Building and identified.
I remember the days, weeks and months following the bombing
as being long, chaotic and very busy. Being forced to hire
staff to replace those lost was a tremendous challenge we
thought would never end. We moved daily, then weekly, and
then finally life seamed to level off to monthly board
meetings. Every meeting was a challenge. We hopped that
terrible time in our credit union’s history would eventually
go away, but not so. It never went away and I now realize
it never will.
Looking back on the first 48 hours – 45 days - 27
Months:
Looking back I remember the importance of having a disaster
recovery plan in place and the many volunteers from the
credit union community reaching out to help. With our plan,
their help, and the temporary location loaned to us by
Tinker Federal Credit Union we opened for business and were
serving our members in 48 hours and 18 minutes. I look back
at that with pride in our credit union and all those who
came to our rescue. We spent the first 45 days at our
temporary home while another location was renovated and made
ready for our use.
Twenty seven months after what I’ll always call “the
fateful day” and while I was in my 26th year
serving as
CEO, I retired. While I retired a bit earlier than I
had planned during a career I really enjoyed, I have no
regrets. The credit union was doing well, most of the
survivors including the injured had returned to work, a new
crew had been successfully hired and our Regulator, the
Oklahoma State Banking Department had just completed their
audits and given us a clean bill of health. They had kept a
watchful eye on us so it was encouraging to hear their
compliments and comments on our ability to "rise from the
ashes."
I now look back and can see what went well and what we
did to position our credit union to move forward. As I
retired, we had a beautiful new office building nearing
completion and a lovely memorial garden was planned for our
new site to honor those lost and those who survived. The
bombing was a senseless act of terrorism that traumatized
not only the credit unions in
Oklahoma
but credit unions around the world. Knowing this I can now
appreciate why I feel so close to credit union members I’ve
never had a chance to meet or thank for their generosity.
Our memorial garden was made possible by the generous
donations we received from credit unions across the US,
Canada and Australia and I’m sure from the support and
prayers of credit union members around the world.
I know many long time credit union members with whom I had
bonded over the years just couldn't believe I was retiring
before we moved into our beautiful new location. But, as I
explained to them then and feel even more strongly today,
“Moving into a new location was not that high on my list
of priorities. A disaster such as we experienced places a
whole new light on what's really important in life!”
Since I Retired:
Since my retirement the name of the Credit Union has changed
and only five of my original 33 staff members are still
there. Many felt the need to leave due to the constant
reminders of their co-workers that were no longer there but
were loved and referred to often by the members who always
had a "favorite." One of the survivors, seriously injured,
who came back, is now one of the vice-presidents and I
couldn't be prouder.....after all, she was hired on my watch
Soon after our disaster, I was asked to tell our story to
credit unions, Leagues, and credit union associations across
the U.S. My travels even took me to
Australia,
Canada and Kenya, Africa. These trips were so special to me
and the friendships I made while there are lifetime
treasures and wonderful memories.
The
Oklahoma City National Memorial and Museum:
http://www.oklahomacitynationalmemorial.org/
Soon after our disaster, I became involved in the Memorial
process for the Oklahoma City National Memorial and
Museum. I served as a board member for the Foundation for 9
years as well as serving on many of the committees. The
families and survivors were always included in every
decision with the planning and construction process. The
organizations who heard my story over the years all sent
generous honorariums in my name after my presentations, so I
feel very good about the small part I played in the
construction of this beautiful place here in
Oklahoma City.
The Memorial consists of three components: the outdoor
memorial containing 168 chairs (one for each one lost) and a
lovely reflecting pool, the museum that tells the complete
story and the Terrorism Institute that provides education
and information worldwide.
I am still involved with the Memorial some 10 years later
and serving on a new committee just barely organized. This
project, "A Network of Hope-A Resource to Help"
hopes to catalog examples of practices and programs that can
be used to help communities develop a sense of resilience as
they recover from disasters or terrorist attacks.
I initially thought that retirement might bring boredom
since I had always been an active, busy person while raising
my two sons and having a 35 year career in the management of
credit unions. I was wrong......there has yet to be a
boring day as I approach 9 years into my retirement
Besides serving on the board of directors and committees at
the Memorial Foundation, I still serve as treasurer of
my neighborhood association as well as Secretary/Treasurer
of a Christian Women’s Group. My neighborhood and
community did so much for me during the dark days, that I
decided it was time to give back. I now volunteer at a
nearby voting precinct and joined a small group of ladies at
my church who make birthday, sympathy, and get well cards
for the members. My marketing skills from the early days of
my credit union career have helped me with this project. I
also read a lot, but it certainly isn't government
regulations and I seldom know what the prime or T-Bill rate
is these days.
Your about to find out why I asked Florence to bring us up to date – Rich Woldt
Skip tracing and collection techniques from the early days
of my career were instrumental in some recent activity that
resulted in shutting down a drug house (among many other
illegal activities) that had popped up right in my normally
quiet little cul-de-sac. This house is right in my view
24/7. It took nearly two years, working with my next door
neighbor and taking turns keeping tag numbers and
descriptions to succeed in removing this eyesore from our
neighborhood. The dispatch officers at the 911 call center
and all of the police officers who work in our precinct got
to know us by first name. As a result of our enthusiasm and
preserve, we were invited to attend the
Citizens
Police Academy: a 12 week course that began last fall. The
presentations each week were packed full of exciting
adventures and gave us renewed enthusiasm as we watch COPS
and CSI.
So you see, there really is life after credit union
retirement. There are days that I still find myself
thinking of the 1995 events here in Oklahoma City and
reminders everywhere of that day and those lost. When I feel
a little depression coming on, I put the leash on my little
dog and we go for a nature walk in the wooded area that has
a running stream close to my backyard. We watch the birds
and wildlife, enjoy the sunrises and sunsets, breathe the
fresh air and count the blessings for another day.
Retirement also gives me the time to do things for my
family that I felt where neglected over the years while I
worked. I cook special meals for a grandson who helps
me with my yard. I take warm cookies and special dishes to
my son and his wife who live close by, and help by
daughter-in-law who still works with her ironing and
mending.
I will be visiting my other son in Florida a few times a
year since he recently moved to Jacksonville. They have a
lovely swimming pool, so I plan to purchase a new bathing
suit before I visit again as my old one has holes in the
knees.
The 11th Anniversary of the
Oklahoma City Bombing will be observed on a somewhat low-key program.
Many of the families and survivors return each year to place
a wreath on their loved ones chair and renew the bonds they
all shared during those terrible days following this
disaster. I know for sure that the promise made and kept
will be evident: "We will never forget!"
I close sending my best wishes and God’s blessings to who
I’ll always consider my credit union family. Thank you for
all you’ve done for me and victims of that fateful day.
Florence
Rogers
CEO The Federal Employees Credit Union - Retired
|
Faulty Marketing Threatens Safe Deposit Integrity
Written by: RMLC
Faculty Member David McGuinn
SAFE DEPOSIT
SPECIALISTS |
For
Immediate Release:
Contact David P. McGuinn,
(713) 937-9929 or
sdspec@aol.com
Faulty Marketing
Threatens Safe Deposit Integrity
If
your financial institution provides safe deposit box
services, BEWARE of faulty marketing practices that might
create confusion, erode consumer confidence, and even evoke
accusations of false advertising.
Click Here for more...!
|
Supreme Court Drives Nail Into Self-Service Box Coffin
Written by: RMLC
Faculty Member David McGuinn
SAFE DEPOSIT
SPECIALISTS Mail:
P0 Box 40026 Houston, TX
77240-0026 Phone:
713. 937.9929 Fax:
713.937.7751 e-mail:
sdspec@aol.com |
There is a
shiny new “no fault” self-service box concept, which is
currently being marketed to financial institutions across
America, and it is spreading like wild fire in a Kansas
wheat field.
If your
institution is now offering, or is contemplating offering,
this “revolutionary” service to your safe deposit box
clientele, be advised that there could be costly financial
consequences down the road.
Zealous
equipment vendors are successfully convincing senior
management that the rental of self-service boxes is
appropriate and that the financial institution is totally
protected from any liability provided a “no fault” clause in
the rental contract is signed by all renters exonerating the
institution from any and all liability due to loss of box
contents. The self-service box renters are now being asked
to exchange security for convenience.
Terms such
as “unique”, “latest state of the art”, “convenient”, “zero
liability” and “less costly” will be mentioned as many
financial officers are seduced into embracing this
self-service scheme.
Supreme Court Ruling
One unfortunate institution found
itself defending its box rental system before the Illinois
Supreme Court. All the glowing modifiers that had convinced
them to offer a “no fault” box rental contract were now
being replaced with terms such as “grossly negligent”,
“breach of responsibility” and “failure to exercise ordinary
care”. The court ruled that the exculpatory clause in the
rental contract was not enforceable, and it was subsequently
overturned. The negative court ruling cost the institution
millions. The names in following lawsuit have been changed
to protect the identities of all parties involved.
Mutual Insurance Company vs. XYZ Bank (Illinois Supreme
Court)
Background:
XYZ Bank’s negligence caused more than $1 million of
diamonds to be stolen from safe deposit boxes rented by
three jewelry dealers. This bank offered its safe deposit
box renters two contract options: a standard contract that
contained a clause exculpating XYZ Bank from any liability
for loss of or damage to contents, and a more expensive
option under which the bank would charge more in exchange
for its assumption of more liability risk. The jewelry
dealers had elected the less expensive, standard contract.
When XYZ Bank was sued to recover the financial loss caused
by its negligence, the bank relied on the exculpatory clause
in the standard agreement.
Issue:
Did the exculpatory clause in the standard agreement excuse
XYZ Bank from any liability when its negligence allowed
unauthorized access to the safe deposit boxes and the theft
of the boxes’ contents?
Result:
The Illinois Supreme Court ruled that XYZ Bank could not
accept a rental fee in exchange for its promise to exercise
ordinary care with respect to the rented boxes, and then
exculpate itself from liability for its own negligence. The
Court noted that the exculpatory clause, if allowed to
stand, would logically allow XYZ Bank to hand the keys over
to anyone off the street who would be free to rummage
through people’s safe deposit boxes without any penalty to
the bank. Therefore, the Court concluded that XYZ Bank did
owe a duty of care to the renters of the boxes and was
liable for the losses, and that the exculpatory clause in
the standard agreement was not enforceable. The Court
distinguished a Florida case in which a safe deposit box
rental agreement limiting the Florida bank’s liability to
“instances of gross negligence, fraud or bad faith” was
upheld. That distinction may preserve the ability of an
Illinois bank to include some measure of liability
limitation in safe deposit box rental agreements.
Other Time Bombs Ticking
Many
distressing self-service horror stories are beginning to
surface. These tales of woe reinforce the strong
recommendations of many nationwide safe deposit experts
(myself included) warning financial institutions that
implementing this self-service concept is neither the safe
nor the prudent way to offer a proper box rental service to
consumers.
24 -7
Access Available
One Colorado
financial institution developed a very unique way to offer
their self-service boxes. They now provide their renters
with 24-hour, 7 days a week box access. They were able to
offer this convenient service because their self-service
boxes were not installed inside a vault. If you think this
is impossible or illegal, think again. There are no federal
or state laws that require a vault to be used.
To implement
this unique service, the bank removed the glass windows from
the front wall of their facility thereby creating a second
and separate entrance. This entrance opened into a
multistory atrium. Some architectural modifications
converted this atrium area into a self-service box
repository. Within this vault-less, unsecured space, the
self-service boxes were installed. Now, without the need for
tedious vault access procedures, box renters could stroll
into the “atrium lobby” any time, day or night, seven days a
week with only their single box key as security.
Unfortunately, locksmith tools are now available on-line,
and with these tools safe deposit boxes can be opened in a
matter of seconds without a key. It would seem that now
thieves can also enjoy the convenience of this 24-7
self-service concept. If these exiting box renters knew
this, I do not think any of them would entrust their most
valued possessions to a system this vulnerable.
Biometrics at Work
Many
financial institutions are now using a biometric vault-entry
system to allow access to only authorized renters. This
system worked well for a Texas institution, but many renters
became confused when they attempted to exit through the
vault’s day gate. Consequently, a motion-sensitive relay
switch was installed in the ceiling. The day gate
automatically opened whenever a renter passed under it.
This seemed
to eliminate the problem until a savvy senior citizen stuck
his walking cane through the day gate. This activated the
relay switch, the gate opened, and our renter easily entered
the vault, no biometrics needed. How many con men, armed
perhaps with one of Ebay’s locksmith tools, could also do
the same thing?
Insurance Policies Cancelled
A very large
nationwide insurance company has recently notified their
agents and financial clients that liability insurance
coverage will not be provided if self-service boxes are
offered without a secure vault for protection. Financial
institutions should never implement this concept without
obtaining adequate liability coverage. The tragic outcome of
even one disappearance claim could be very significant.
These
institutions must now make some very difficult decisions. Do
they continue offering this dangerous service and hope for
the best? If they choose not to provide it, the cost of
retrofitting all of the one-key, self-service locks back to
the preferred dual-key lock system will be formidable.
Finally, renters accustomed to the ease and convenience of
these self-service boxes must now be convinced that a
dual-lock safe deposit box, housed inside a secured vault,
is in their best interest.
In Conclusion
These
stories are just a few of many nightmare situations that
have occurred when management is not properly informed,
correct access procedures are not followed, and your safe
deposit contracts are not structured properly. If you would
like further information about self-service boxes, call
(713) 937-9929 or visit our web site at
www.sdspec.com. On this web site there are other
informative “self-service” news articles and a manual with
additional information about this dangerous concept.
About the Author:
David P. McGuinn, President of Safe Deposit Specialists, is
a former banker and is often referred to nationwide as the
safe deposit GURU. In all 50 states he has trained over
200,000 safe deposit personnel since 1969 and has served as
President of the American Institute of Banking and the
American, Texas and Houston Safe Deposit Associations. He
has created numerous safe deposit manuals, training videos,
compliance brochures and other products including a
comprehensive manual titled “The Pros and Cons of Offering
Self-Service Boxes”. During the past 35 years, McGuinn’s
safe deposit products have been recognized as the national
standard for the financial industry.
|
Rich Woldt -
A paper on the
Risk
Management Learning Center "Pyramid Road to Recovery" and
Abraham Maslow's "hierarchy of needs!" |
The Risk Management Learning
Center
“Pyramid Road to Recovery”
By Rich Woldt CPP, CFE
Note to reader:
I’ve taken much of Maslow’s biography from a paper written
by Dr. C. George Boeree published at web site:
http://www.ship.edu/~cgboeree/maslow.html I recommend
this site for your studies on Personality Profiles.
The blue
highlights in this paper are my editorial comments offered
to clarify the relationship between Maslow's hierarchy of
needs and our road to recovery pyramid.
The foundation of our “Pyramid Road to Recovery” is based
on the work of psychologist Abraham Maslow (1908 – 1970)
who, while I can’t claim him as a close friend, I can claim
him as a fellow graduate from the University of Wisconsin.
My real respect for Abraham Maslow comes from his life
experiences and his focus on friends and family. It is this
same focus on our communities and country that unit us after
a disaster like Katrina or crisis like 9-11.
Abraham Harold Maslow was born April 1, 1908 in Brooklyn,
New York. He was the first of seven children born to his
parents, who themselves were uneducated Jewish immigrants
from Russia. His parents, hoping for the best for their
children in the new world, pushed him hard for academic
success. Not surprisingly, he became very lonely as a boy,
and found his refuge in books.
To satisfy his parents, he first studied law at the City
College of New York (CCNY). After three semesters, he
transferred to Cornell, and then back to CCNY. He married
Bertha Goodman, his first cousin, against his parent’s
wishes. Abe and Bertha went on to have two daughters.
He and Bertha moved to Wisconsin
so that he could attend the University of Wisconsin.
Here, he became interested in psychology, and his school
work began to improve dramatically. He spent time in Madison working with Harry Harlow,
who is famous for his experiments with baby rhesus monkeys
and attachment behavior.
He received his BA in 1930, his
MA in 1931, and his PhD in 1934, all in psychology, all from
the University of Wisconsin. A year after
graduation, he returned to New York to work with E. L.
Thorndike at Columbia, where he became interested in
research on human sexuality. This might be another reason
why I like Maslow. His efforts to
understand gender differences during a crisis, while they’re
not emphasized in our work, have influenced our trauma
management protocols.
He began teaching full time at Brooklyn College. During
this period of his life, he came into contact with the many
European intellectuals that were immigrating to the US, and
Brooklyn in particular, at that time -- people like Adler,
Fromm, Horney, as well as several Gestalt and Freudian
psychologists. Again, my respect
for Maslow has much to do with his European ties and his
global view of human nature.
Maslow served as the chair of the psychology department
at Brandeis from 1951 to 1969.
While there he met Kurt Goldstein, who had originated the
idea of self-actualization in his famous book, The
Organism (1934). It was also here that he
began his crusade for a humanistic psychology -- something
ultimately much more important to him than his own
theorizing. It is his focus on
“humanistic psychology” that leads me to believe our
“Pyramid Road to Recovery” will work in all cultures,
communities, and countries regardless of political ideology
or social disparages.
He spent his final years in semi-retirement in
California, until, on June 8 1970, he died of a heart attack
after years of ill health.
Theory
One of the many interesting things Maslow noticed while
he worked with monkeys early in his career was
some needs take precedence over
others. For example, if you are hungry and thirsty,
you will tend to try to take care of the thirst first.
After all, you can do without food for weeks, but you can
only do without water for a couple of days! Thirst is a
“stronger” need than hunger. Likewise, if you are very
thirsty, but someone has put a choke hold on you and you
can’t breathe, which is more important? The need to breathe
is more important, of course. On the other hand, sex is
less powerful than any of these. We all know, you won’t die
if you don’t get it! Knowing all
this helps us prioritize our response protocols during a
disaster.
  |
Maslow took this idea and created his now famous
hierarchy of needs. Beyond the details of air, water,
food, and sex, he laid out five broader layers: the
physiological needs, the needs for safety and security, the
needs for love and belonging, the needs for esteem, and the
need to actualize the self, in that order.
In our Risk Management Learning
Center model, we break these into three levels. First are
the physiological, safety and security needs focused on by
first responders, insurance companies, financial
institutions, and the business community. Second, we focus
on “sociological” needs or the need to belong such as to a
business association, veteran’s organization, church, or
social club. And finally we address the need for self esteem
and self actualization through schools, colleges,
universities, and continuing educations.
1. The physiological needs. These include the
needs we have for oxygen, water, protein, salt, sugar,
calcium, and other minerals and vitamins. They also include
the need to maintain a pH balance (getting too acidic or
base will kill you) and temperature (98.6 or near to it).
Also, there’s the needs to be active, to rest, to sleep, to
get rid of wastes (CO2, sweat, urine, and feces), to avoid
pain, and to have sex. Quite a collection!
Watch how these needs and their
order of importance are handled by the Chief of Operations
in our Incident Command System.
Maslow believed, and research supports him, that these
are in fact individual needs, and that a lack of, say,
vitamin C, will lead to a very specific hunger for things
which have in the past provided that vitamin C -- e.g.
orange juice. I guess the cravings that some pregnant women
have, and the way in which babies eat the most foul tasting
baby food, support the idea anecdotally.
2. The safety and security needs. When the
physiological needs are largely taken care of, this second
layer of needs comes into play. You will become
increasingly interested in finding safe circumstances,
stability, and protection. You might develop a need for
structure, for order, some limits.
This is why “command and control” is so important during
any crisis situation. It is why community leaders need to
respond and assess damages in as visible a manor as
possible. Watch how this level of needs will influence all
four Chiefs (Operations, Planning, Logistics, and Finance).
This is why insurance companies activate not only their
claims personnel but their Account Relationship personnel at
the Emergency Operations Center (EOC).
Looking at it negatively, you become concerned, not with
needs like hunger and thirst, but with your fears and
anxieties. In the ordinary American adult, this set of
needs manifest themselves in the form of our urges to have a
home in a safe neighborhood, a little job security and a
nest egg, a good retirement plan and a bit of insurance, and
so on. Note the progression from
safe neighborhood to a job to liquidity and long term
savings, and insurance. Watch how this progression
influences the response protocols at each level of the Risk
Management Learning Center Pyramid Road to Recovery (P-R to
R).
3. The love and belonging needs. When
physiological needs and safety needs are, by and large,
taken care of, a third layer starts to show up. You begin
to feel the need for friends, companions, children, and
affectionate relationships in general, even a sense of
community. Looked at negatively, you become increasing
susceptible to loneliness and social anxieties.
Remember this because it will drive
the route we take victim on from the hot site, through
recovery, and back to normal. Katrina, by its sheer size,
increased the distance victims had to travel before they
felt safe and secure. This, however, increased the distance
they will now have to travel to get back home.
In our day-to-day life, we exhibit these needs in our
desires to marry, have a family, be a part of a community, a
member of a church, a brother in the fraternity, a part of a
gang or a bowling club. It is also a part of what we look
for in a career. Note the
progression from immediate relationships to long term goals
that lead to self esteem and self actualization. These also
will influence many of the recommended victim assistance
strategies in our P-R to R.
4. The esteem needs. Next, we begin to look for
a little self-esteem. Maslow noted two versions of esteem
needs, a lower one and a higher one. The lower one is the
need for the respect of others, the need for status, fame,
glory, recognition, attention, reputation, appreciation,
dignity, even dominance. This is
why it’s so important to have an established chain of
command prior to a crisis. Otherwise, there are those who’ll
take command even when they don’t really know what to do.
For example, during Katrina, people were hiring buses to
evacuate victims when doing so put the victims in more
danger than had they been left to shelter in place. I refer
to the bus used to evacuate victims on oxygen. The
higher form involves the need for self-respect, including
such feelings as confidence, competence, achievement,
mastery, independence, and freedom. Note that this is the
“higher” form because, unlike the respect of others, once
you have self-respect, it’s a lot harder to lose!
Watch for our Incident Command
System focus for schools, colleges, universities, and
continuing education programs.
The negative version of these needs is low self-esteem
and inferiority complexes. Maslow felt that Adler was
really onto something when he proposed that these were at
the roots of many, if not most, of our psychological
problems. In modern countries, most of us have what we need
in regard to our physiological and safety needs. We, more
often than not, have quite a bit of love and belonging,
too. It’s a little respect that often seems so very hard to
get! Much of the looting between
the time victims evacuate and hurricanes hit land is driven
by organized gangs who have a perception that it’s OK to
steel from the rich or the “haves” in the neighborhood. Read
some of the published incident reports from Katrina and
Wilma.
All of the preceding four levels he calls deficit
needs, or D-needs. If you don’t have enough of
something -- i.e. you have a deficit -- you feel the need.
But if you get all you need, you feel nothing at all! In
other words, they cease to be motivating. As the old blues
song goes, “you don’t miss your water till your well runs
dry!” Now that you know where the
“Pyramid - Road to Recovery” came from. Consider what you
witnessed before, during and after Katrina. Refer to the
response protocols we posted for first responders, victims,
and evacuees. And than consider the focus you will place
on your “Incident Command System.” Will it be on the level
#1 “Physiological,” level #2 “Belongingness,” or level #3
“Self Esteem and Self Actualization,” needs of the victim?
|
Rich Woldt White Paper -
Risk
Management Lessons Learned During Hurricane Season 2005
|
Risk Management
Lessons Learned During Hurricane Season 2005
By: Rich Woldt – CEO of the Risk
Management Learning Center
The hurricanes of 2005 brought out
the best and worst in all of us.
Our best was highlighted by an international response
to Katrina, tapping the support and resources of virtually
every good citizen from every community around the world.
The worst was highlighted by a media that focused on the
looting, the shooting, the failed rescue efforts and the few
who spent most of their time criticizing government agencies
for failing to live up to their expectations. Most of the
finger pointing was driven by frustration and fear while
some was exaggerate by those creating sound-bites for the
next election.
Fact is, the hurricanes of ’05
taught us much of what we already knew. They taught us that
bad things happen to good people when they don’t heed the
warnings of emanate danger. They taught us that failing to
plan is planning to fail, and no matter how much we plan, we
need a system of command and control to lead us out of harms
way.
So let’s wind the clock back to
any point before any one of the ’05 hurricanes and assess
what we knew at the time. We knew hurricanes
destroy just about everything in their path and the damage
caused will be directly related to the intensity (category)
reached when they hits land. We also knew we had a well
tested and reasonably accurate system in place to track
hurricanes from birth to death and warn almost everyone in
harms way. We knew that for the most part everyone in harms
way had learned for generations how to protect their
property, prepare themselves, and either seek shelter
(house-in-place) or evacuate. Finally, we knew that
hurricanes traumatize everyone in their path and everyone
who cares; period. After all, we knew trauma is not
driven by political ideology, religion, or social class.
It’s driven by the guilt we feel when we know we should have
done or be doing something to help. It’s driven by the
“fear” we feel when we realize it could be happening to us
or someone we love. And trauma is driven by the profound
“sense of not being in control” of our present or future.
We’ve learned through experience that
all property and casualty risks increase before,
during, and after a hurricane. For example, much
like businesses that wrote “contingency plans” for recovery,
looters wrote action plans to implement between the time
evacuees left New Orleans and when Katrina hit shore. Before
Katrina, New Orleans law enforcement knew gangs living in
the high crime rate areas of the city were going to loot the
French Quarter and shoot at anyone trying to stop them.
Looting, burglaries, robberies, extortion, kidnapping,
fraud, scams, and even murders and gang reprisals all
escalate when social barriers and municipal safeguards
collapse. Therefore, insurance and bonding companies
need to plan for escalating real and bogus claims, increased
insurance fraud, increased scams, and defaults on premium
payments.
Note to
Readers: The 2005 hurricanes provided our RMLC
faculty with a number of R&D opportunities. I encourage you
to read the Katrina’ white papers, incident reports, and ICS
postings we issued to first responders, victims, and
evacuees. When possible in ’06, RMLC workshops and
presentations will include lessons learned before, during,
and after Katrina. We’re developing three “Virtual” Incident
Command System’ templates for Property/Casualty carriers,
financial institutions, and community leaders using our
“Community Outreach Programs.” All are adopted from the
Incident Commands used by emergency governments throughout
the gulf coast. Refer to our home-page postings and the
tutorials under “Pages under Constructions” for more
information.
Contingency
Planning – Conclusions and Recommendations:
Risk Management (RM) assessments during
Katrina underscored the importance of well written and
tested contingency plans. For the most part plans required
by financial institution regulators, those written for the
private business community and those recommended for
schools, elderly and child care facilities, and hospitals
worked well. It appears the plans written for insurance
companies and financial institutions scored the highest
followed by those written for schools and public utilities.
Most other plans failed because they were outdated or
written to the “Disaster Recovery” standards of the ’70s the
“Business Continuity” standards of the ‘80s and ‘90s, or the
“Business Resumption” standards acceptable prior to 9-11.
Contingency plans written and updated to post 9-11 protocols
worked best until they too were overwhelmed by incident
“scope creep,” and the escalating breakdown in
communications followed by a failure to command and control
the response from the private sector.
RMLC
Solutions:
Our contingency planning workshops in
2006 will focus on conducting accurate damage assessments,
determining the scope of the incident, and launching an
appropriate incident response.
2006
Incident Command Systems – Command & Control
Professional first responders,
specifically fire fighters have used the “Incident Command
System (ICS)” for decades to provide incident command and
control appropriate to the scope of each incident. So, on
9-11 when terrorist attacked the World Trade Center, fire
fighters responded following their traditional “unified”
command protocols only to learn that staging areas were
located too close to the collapsing towers and EMTs entering
the towers would never come out alive. They also learned
that terrorist often stage an attack as a decoy to lure
responding assets to a staging area and than attack the
staging area. Consequently, post 9-11 Incident Command (IC)
response protocols focused not only on launching a speedy
and appropriate response, but equally important, on
protecting and defending all response personnel and recovery
resources.
Our assessment of the response
protocols used by law enforcement, fire fighters, Emergency
Government and Homeland Security personnel, for the most
part, indicated most professional first responders followed
the book as it was written after 9-11. For example, Incident
Commanders placed a high priority on the safety and security
of responding personnel and management of recovery assets.
Unfortunately, their focus on safety and security slowed
their response and gave the impression they were failing to
meet the needs of the victims awaiting rescue. This than
helped motivate and fuel a response from the private sector
that in turn provided the media with endless sound bites and
political extremists the fodder they needed to blame the
other party for allowing Katrina to land on New Orleans.
RMLC
Solutions:
Insurance companies call it
“indemnification,” business leaders call it “business
resumption,” community leaders call it “survival” and we all
call it “getting back to normal.” The ultimate goal is to
get victims back to a like and similar position they were in
prior to Katrina. RMLC workshops in 2006 will adopt the
Incident Command System (ICS) to every walk of life, using
the National Incident Management System (NIMS) as our
performance standard.
Three ICS templates are being
developed. One to focus on a victim’s “physiological”
needs such as food, shelter, security, and the need to make
a living and provide for their family. This template will
work well for any insurance company, bank, credit union, or
employer. Our goal is to re-establish any lost economic base
within the affected community. The second ICS template will
respond to a victim’s “sociological” needs or the need to
belong. This template will work best for any business
association, veteran’s organization, club, society, or group
fostering a community response to the incident. The third
ICS template will respond to a victim’s “self esteem” or
“self actualization” needs. This template will work best for
school administrators, church leaders, or anyone promoting a
career or hobby that might redefine the victims self worth.
Together the three ICS templates will carry a victim through
the recovery process. Our strategy is to first rebuild their
economic base, than restore their identity by reconnecting
them to a place where they belong, and finally we restore
their self esteem and dignity by offering them hope and a
sense of being back to normal with a bright and promising
future.
After Katrina hit and levees failed, it
became painfully obvious that those responding from the
private sector where either not aware of or chose to ignore
the “command and control” structure used by professional
first responders. In 2006 we’ll offer RM presentations
supported by our three ICS templates.
New Risks
Identified during Katrina – Risk Concentration and Economic
Disparages
Katrina identified new risks associated
with large scale events and natural disasters. For example,
we learned that as the population ages there will be more
who’ll depend on assistance during evacuations, we learned
of gangs who pre-planned looting and gang reprisals against
law enforcement, we learned the impact social welfare
programs have had on survival instincts, and how the
economic disparages between two neighborhoods can cause
economic ciaos when the social order breaks down.
Katrina took us all to the woodshed
for a hard-learned lesson in Risk Management. We could
have predicted much of what occurred in New Orleans based on
the RM research we did in Europe and South Korea (Refer to
my white papers on managing risks triggered by economic
disparages between cultures and communities.) For example,
the economic disparages between East and West Germany was 5
to 1 when the wall fell, it’s 13 to 1 between North and
South Korea. We all witnessed what happened to the economy
of Western Europe when the wall suddenly fell and
neighboring countries where faced with a mass migration of
one economic culture into another. While neighborhoods in
New Orleans are not separated by walls or wire, there
appears to be significant economic disparages between the
have and the have-nots living within blocks of the French
Quarter. Economic disparages tend to equate to crime rates
so in the future municipal leaders should be able to
anticipate such crimes as lootings and shootings triggered
by any breakdown in the social order.
RMLC
Solutions:
RM workshops in 06 will reinforce RM
fundamentals to include how to more effectively identify and
more accurately measure risks created by the concentration
of criminal activity in an adjoining neighborhood. We’ll
cover the impact of barriers suddenly disappearing between
economic cultures. We’ll re-write the steps evacuees should
take to protect property they must leave behind and teach
them how to create controllable crime scenes so looters can
be identified and brought to justice. We’ll also teach
victims how to better document their losses, support their
claims and work with insurance companies to reach a fair and
honest settlement. We’ll design and develop appropriate
response protocols for the general public that compliment
rather than duplicate the efforts of professional first
responders. And, finally, we’ll create a secure and safe
path for victims to follow from disaster through recovery,
back to normal, and on to a bright and promising future.
For more background on our
Virtual - Incident Command Systems, study the V-ICS
templates posted at
RMLearningCenter.com.
Rich Woldt – CEO of the Risk Management Learning Center
|
Paul Bergee
New Releases December 2005 -
Bergee
Business Continuity Planning, LLC
833 N High
Point Road Madison WI 53717 608-444-4396:
|
|
Pandemic -
Is this Y2K-II?
I do not know if businesses
are thinking about this, but the impact of a major pandemic
to business operations could be significant. If you assume
that 30% or more of your staff will not or cannot show up at
work, what will it do to operations? Will you send the desk
top computers and the telephones to the employees’ homes?
Will the virus be transported on the equipment or delivered
to the employees’ homes in the mail? How will you manage
people, conduct meetings or meet with customers? Any
industry with large manufacturing machines or assembly lines
will find this to be a nearly impossible situation.
This is all starting to have
that 1998/1999 feeling. Instead of chips failing, it’s the
people failing.
Is it time to dust off the Y2K
plan and revisit your high priority tasks, determine who
will be expected to work and start planning for a long term
business interruption? Some authorities are saying that a
full pandemic could last 12 to 18 months. Could you sustain
business operations with major staff reductions for that
amount of time?
Or is this just another Y2K
event in which nothing happened? Or did Y2K and all the
activity and money spent really save us from a catastrophe?
I was in the middle of the Y2K preparations and I too sat in
our command center on December 31, 1999, waiting.
Waiting for the big shoe to drop.
At 1:15 AM we shut off the lights and went home ate our food
supplies and used up our D Cell batteries. It is my opinion
that if we had done little or nothing the shoe would have
dropped.
I have no idea if we need to
prepare to the Y2K preparation level. My guess is no. But I
do think the business community needs to have some real
information on this subject. Knowledge and preparations are
indeed very important so that we can overcome the fear and
anxiety generated from something like a pandemic.
A few questions you need to
answer are noted above. I assume we could generate many
more. Some additional questions that come to mind are:
·
Is this real?
·
How careful do we need to be in
transporting equipment, files and paper?
·
What about all those parts and
pieces imported from Asia?
·
Do we need to prepare for a
large “home” or “cottage industry” work environment?
·
Where could we outsource work
during the pandemic?
·
What about payroll and sick
leave management?
·
Are there liability issues if we
insist on people working at the office?
·
What can we do to control the
office environment to isolate employees?
·
Will business interruption
insurance cover this issue?
The point is that businesses
need to consider preplanning for this potential event. Think
about how you will handle business operation, reroute
telephones, exchange information and keep the business
operations running with significantly reduced staff levels.
You must also prepare informational bulletins to inform your
staff of some of the issues to expect during a major
business interruption of this kind.
|
Paul Bergee
New Release -
Pandemics -
business considerations for debate...
Bergee
Business Continuity Planning, LLC
833 N High
Point Road Madison WI 53717 608-444-4396: |
A pandemic and some critical
information for businesses to consider:
·
The vast majority of business income
continuation insurance or business interruption insurance
may not be honored in a pandemic situation. A pandemic
may not be a covered peril.
You must talk
to your insurance vendor and discuss this issue
immediately!
·
Using the internet and homes for alternate
working locations will not work. Current line
capacities will not allow for this option
Your internet
and telephone provider should be able to help you with this.
But you must point out that several hundred companies with
thousands of employees will be attempting to do this at the
same time. Or should I say millions of employees throughout
the country.
·
Federal and state authorities continue to say
that they will not and do not have the ability to help
businesses and individuals during a pandemic. YOU ARE ON
YOUR OWN!
They are
planning and you must plan too. Hundreds of federal, state
and local agencies are taking major steps towards responding
to this issue. And so are hospitals, clinics and other
health care providers. The private sector must keep pace
with these public services now!
·
Care of sick employees may also become an
ethical responsibility of the already suffering
businesses
Think about
it. Are you just going to let people go, without benefits
and let them survive on their own?
·
Don’t be fooled by the idea that you will have
3 or 4 weeks to make your business ready once the pandemic
starts.
In all
likelihood it will take three to four weeks before the
authorities know of the pandemic status. Your business
may have only days or hours to prepare. With all the
technical details, HR issues and decisions, it will take you
weeks to properly put together a responsible and intelligent
business response plan.
·
Only 14% of all businesses in the United
States have pandemic business interruption plans in place as
of May 1, 2006. We need to put a much higher priority on
this issue.
Fourteen
percent just does not do it to survive this event. Many
billions of dollars will be lost in business income and
wages. Many scientists are saying this is inevitable. We
seem to bury ourselves in denial and hope someone will bail
us out. Think about the response to Katrina and then
expand that scenario several hundred times. And you are on
your own too.
|
Paul Bergee
New Release -
Pandemics -
Can we survive with 40% fewer employees?
Bergee
Business Continuity Planning, LLC
833 N High
Point Road Madison WI 53717 608-444-4396: |
Can Wisconsin
Businesses Survive With 40% Fewer Employees?
The movie last week on TV, Fatal
Contact, should spark discussion on planning. Much of the
movie had real facts. Much of material was indeed beyond the
level of believability and should be ignored. However, all
the authorities are telling us that we could experience
employee losses up to 40% during a pandemic. Losses will be
due to illness, fear and care for family members. We have to
keep in mind that 40% is an AVERAGE. In some locations
businesses could experience up to 80% or 90% losses.
But let’s focus on the 40%.
A pandemic will affect all of us. Let’s
assume a scenario of a pandemic flu in full swing. It’s
winter time and your employee’s family member or members
spouse have has been taken to a temporary site for health
care. Notice that I did not say hospital – the hospitals
will be filled and forty percent of their staff will also be
missing. The emergency care location may be a university
dorm or a school in your neighborhood. Most families will be
required to take care of themselves because of precautionary
distancing and possible quarantine. Your family is ill but
somewhat functional in that they can take care of
themselves.
Your employees’ friends and family and
employer all know that they are sick. Some of them may bring
over a nice hot dish and slide it under the door. You’re
running low on fuel oil and you call the oil dealership you
use and they say that they are real “sorry, but 40% of their
employees are sick and they are over three weeks behind on
normal keep fill deliveries”. You call another dealership
and they are not getting supplies from the oil companies
because the fuel oil production rate is down 40%.
You are running low on food and think
that you need to run to the store for supplies. A snow storm
has dumped eleven inches of snow on the road and the roads
are not plowed because 40% of the road crews are sick with
the flu. Somehow you manage to get to the local grocery
store and find that 40% of the store is empty of critical
supplies. Rationing is the order of the day. You go over to
the ATM to get cash. Your employer did not deposit the
payroll because 40% of the office is sick and it took out
the entire payroll department. Your employer did not have a
plan ready.
Digging in your purse or wallet you
find a credit card and assume that at least you can charge
the food on plastic. The credit card companies’ computer
system, however, it is not working because the telephone
lines are down due to the snow storm. Communication systems
are not operating because repair crews cannot fix the lines.
Most of the companies’ computer systems are not running
because 40% of the operators have the flu.
Now let’s add to this list of 40%;
ambulance service, garbage pickup, water distribution and
repair, sewer management and repair, farm production and 40%
of the cows cannot be milked. The Red Cross response is
reduced because 40% of the volunteers are sick. Public
services for elder care and dependent living are down 40%.
Responses to disasters are diminished. And what about 40% of
tax collection, insurance claim payments, manufacturing of
parts and supplies, airlines, driver’s licenses and plates,
law enforcement and response, fire response, child care,
schools and universities. We could see a reduction in TV
production with 40% of the staff sick. The troops in war
zones are down 40% and producers of vaccines are slowed down
too.
This scenario is endless and it impacts
not just a single city, region or nation; it will impact,
40% of the world.
We must prepare now!
|
Paul Bergee
New Release -
Bergee
Business Continuity Planning, LLC
833 N High
Point Road Madison WI 53717 608-444-4396:
|
BRPAW is
planning a special business forum on the pandemic issues in
February. We are gathering panelist from the U/W, State,
Dane County Health, American Red Cross etc to discuss this
issue. We would enjoy inviting other groups ASIS, ARMA, Risk
management, groups to this program. Our target is 2 p.m. Feb 15th
at American Family.
Following are topics we hope to discuss:
·
If you assume
30% or more of your staff will not or cannot show up at
work, what will it do to operations?
·
Fear during a
pandemic could be your worst enemy.
People may not be sick but they are concerned about
employees with the flu, child care centers, general assembly
locations such as an office or meetings and any number of
related issues.
·
Who prioritizes
operations when some have to be stopped?
·
When you relocate
equipment to the employee’s home how will you address the
following?
1.
Security
of the information, equipment, and personnel.
2.
Practicality of moving
the equipment if this is only for a few days. Will the move
be for the duration of the pandemic?
3.
How will you handle the
limited phone line connections at a residence? Are
you going to install lines for the computer, phones and fax?
4.
How do you handle
interdependencies for copy machines, computer support,
printing, mail and distribution both in and out.
5.
If you want to consider
offering laptop computers to staff, how will you
control access to your LAN and network hardware and software
needs?
7.
If possible we recommend
call forward on all critical task telephones so that
persons can work from home. Remember that many people do not
have multiple phone lines at their home and may not want to
use their private lines for business.
·
Cross training
of all critical tasks is extremely important. You would want
to consider at least two to three trained backup persons for
all critical tasks.
·
Will the virus be
transported on the equipment or delivered to the employees’
homes in the mail? Talk to the health authorities.
·
How will you manage
people, conduct meetings or meet with customers?
·
Authorities claim a
full pandemic could last 12 to 18 months. Does your plan
sustain business operations with major staff reductions for
that amount of time?
·
Do we have to be
careful when transporting equipment, files and paper? We
recommend that you contact the local health authorities to
get answers to these questions.
·
What about all those
parts and pieces imported from Asia?
·
Do we need to prepare
for a large “home” or “cottage industry” work environment?
We discussed this earlier in the planning process. Up front
it sounds like a solid idea. It does have many related
issues and you have to decide how you will retrieve the
equipment if the person becomes ill.
·
Where could we
outsource work during the pandemic?
·
What about payroll
and sick leave management? We are recommending that your
management group and human resource persons determine how
this will be handled today. Will you allow people to use
vacation time, leave without pay etc.?
·
Are there liability
issues if we insist on people working at the office? Be sure
to discuss this with your attorney and HR
·
What can we do to
control the office environment to isolate employees? We
recommend that you contact the local health authorities to
get answers to these questions.
·
Will business
interruption insurance cover this issue? I have discussed
this with several insurance professionals and all of them
have stated that there will be no coverage under this
type of peril. We recommend that you confirm this with your
insurance representative.
·
You need to think
about how you will handle business operation, reroute
telephones, exchange information and keep the business
operations running with significantly reduced staff levels.
·
We suggest that you
prepare or share public informational bulletins to inform
your staff of some of the issues to expect during a major
business interruption of this kind. Include information
about incubation periods:
Can you answer the
following:
Can you get the flu more than
once? Should people wear gloves, and if so, what type? What
are the signs/symptoms of bird flu?
When
is it contagious?
Is
there a cure? What immediate action is needed? Could you be
a carrier and not show symptoms?
How
long are victims contagious?
How
is it transmitted (can it be via elevator buttons,
keyboards, phones, and do we turn off air exchangers?)
If
a disaster strikes during a pandemic, You may want to
consider these questions:
1.
If the hot site
location/city is reporting very high pandemic conditions
will your staff be willing to relocate?
2.
It would be wise to add
additional team members for backup. Who would you choose and
why?
3.
Are your alternate sites
available?
4.
Will the external
support services you need also be having staff/flu issues
and be unable to support you at the expected levels for
service, repair and installations?
5.
You may want to consider
adding additional restoration resources to your current
plan.
·
Special Security
Issues
The general public, customers,
maintenance vendors will be a concern as carriers of the
flu. It may be valuable to discuss how you will handle this
issue. Is it legal to ask them questions about their flu
status? Could you set up an isolation area for these persons
and teleconference through a window? Could you take
equipment to the isolation room for repair. Do you have to
ask employees to wait outside the work area while
maintenance persons work on equipment such as copiers,
machines and repair facility equipment? Then is it necessary
to clean the equipment prior to operation by your staff.
·
Terrorist, disgruntled employee, or an
angry customer may use the flu as a tool for business
interruption. Or even a threat may be a method for causing
disruption. Again you need to consider this issue and
determine if the threat is real, set up some procedures for
handling the threat and determine how you will validate the
threat. Remember, a threat is not a specific action and it
simply may be just a threat and nothing will ever happen.
You just need to think about how this will be handled,
employee reactions and assume that fear will be a major
element in this issue.
|
Rich Woldt
... FYI
Information from Continuity Central at
www.continuitycenteral.com
|
Continuity Central Pandemic Planning Survey
Results
Over
the month from October 6 to November 10, Continuity Central
(www.continuitycentral.com) conducted an online survey which
aimed to discover how seriously business continuity managers
are taking the issue of a potential influenza pandemic and
what measures are being included in business continuity
plans. Overall, 221 complete responses were received.
Question 1 — Is it important that
pandemic impacts are covered by business continuity plans?
The survey asked whether respondents believe that it is
important that pandemic impacts are covered by business
continuity plans. The results gave a very clear answer:
"yes". Overall, 83.2 percent of respondents said "yes, it is
important that pandemic impacts are covered by business
continuity plans", with 6.5 percent saying "no" and 9.6
percent "not sure". These results were consistent across all
organization sizes: 82.4 percent of large, 84.7 percent of
medium and 83.9 percent of small organizations stated that
it is important that pandemic impacts are covered by
business continuity plans.
When the sample was analyzed by vertical sector, again there
was unanimity across most sectors. More than 90 percent of
respondents in the banking, healthcare, insurance,
manufacturing, public, telecoms, transport and utilities
sectors said "yes" — that it is important that pandemic
impacts are covered by business continuity plans. However,
one sector stood out from the crowd. Only 72.5 percent of
responders in the financial services sector thought that it
was important that pandemic impacts are covered by business
continuity plans. 17.7 percent of respondents in this sector
were unsure whether it is an issue or not.
Question 2 — Do organizational BC
plans include preparations for pandemic impacts?
The second question looked at levels of current
preparedness, asking respondents to answer yes, not yet, or
no to the statement "My organization’s business continuity
plans include preparations for pandemic impacts". Overall,
27.9 percent of respondents replied "Yes — we have already
considered this issue"; 54 percent stated "Not yet — but it
will be included in the near future"; and 18.1 percent said
"No, and there are no plans to include pandemic impacts in
the future." Interestingly, 43.5 percent of the latter
agreed that it is important that pandemic impacts are
covered by business continuity plans. This presumably either
displays internal resistance against pandemic planning which
is out of the control of the business continuity manager, or
demonstrates worrying complacency and lack of initiative.
Some differences arise when the responses to this question
are broken down by company size. 38 percent of small firms
(less than 100 staff) and 29.9 percent of large firms (500+
staff) have already included pandemic preparations within
business continuity plans, but only 7.1 percent of medium
sized companies (classed as those with between 100 and 499
staff ) have done so. However, 78.6 percent of medium—sized
firms stated that pandemic scenarios will be included in BC
plans in the near future (large said 52.7 percent, small
said 33 percent). This may indicate that for various reasons
business continuity planning processes take longer in
medium—sized firms. Possibly they often lack the agility of
the small firm and the resources of the large ones.
Levels of preparedness varied significantly by sector. The
following table shows the number of respondents from various
sectors who stated that their organization’s business
continuity plans already include preparations for pandemic
impacts:
-
Public sector — 42 percent
-
Computing — 40 percent
-
Transport — 33 percent
-
Banking — 30 percent
-
Financial sector — 26.5 percent
-
Healthcare — 20 percent
-
Insurance — 17 percent
-
Telecoms — 17 percent
-
Utilities — 14 percent
|
Tony
Conti Release - Incident Report filed on Katrina the Day of
Deployment |
Hello Rich; Following
is my Incident Report on our response to Katrina so far....
First & foremost; Initial /First responders are and WILL be
ALL FEMA trained and qualified "URBAN SEARCH & RESCUE TASK
FORCE PERSONNEL" (U.S.A.R. TF-1)
ALL
supplies were inventoried and split into equipment caches
and palletized, shrink wrapped, labeled with contents &
destination.
ALL
personnel are/were to be immunized-inoculated for "AREA
SPECIFIC" health concerns.
Military/Nat'l guard put on notice for mobilization point and
departure times.
All convoy vehicles/trailers driven by US&R personnel with
Additional resources/equipment in trailers.
Checkpoints will be established along with radio communications and
back-up or alternate communications & networks.
Drop - off locations are pre-determined for resources and equipment
unless otherwise. (alternate locations are also given for
emergency or weather related problems)
A "B.O.O." or Base Of Operations will be established and set
up along with communications antenna's /links along with
satellite up-link phones or com-units.
Initial instructions and responsibilities will be established and
distributed along with having several briefings/meetings to
bring present and responding teams up to par with the
on-going situations and changes.
LOVE YA UNCLE RICH;
TONY CONTI
PRES.
TACT-SOURCE SECURITY CONSULTING, LLC.
|
Deep Throat 007: Incident Report filed on Katrina during
rescue operations - Source asked not to be identied. |
NOTE To Reader: It
is our policy to post incident reports that come
from a confirmed source who has first hand knowledge of
an incident or RM operation. What's posted below is not
edited so read it with the knowledge that the
author was angry at the moment. Agree or disagree, the
impressions of the moment will influence future actions
taken by volunteers during the next disaster. It is
therefore our goal to accept all incident reports as
written and use them in our RMLC studies. At worst the
following underscores a first responders frustration, at
best it underscores our need to have a well planned
evacuation protocol so the needy get help and those who
don't need a handout are properly handled by law
enforcement. Rich Woldt
SO I VOLUNTEERED..........I thought I might inform the
few friends I have on my recent traumatic experience. I
am going to tell it straight, blunt, raw, and I don't
give a damn. I went to volunteer on Saturday at the
George R. Brown convention for two reasons. A: I wanted to
help people to get a warm fuzzy. B: Curiosity. I've been
watching the news lately and have seen scenes that have
made me want to vomit. And no it wasn't dead bodies, the
city under water, or the sludge everywhere. It was
PEOPLE" BEHAVIOR. The people on TVwere DEMANDING help.
They were not asking nicely but demanding as if society
owed these people something. Well the honest truth is WE
DON'T. Help should be asked for in a kind manner and
then appreciated. This is not what the press (FOX in
particularwas showing, what I was seeing was a group of
people who are yelling,demanding, looting, killing,
raping, and SHOOTING back at the demanded help!!!!! So
I'm thinking this can't possibly be true can it???? So I
decide to submit to the DEMAND for help out of SHOCK. I
couldn't believe this to be true of the majority of the
people who are the weakest of society. So I went to
volunteer and help folks out and see the truth. So I
will tell the following story and you decide:
I arrived at the astrodome only to find out that there
are too many volunteers and that volunteers where needed
at the George R. Brown Convention Center. As I was
walking up to the Convention Center I noticed a line of
cars that wrapped around blocks filled with donations.
These where ordinary Houstonians coming with truckloads
and trunks full of water, diapers, clothes, blankets,
food, all types of good stuff. And lots of it was NEW. I
felt that warm fuzzy while helping unload these vehicles
of these wonderful human beings. I then went inside the
building and noticed approximately 100,000 sq. ft. of
clothes, shoes, jackets, toys and all types of goodies
all organized and ready for the people in need. I signed
up, received a name badge and was on my merry way
excited to be useful. I toured the place to get familiar
with my surrounding; the entire place is probably around
2 million sq. ft. I noticed rows as far as the eye can
see of mattresses, not cots, BLOW UP MATTRESSES!!!
All of which had nice pillows and plenty of blankets. 2
to 3 bottles of water lay on every bed. These full size
to queen size beds by the way where comfortable, I laid
in one to see for myself. I went to look at the medical
area. I couldn't believe what my eyes were seeing!!! A
makeshift hospital created in 24 hours!!! It was
unbelievable, they even had a pharmacy. I also noticed
that they created showers, which would also have hot
water. I went upstairs to the third floor to find a HUGE
cafeteria created in under 24 hours! Rows of tables,
chairs and food everywhere enough to feed an army! I'm
not talking about crap food either. They had Jason's
deli food, apples, oranges, coke, diet coke, lemonade,
orange juice, cookies, all types of chips and
sandwiches. All the beverages by the way was put on ice
and chilled!!!! In a matter of about 24 hours or less an
entire mini-city was erected by volunteers for the poor
evacuees. This was not your rundown crap shelter, it was
BUM HEAVEN.
So that was the layout: great food, comfy beds, clean
showers, free medical help, by the way there was a
library, and a theatre room I forgot to mention. Great
stuff right????
Well here is what happened on my journey I started by
handing out COLD water bottles to evacuees as they got
off the bus. Many would take them and only 20% or less
said thank you. Lots of them would shake their heads and
ask for sodas! So this went on for about 20-30 minutes
until I was sick of being an unappreciated servant. I
figured certainly these folks would appreciate some
food!!! So I went upstairs to serve these beloved
evacuees some GOOD food that I wish I could have at the
moment!
***The following statements are graphic, truthful, and
discuss UN-RATIONAL behavior***
Evacuees come slowly to receive this mountain of food
that is worth serving to a king! I tell them that we
have 2 types of great deli sandwiches to choose from -
ham and turkey. Many look at the food in disgust and
DEMAND burgers, pizza, and even McDonalds!!!! Jason's
deli is better than McDonalds!!!! Only 1 out of ten
people who took something would say "thank you" the rest
took items as if it was their God given right to be
served without a shred of appreciation!!! They would ask
for Beer and liquor. They complained that we didn't have
good enough food. They refused food and laughed at us.
They treated us volunteers as if we where SLAVES. No not
all of them of course...but 70% did!!!!!! 20% were
appreciative, 10% took the food without any comment and
the other 70% had some disgusting comment to say. Some
had the nerve to laugh at us. And when I snapped back at
them for being mean, they would curse at me!!! Needless
to say I was in utter shock. They would eat their food
and leave their mess on the table... some would pick up
their stuff, many would leave it for the volunteers to
pick up. I left that real quick to go down and help set
up some more beds. I saw many young ladies
carrying mattresses and I helped for a while. Then
I realized something...there were hundreds of able
bodied young men who could help!! I asked a group
of young evacuees in their teens and early twenties to
help. I got cursed at for asking them to help!!! One
said "We just lost our ****ing homes and you want us to
work!!" The next said .....For
the rest of this incident report, refer to our Faculty
"Deep Throat" files as the language, comments and
violence is not appropriate for public posting. Those
files are open only to RMLC Faculty, recognized Faculty
Mentors and law enforcement. If you you have a research
need to view the rest of this incident report call Rich
at 608-712-7880. Rich Woldt CEO - RMLC
|
Rich Woldt Release - 2004 Ref: Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne...
Employing an Incident Command System
|
Hurricanes Charley and Frances
pounded Grenada and Florida. Then Ivan walloped Jamaica with
more power than Gilbert did in '88. Last word from that island
on Thursday night was, "Don't plan on hearing from us
for at least 6 weeks." And true to prediction,
we've been unable to make any contact there with the League or
any frontline Credit Union risk managers ever since.
In 1988, when level 3 Hurricane Gilbert hit the
island,
60-70% of the Jamaican
communication links were lost. Estimates from Francis are
running as high as 80%. Now Hurricane Jeanne is expected to
hit the Bahamas and Florida while Karl is forming in the
Atlantic -
only half way through the
storm season with no extra time to recover.
ATTENTION:
Post-disaster Recovery tools
are an essential part of any risk management
strategy.
Urgent demand due to current conditions caused by the latest
natural disasters hitting many Credit Unions and their offices
abroad forces us to develop
fresh new guidelines for
setting up and managing disaster recovery
operations.
You can download this recently published RMLC white paper on
creating a Credit Union
Incident Command System with the related Duties
and Responsibilities form to use as an on-site
worksheet.
We are providing this new material as
previously promised, which outlines
Session
#2 of our
(post
hurricane season) Risk
Management Cruise in February, 2005 entitled,
"Lessons learned from
Hurricane Survival - Is your Credit Union Incident Command
System in place and ready to roll?"
Register for ongoing RMLC
e-News releases if this message was
forwarded to you, and grab a copy of our Cruise
Sessions tri-fold for details on all six
sessions to be covered at sea. At least three of these
sessions will focus on aspects of the
Incident Command
System and
the RMLC Web
site will be
regularly updated with the new releases as we continue refine
it.
As for now, many CU's contingency plans are being
tested under actual disaster conditions and Incident Command
Systems are being launched. There is a great deal to learn and
apply from these real-life experiences. While our faculty of
advisors feels confident that most credit unions have some
sort of tested plan in place,
we would like to help you
make sure your organization is secure.
We can assist by
teaching you how to evaluate whether a plan started in 1972
when NCUA issued Regulation #749, most likely upgraded during
the earthquakes of the 80s and probably fine-tuned under
threat of Y2K, will still hold up to unforeseen natural
disasters or the terrorist threats of this decade. Join
us to learn at sea...
September 11, 2001
brought a new interest in contingency planning, introduced
advanced emergency response protocols and launched CEO's and
Board training in the Incident Command System (ICS).
Today we're
here to provide you with the latest tools in risk management
and teach you
how to use them.
Cruise and Learn in the Western Caribbean February,
2005
For more information
on upcoming
events, bios
on the Risk Management Learning Center's expert
team of advisors and speakers, a curriculum of specific topical subject
matter suitable for delivery to your own management team,
staff and/or board of directors through workshops, lectures or presentations please visit
RMLearningCenter.com.
|
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DARRELL SCOTT TESTIMONY -
Columbine High School shooting, prayer in schools, and the
NRA...
|
DARRELL
SCOTT TESTIMONY -- Introduction by Commander VFW Post 8337
2-1-06
On
Thursday, Darrell Scott, the father of Rachel Scott, a
victim of the Columbine High School shootings in Littleton,
Colorado, was invited to address the House Judiciary
Committee's subcommittee What he said to our national
leaders during this special session of Congress was
painfully truthful. They were not prepared for what he was
to say, nor was it received well. It needs to be heard by
every parent, every teacher, every politician, every
sociologist, every psychologist, and every so-called expert!
These courageous words spoken by Darrell Scott are powerful,
penetrating, and deeply personal. There is no doubt that God
sent this man as a voice crying in the wilderness. The
following is a portion of the transcript:
"Since the dawn of creation there has been both good & evil
in the hearts of men and women. We all contain the seeds of
kindness or the seeds of violence. The death of my wonderful
daughter, Rachel Joy Scott, and the deaths of that heroic
teacher, and the other eleven children who died must ! not
be i n vain. Their blood cries out for answers.
"The first recorded act of violence was when Cain slew his
brother Abel out in the field. The villain was not the club
he used.. Neither was it the NCA, the National Club
Association. The true killer was Cain, and the reason for
the murder could only be found in Cain's heart.
"In the days that followed the Columbine tragedy, I was
amazed at how quickly fingers began to be pointed at groups
such as the NRA. I am not a member of the NRA. I am not a
hunter. I do not even own a gun. I am not here to represent
or defend the NRA - because I don't believe that they are
responsible for my daughter's death. Therefore I do not
believe that they need to be defended. If I believed they
had anything to do with Rachel's murder I would be their
strongest opponent.
I am here today to declare that Columbine was not just a
tragedy-it was a spiritual event that should be forcing us
to look at where the real blame lies! Much of the blame lies
here in this room. Much of the blame lies behind the
pointing fingers of the accusers themselves. " I wrote a
poem just four nights ago that expresses my feelings best.
This was written way before I knew I would be speaking here
today:
Your laws ignore our deepest
needs,
Your words are empty air.
You've stripped away our heritage,
You've outlawed simple prayer.
Now gunshots fill our classrooms,
And precious children die.
You seek for answers everywhere,
And ask the question "Why?"
You regulate restrictive laws,
Through legislative creed.
And yet you fail to understand,
That God is what we need!
"Men and women are
three-part beings. We all consist of body, soul, and spirit.
When we refuse to acknowledge a third part of our make-up,
we create a void that allows evil, prejudice, and hatred to
rush in and reek havoc. Spiritual presences were present
within our educational systems for most of our nation's
history. Many of our major colleges began as theological
seminaries. This is a historical fact. What has happened to
us as a nation? We have refused to honor God, and in so
doing, we open the doors to hatred and violence. And when
something as terrible as Columbine's tragedy occurs --
politicians immediately look for a scapegoat such as the
NRA. They immediately seek to pass more restrictive laws
that contribute to erode away our personal and private
liberties. We do not need more restrictive laws. "Eric and
Dylan would not have been stopped by metal detectors. No
amount of gun laws can stop someone who spends months
planning this type of massacre. The real villain lies within
our own hearts.
"As my son Craig lay under that table in the school library
and saw his two friends murdered before his very eyes-He did
not hesitate to pray in school. I defy any law or politician
to deny him that right! I challenge every young person in
America , and around the world, to realize that on April 20,
1999 , at Columbine High School prayer was brought back to
our schools. Do not let the many prayers offered by those
students be in vain. Dare to move into the new millennium
with a sacred disregard for legislation that violates your
God-given right to communicate with Him. To those of you who
would point your finger at the NRA - I give to you a sincere
challenge. Dare to examine your own heart before casting the
first stone!
My daughter's death will not be in! vain! T he young people
of this country will not allow that to happen!"
Do what the media did not - - let the nation hear this man's
speech.
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RISK MANAGEMENT LEARNING
CENTER Providing RM Training, Consulting, Speakers,
Workshops and Resources from RMLC Faculty & Affiliates
under the direction of: RICH
WOLDT
608.712.7880 |
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