With telephone bomb threat warnings almost a weekly occurrence and attempts by political activists to disrupt business activity an ongoing menace, the importance of ‘getting things right’ at the start is of increasing importance for any of UK plc’s many and varied blue chip companies.
Images of the World Trade Centre disaster – played out once again on our television screens just a few weeks ago – and the IRA bomb attack on Canary Wharf Estate back in 1996 are a stark reminder of the destructive capabilities of terrorists and their ‘arsenal’. If we can take any comfort from such outrages, it’s that most organisations have finally woken up to the fact that the terrorist threat must be taken seriously.
“Every major company should now have a Disaster Contingency Plan in place, as well as a dedicated Anti-Terrorism Committee,” said David Clark, operations director at specialist manned security contractor Whitehall Security Services. “That Committee should take on responsibility for business continuity after any terrorist attack, and for planning evacuation procedures in the event of a threat.”
All well and good, but how many organisations pay anything other than a passing interest to the action that should be taken by their telephonists, receptionists, secretaries and – in some cases – even the security staff in the event of a telephone threat?
All switchboard rooms have a ‘bomb threat response’ sheet for use by the telephonists, but try popping in on any given day and ask to see it and you’ll receive blank looks or engender a hurried scramble in a few drawers. When the sheets are found they’re usually out of date… Ask telephonists how much experience they’ve had with responding to ‘phone threats and the answer will invariably be: “None”. How about training on what to do in the event of a call? “Absolutely nothing.” Not good enough by far.
