ANSI Student Paper Competition 2013 First Place Winner The Role of Standards in Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

This paper will attempt to demonstrate the role that standards play in both preparing for and responding to natural disasters to facilitate recovery operations and minimize disruption of business services. The author draws from his own experience relating to disaster preparedness and response, most recently serving as an environmental, health, and safety (EHS) manager for the Hurricane Sandy recovery effort. At the time of the writing of this paper, organizations lack the technological capacity to prevent a natural disaster. But the impact that a disaster has on an organization can be lessened provided that an organization is adequately prepared and can adapt to a disaster’s operational risks. For the purposes of this paper, the term “organization” can be applied to any entity regardless of size or scope. Examples include, but are not limited to, private businesses, public agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and communities. Natural disasters are not selective in what types of organizations are affected by their destruction, nor should standards be in providing guidance for their recovery.