Bermuda?s public and private sectors yesterday heard that they must work together well before a disaster hits if they hope to be in a position to successfully weather catastrophes.

This was the message as the Institute of Directors and KPMG jointly hosted a seminar titled ?Aligning Business Continuity Management with Government Emergency Management Strategies?.

Disaster recovery plans are not likely to be far from the thoughts of company executives in Bermuda who remember the devastating impact Hurricane Fabian had on businesses and homes just last September.

The subject is also much in the news these days with hearings into the September 11 terrorist attacks being held in New York, and the finding that those involved with disaster recovery efforts might have worked better together.

On hand to talk through ways of preparing for a catastrophic event were Police involved with the Emergency Measures Organisation (EMO), as well as several representatives from companies that advise businesses on implementing disaster recovery plans.

The session followed another held by the Bermuda Chamber of Commerce in January which also looked at disaster planning techniques that should be at the ready for companies and organisations in the event of a disaster.

The consensus from all parties was that unless a tested disaster recovery plan is in place, a company may find it could undermine its viability in the face of a natural or man-made disaster.

David Ciera, manager of business continuity management for KMPG here in Bermuda, demonstrated two separate disasters which had an effect on Johnson & Johnson.

With a chart of stock performance, for each period Mr. Ciera showed how mismanagement of one crisis resulted in severely depressed stock activity while the company, four years later, was better prepared for a disaster and actually gained the support of investors during that period who in turn pushed up the stock price.

He said that at the end of the day a company was all about making money, and that each corporation must access its ?downtime tolerance?.

Mr. Ciera pointed to a survey done of 700 organisations found that the tolerance for about half was between two and 24 hours. Thereafter there could be significant adverse impact on their businesses.

About one-quarter of companies said they could not even afford to be down for that length of time, putting their maximum tolerance at two hours.

Susan Young, vice-president of product development with Cable & Wireless, also stressed that having a disaster plan was key to long-term viability of a company.

She said that plans on paper were often based on numerous assumptions making it important for companies to test and re-test their plans, or risk not being prepared for all eventualities.

Although the focus of those speaking from a business perspective, they also pointed to considerations that fall outside pure business concerns reflected in disaster recovery plans.

Troy Symonds, who offers disaster recovery services through Fort Knox, said plans to get a company?s complex networks up and running, even if from temporary premises, following a catastrophe are critical,

But Ms Young, Mr. Ciera and Mr. Symonds all said attention must also be paid to contact with employees, especially if they are across a network or if the event happens outside of normal working hours.

Companies should have a plan of how contact will be made with families should their be injuries or casualties in the disaster, the said.

Food and shelter were also cited as concerns that should be included in company?s plans, including contact with suppliers that might be able to deliver necessities should disaster strike.

Mr. Ciera pointed out that plans must look at a wide-range of areas, and that there were certain challenges for Bermuda-based companies based on the Island?s size and remote location.

Given Bermuda?s small size, Mr. Ciera said that a disaster was likely to affect multiple parties and that a plan must include how the private sector would liase with Government, the EMO and even medical units, as necessary.

He said that geographically, with Bermuda being prone to hurricanes, it was a case of ?not if but when will a major incident occur?, and that consideration should also be given to staffing needs in the event of a disaster that wounds or kills employees.

He said, with the potential for ?extensive loss of knowledge capital?, there should be a plan to either recruit services from those based here or have a contingency plan for the import of skilled workers.

Mr. Ciera also pointed out that the increasing globalisation of today?s business environments created a situation where companies must be prepared to communicate with all stakeholders, and be prepared to manage the expectations of shareholders and staff wherever they might be.

To successfully coordinate such efforts, he called on companies to have a solid incident management framework in place that would enable one message to go out.

At the same time, Mr. Ciera said a company should go about its planning in an efficient and cost effective way. He called on corporate managers to do what they can as quickly as possible but said companies generally take between two and three years to put extensive plans in place.

From the public sector, Insp. Gary Venning and Supt. Sinclair White from the police EMO unit spoke to the communications cascade they are putting in place to make sure they include whoever appropriate in decisions made during a time of catastrophe.

They added that certain lessons had been learned after Fabian, including the need to get the emergency radio station on the air before other stations went off.

A technical problem reportedly kept them off air for several hours during Fabian meaning there were no public updates from the EMO on the situation for that time.

Supt. White called on companies to carefully monitor advisories even before a disaster, for example in the case of an approaching hurricane, so it would be clear when employees should be sent home.

He said whether or not the police would have the power to invoke curfews under the Emergency Powers Act would be looked at during a meeting in the weeks to come.

If agreed, that could give authorities the power to order people inside during an emergency period, say while a hurricane was hitting the Island.