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Guidance - Business Continuity Management for Fuel Shortages

30 October 2008

Effective business continuity management is the first line of defence for any organisation to ensure that they are able to maintain the delivery of their core services and, in the long-run, to assure the survival of their organisation. The British Standard on Business Continuity Management, BS25999, is the code of practice taking the form of guidance and recommendations and establishes the process, principles and terminology of business continuity management. Organisations that align themselves with the British Standard are likely to be more resilient in the face of a range of potential disruptions, including fuel shortages.

During the summer of 2008 there were two, mainly localised, disruptions to fuel supplies in the UK following industrial action by workers in the energy sector. Although these disruptions were for only relatively short periods of time, this highlighted for many organisations the potential impact of a more significant fuel supply problem.

Following events over the summer and results of the 2008 National Capabilities Survey suggesting that organisations would find it difficult to deliver their critical activities in the event of a disruption of oil and fuel supplies over a period of ten days, the Cabinet Office and the Department of Energy and Climate Change have produced some short guidance to assist organisations in planning for such disruptions. The guidance - Business Continuity Management for Fuel Shortages - is intended to sit alongside other business continuity management tools and assist organisations in the public, private and voluntary sectors in planning for and managing the consequences of a disruption to fuel supplies.

The guidance explains the benefits of effective business continuity management, the possible impact on an organisation of a disruption to fuel supplies and suggests issues and activities that organisations might usefully consider when planning for such a disruption.

• Business Continuity Management for Fuel Shortages [PDF 11 pages, 118KB]