Glasgow Tragedy Shows Need for Disaster Recovery

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The tragedy of the police helicopter crash in Glasgow may cause questions to arise about the safety of such aircraft – but it could also provide a reminder of the value of remote working.

Following the incident on Friday night – when the aircraft plunged into the Clutha Vaults pub on the banks of the Clyde in the city centre – rescuers sealed off the area.

As with any major incident, there were good reasons for doing so. This included providing more space for emergency services to work in, the safety of the public and the importance of facilitating information gathering by air crash investigators, who must work out why the failure of the helicopter's engines reported by eyewitnesses took place.

While the worst consequences by far will have been borne by those killed or injured and their families, a major incident can also lead to business disruption when workers are unable to access their offices. Other examples could include a fire in an adjacent building.

All this will mean that the actual work premises might suffer no direct harm, but still be inaccessible. The situation will, however, be made worse if disaster strikes in the building itself.

One way a company can limit the consequences of such problems is through the digitisation of its data, which may then be stored and accessed remotely. This means that staff will be able to get to the data even if they cannot get into the office.

Such a move can also have additional benefits. It can enable work to be carried out anytime and anywhere, with remote working and flexible hours also being more possible. The benefits will also be felt when there are more general problems keeping people out of the office, such as epidemics or severe weather.

Another case of part of a city centre becoming inaccessible was an incident in Birmingham in October, when a fire on New Canal Street led to the road being sealed off, preventing staff reaching businesses in the vicinity.

Storetec News/Blogs."http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/glasgow-tragedy-shows-need-for-disaster-recovery". Glasgow tragedy

shows need for disaster recovery. December 2, 2013. Storetec.