Recovery facilities: how far is far enough?

Two years on from September 11th, many people have been prompted to revisit their thoughts and feelings following that horrendous event and to evaluate once more the lessons that were learned from the disaster.

From a business continuity point of view, one of the major lessons learned from 9/11 was that, in a wide area disaster, having your business continuity recovery facilities located too close to your company premises means that both locations could be caught up in the same crisis. More recently an exercise in London simulating a CBNR (chemical, biological, nuclear and radiological) attack again raised concerns over the proximity of recovery facilities to a potential target area.

The survey below seeks to find out what current attitudes are to this issue. It is completely anonymous and the results will be published on this website for the benefit of the wider business continuity industry.

1) Do you include the use of a recovery facility in your business continuity plans? Yes No
If 'no' please go to the end of the survey and click 'Submit your answers'

2) Do you have a policy on how far away your recovery facility must be from company premises? Yes No

If yes, please give details:

3) Are any of your company premises located within a central/city business district? Yes No

If yes, which cities?

4) For the premises listed above are recovery facilities located in the same city? Yes No

If yes:

Are any recovery facilities within 1km of the company premises?
Yes

Are any recovery facilities between 1km and 2km of the company premises?
Yes

Are any recovery facilities between 2km and 5km of the company premises?
Yes

Are any recovery facilities between 5km and 10km of the company premises?
Yes

Are any recovery facilities further away than 10km from the company premises?
Yes

5) Are you planning to change the way you use/view recovery facilities in the future? Yes No

If yes, what changes do you anticipate making?