Corporate Emergency Access System pilot programme underway in NY city

Wall Street businesses will soon be able to enroll their employees in a scheme that can help them gain access to their firms during times of crisis.

Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the City of New York have endorsed the use of the Corporate Emergency Access System (CEAS) on a pilot basis in the financial district. CEAS will assist local businesses in re-entering areas restricted to public access due to emergency conditions. CEAS will identify employees of companies that do business in participating communities, whose job functions are considered essential to their companies' on-going viability. The scheme will allow these employees, if conditions permit, access to company work sites to help sustain guardianship of the company until normal local conditions resume.

New York City will operate CEAS with the assistance of the Business Network of Emergency Resources (www.bnetinc.org), a not-for-profit organisation that develops emergency plans for businesses throughout New York and the entire United States. CEAS is presently fully operational in Buffalo, New York. Many of BNet's board members are business continuity managers from top corporations. The organisation maintains offices in New York City and Syracuse.

The software that operates CEAS was developed and is maintained by Northern Publishing, Inc., of Oswego, NY, a partnership firm whose component companies include a firm that develops software for Fortune 500 companies.

"New York City businesses can certainly benefit from this first of its kind public and private partnership," said Mark Haimowitz, president of BNet's board and manager of business continuity planning for Avaya in New Jersey. "It will help them prevent damage and loss of income in their businesses."

The New York City Office of Emergency Management (OEM), under Commissioner John Odermatt, is directing the pilot in partnership with BNet. BNet and OEM have worked closely to develop the pilot programme, which should be completed by the end of the year. If all sides agree, CEAS would be made available to all Wall Street area businesses in January and the OEM will integrate the CEAS program into their normal incident management procedures. New York City would then intend to spread CEAS to the rest of the city during 2004.

•Date: 6th November 2003 •Region: N.America •Type: Article •Topic: BC general
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