Business Continuity Management Policy 45-002 | Effective Date: May 30, 2013

Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to:

• Outline the principles that guide WorkSafeNB’s business continuity management; and
• Communicate these principles to all stakeholders.

Scope

This policy applies to the Board of Directors and WorkSafeNB staff when participating in internal business continuity management activities.

This policy does not provide direction for responding to occupational health and safety concerns at other New Brunswick workplaces experiencing an unexpected and serious service interruption.

Statements

1.0 General

WorkSafeNB is responsible for administering the WHSCC & WCAT Act, the Workers’ Compensation Act (WC Act), the Firefighters’ Compensation Act (FC Act), and the Occupational Health and Safety Act (OHS Act). Unexpected and serious service interruptions pose a risk to WorkSafeNB’s ability to fulfill its legislative responsibilities under these Acts. WorkSafeNB considers an unexpected and serious service interruption to include a:

• Catastrophic loss of any WorkSafeNB office;
• Significant reduction in the availability of WorkSafeNB employees (e.g., as a result of an accident, a pandemic, or a strike);
• Substantial failure of WorkSafeNB information technology systems; or
• Extended loss of access to a critical supplier (e.g., public utilities).

WorkSafeNB uses best practices as outlined by the Government of Canada and the World Health Organization, to establish the principles that govern WorkSafeNB’s business continuity management activities.

2.0 Principles of Business Continuity Management

WorkSafeNB is committed to taking all reasonable steps to ensure that, in the event of an unexpected and serious service interruption, the:

• Services necessary to fulfill WorkSafeNB’s legislated responsibilities are maintained, or restored in a timely manner;
• Health and safety of WorkSafeNB staff is protected; and
• WorkSafeNB’s assets are protected and secure.

In order to achieve these objectives, WorkSafeNB uses the following principles to guide business continuity management. 

I. WorkSafeNB adheres to the highest standards in business continuity planning when preparing for an unexpected and serious service interruption. 

WorkSafeNB mitigates the risks posed by an unexpected and serious service interruption to its ability to fulfill its legislated responsibilities by ensuring that a business continuity plan is in place to maintain and/or restore services in a timely manner. In addition, WorkSafeNB ensures that its business continuity plan:

• Outlines procedures for examining the internal and external environment to identify new threats to service delivery and to evaluate the relevance of previously identified threats;
• Identifies the business processes, and resources necessary to fulfill WorkSafeNB’s legislated responsibilities (e.g., employees, buildings and assets, information technology systems, suppliers, etc.);
• Includes worst-case scenarios based on threats to service delivery;
• Outlines clear roles and responsibilities of key staff;
• Includes recovery procedures;
• Outlines communication protocols; and
• Includes procedures for testing and evaluating the plan.

II. WorkSafeNB ensures its business continuity plan remains current and effective.

WorkSafeNB evaluates the business continuity plan annually, and when significant organization and/or operational changes take place, ensures that the plan remains current and effective. During this process WorkSafeNB:

• Reviews the list of potential internal and external threats to the delivery of WorkSafeNB services and updates the business continuity plan as necessary;
• Ensures that any new WorkSafeNB services or approaches to service delivery are developed with strategies for maintaining and restoring these services in the event of an unexpected and serious service interruption;
• Simulates, as close as possible, a real unexpected and serious service interruption to test assumptions made in the plan;
• Evaluates the validity and relevance of the plan using established measures; and
• Utilizes the evaluation results to adjust the content of the business continuity plan to ensure that WorkSafeNB’s objectives for business continuity management are met.

III. The Board of Directors delegates authority to the President/CEO for business continuity Management.               

Policy 41-002 Governance Statement – WorkSafeNB Board of Directors, identifies the usual roles and responsibilities of the Board of Directors, which includes the exclusive authority to:

• Approve budgets and monitor financial performance; and
• Appoint the President/CEO.

The policy also outlines that the Board of Directors delegates to the President/CEO the responsibility for the day-to-day operations of WorkSafeNB. This includes managing WorkSafeNB’s immediate response to an unexpected and serious service interruption.

The Board of Directors or the President/CEO may be unable to fulfill their responsibilities in a timely manner because of the nature of an unexpected and serious service interruption. Therefore, to ensure a timely response:

• The Board of Directors delegates to the President/CEO the responsibility to make the necessary expenditures beyond the approved annual budget; and
• The President/CEO designates, in advance, an alternate to temporarily fulfill the role of the President/CEO.

These delegated responsibilities only apply during an unexpected and serious service interruption and only until the Board of Directors and/or President/CEO is able to act. For more information see Policy 41-002 Governance Statement – WorkSafeNB Board of Directors.

IV. WorkSafeNB recognizes that communication is critical to effectively manage an unexpected and serious service interruption.

According to best practices, a prompt, accurate, and appropriate communication strategy is critical for successfully managing the impact of unexpected and serious service interruptions. For example, during the early stage of a service interruption, effective communication is essential for assessing the impact on WorkSafeNB staff and operations, while after a service interruption, effective communication is crucial to maintaining public confidence in WorkSafeNB. As such, WorkSafeNB develops, reviews, and maintains a communication protocol that:

• Identifies parties that should be informed about the situation;
• Appoints contact persons and other employees responsible for communications; and
• Ensures the continuous flow of accurate information.

WorkSafeNB expects a unified approach to communication; therefore, the President/CEO, or alternate serves as WorkSafeNB’s spokesperson.

V. WorkSafeNB is committed to ensuring the health and safety of its employees during an unexpected and serious service interruption.

WorkSafeNB is committed to ensuring its workplaces are healthy and safe. As part of this commitment, WorkSafeNB promotes the fundamental principle that empowered employees are critical for maintaining the health and safety of all workplace parties. In order to ensure that WorkSafeNB workplaces are healthy and safe, WorkSafeNB has made health and safety a fundamental principle in its business continuity planning process.

WorkSafeNB ensures that best practices are established to protect the health and safety of staff members including:

• Establishing new health and safety procedures specific to the unexpected and serious service interruption, and training staff in these procedures;
• Identifying personal protective equipment needs; and
• Ensuring that staff follows health and safety procedures.

For more information see Policy 31-500 Health and Safety.