With hundreds, if not thousands of Central Coast businesses impacted by COVID-19 lockdowns, many have neglected keeping their emergency response plans up to date.
A new fully-subsidised initiative from the NSW Government is set to address that, with a Business Continuity and Emergency Response Planning program set to kick off in the region on October 11.
The eight-week program is funded by Training Services NSW, Hunter & Central Coast and has been developed by Astute Training who will deliver the program.
The Business Continuity & Emergency Response Planning program aims to guide individuals and teams whose duty, responsibility or role is to develop and implement emergency response plans.
It will focus on those businesses hit particularly hard within the hospitality and tourism industry as well as community-based organisations, although it is not limited to these sectors.
With two sessions in each of the eight weeks of the program, it will address planning for COVID recovery and for emergencies such as flood, fire and drought.
The program will help participants to build resilience, plan for disaster and interruptions and be able to effectively react in an emergency.
It is also designed to assist organisations meet their statutory and regulatory obligations and reduce risk and liability for key stakeholders.
Over the eight weeks learners will understand how to ensure a plan stays relevant and compliant in the years ahead.
Participants could include General Operations, Operational Managers, CEOs, Board Members and business owners.
Plans developed over the eight weeks will be reviewed and critiqued by facilitators, subject matter experts and industry peers and will need to be signed off and agreed to internally.
The 16 sessions will run from two to two and a half hours in length, with the opportunity for additional sessions with learning peers and facilitators if so desired.
Each week learners will be presented with a series of elements that the plan must contain and the same content will be spoken to by the facilitators and external subject matter experts.
Attendees will be required to complete a section of their plan after each session by working with colleagues and stakeholders with the support of Astute team.
Plans will be finalised at the end of seven weeks for review by a panel of Astute team members and external stakeholders that have contributed along the way.
This will provide an opportunity for refinements following review and feedback.
On the completion of the course, participants will have completed four units of competency from a Certificate IV in Community Services CHC42015 with the option to complete a full Certificate IV in Community Services if desired.
More details can be found at https://study.astutetraining.edu.au/bcp-hr or by calling Astute Training on 4732 5088 or 0404 035 249.
Terry Collins