Standards in Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

December 1, 2018

Columbia University

A college or university graduate has to acclimate him or herself to the inherited wisdom that lies at the foundation of his or her chosen discipline. To hasten this process before graduation the American National Standards Institute Committee on Education (CoE) hosts an annual competition that awards cash prizes and invitations to its annual conference.

We routinely we reach back into the ANSI CoE library to feature previous winners to provide future competitors examples that might fashion their own entries. Today we feature the first of the two 2013 winners. The topic continues its relevance:

The Role of Standards in Disaster Recovery and Business Continuity

Chris Golden | The Earth Institute and School of Continuing Education, Columbia University

Abstract. This paper will attempt to demonstrate the role that standards play in both preparing for and responding to natural disasters to facilitate recovery operations and minimize disruption of business services. The author draws from his own experience relating to disaster preparedness and response, most recently serving as an environmental, health, and safety (EHS) manager for the Hurricane Sandy recovery effort. At the time of the writing of this paper, organizations lack the technological capacity to prevent a natural disaster. But the impact that a disaster has on an organization can be lessened provided that an organization is adequately prepared and can adapt to a disaster’s operational risks. For the purposes of this paper, the term “organization” can be applied to any entity regardless of size or scope. Examples include, but are not limited to, private businesses, public agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), and communities. Natural disasters are not selective in what types of organizations are affected by their destruction, nor should standards be in providing guidance for their recovery.

The paper, in its entirety, is linked below:

ANSI Student Paper Competition 2013 | First Place Winner

Standards Michigan is not primarily an educational organization despite its origin in one of the largest “cities-within-cities” in the education industry. We are happy to zoom in and out of the “stream” of standards action with students and/or sponsoring faculty any day at 11 AM Eastern time, however. Use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page. You may also communicate directly with the ANSI CoE Secretariat Lisa Rajchel, 212.642.4932, E-mail: [email protected]

The deadline for the 2019 Student Paper Competition is April 30th, 2019