Ward Achieves ISO 22301:2019 Business Continuity Certification
Ward are delighted to announce that we have gained ISO 22301:2019 Business Continuity Certification, accredited by Lloyd’s Register.
Ward Director Caroline Cuthbert comments: “In September 2020, I had the privilege to Project Lead a new initiative to implement the Business Continuity Standard, ISO22301:2019.
Project ENDURANCE was formed and the Project team were selected to foster a cross-functional working team approach. Project team members brought their expertise in the form of I.T., Operations & Compliance and our ‘Endurers’ are Rav Singh (I.T. Workstream Leader), Craig Cousins (Senior Regional Operations Manager), and Brian Stroud (SHEQ Director).
We took our first steps of our 8-month journey to implement an effective and robust Business Continuity Management System in Ward. At the heart of our objectives is our over-riding commitment to protect and preserve our peoples’ and the publics’ life safety in the event of a critical incident, whilst maintaining service to our clients.
Our journey included the implementation of Business Continuity processes, undertaking planned and spontaneous rigorous exercises for operational resilience, identifying key learnings from exercises to monitor and analyse risks, enabling us to develop mitigation plans, whilst continually reviewing the effectiveness of our BCMS.
Core to the success of the delivery of this key business objective, has been our ability to engage and work in collaboration across the business. True to our #teamward approach, our people responded by giving their full commitment, whilst working virtually during long periods of lockdown, to live and breathe business continuity as their responsibility and accountability.
Coupled with providing online training and support workshops to raise awareness to our teams, our message was clear; Business Continuity is an essential requirement to the ‘way we work’ at Ward.
On 8 January, 31st March and 1st April 2021, following 24 hours of virtual assessment and audit, I am excited to share we are now the proud owners of the ISO22301:2019 certification, as formally recognised by Lloyd’s Register for the demonstration of meeting the Business Continuity Management Systems Standard.
We were supported on our project journey in partnership with Strategic Continuity and we thank them for their unwavering support and expertise to the Project Endurance team.”
Executive Director Paul Harvey, Chartered Security Professional added: “Business continuity is at the heart of our business and integral to the risk management and operational strategies of our clients.
Our business delivers a framework that safeguards the interests of our key stakeholders. By increasing management involvement and identifying internal and external risks, the ISO 22301:2019 framework ensures our Business Continuity Management System remains effective and clients’ remain confident in our preparedness and resilience”