Bay Bridge Closure and How to Mitigate Workforce Disruptions

Workforce disruptions can be caused by a large number of different events such as strikes, protests, workplace violence, absenteeism due to illness (think pandemics and epidemics like the current H1N1 virus) and even transportation issues.

Typically the impact of these events can be mitigated, but to do so requires planning for the event ahead of time.  Including these types of events in your continuity planning and enterprise resilience will certainly put you ahead of the game when these incidents arise.

In the past I have witnessed several of these types of disruptions in both large and small scales and in many of these cases the businesses that had plans in place fair far better than those that do not.

In the last two months the Bay Bridge has been closed down twice for repairs. The first was a planned shut down during a holiday weekend, but extended due to discoveries of needed repairs. The second occurred after the recent repair job failed.

There are many ways to mitigate the impact from these events ranging from staggered and flexible work hours for employees, making arrangements for key employees to stay in other locations, having some employees work from home, car pools, planned shuttle services, utilization of other transportation services, etc.

Each of these can help your business reduce impacts from these types of events and each of these also presents their own problems which is why you should be planning these things in advance and making them a part of your continuity management programs.

Knowing what you will do in these types of events will also assist you for planing other events that may also cause workforce disruptions. If you are considering creating a plan or would like other solutions to supplement what you are already doing please give us the opportunity to assist you. Visit our site at: Continuity Corporation or give as a call 877-565-8324