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Prioritization for power and telecommunications recovery, 6. Contingency planning should not be mistaken for Business
proved to be a challenge during the response when Continuity planning. Having more people trained in emergency
everything was offline. The disruption at Hope Landing management and business continuity management would
demonstrated that access to supply chain dependencies increase the number of responders who speak and understand
such as electricians, parts, generator fuel, even hotel rooms the same terminology, enhance the efficiency and effectiveness
may be competed for by other agencies involved in the of teams and ensure effective utilization of scarce resources.
response.
7. Building confidence in people executing the plan will raise
Provincial entities with more recently updated and confidence in the plan’s viability.
exercised plans generally reported satisfaction with their
planning and preparation efforts ahead of the storm. Where 8. Competency for each position in the Incident Management
business continuity plans were exercised more thoroughly, Team should be developed based on best practices such as the
provincial entities were nimble and adapted more effectively Incident Command System.
to unexpected conditions (such as power outages at the 9. Through awareness, education and training, business
alternate sites, telecom failures, inaccessible roads etc.) and
continued operations according to those plans. continuity best practices can be embedded into the
organization culture. This investment will reap substantial
For entities who have not participated in exercises, there dividends for senior leadership in preventing potentially costly
was general agreement that future realistic exercise decisions from ad-hoc and inconsistent plan implementation.
scenarios and participation would provide significant value- 10. The business continuity policy and framework must be
addition.
continually revisited, updated and communicated within the
CONCLUSIONS AND organization to ensure compliance and consistency with
RECOMMENDATIONS emerging trends and revised best practices.
1. In 2019, Dorian set the record as the most powerful 11. In the event of a telecommunication breakdown, it is vital
hurricane in the open Atlantic region. Even though to establish a single source of truth for essential information,
downgraded as a post-tropical storm, Dorian knocked out especially in the first 48 hours of the response, to minimize
power grids resulting in widespread telecommunication adverse impacts.
disruptions.
12. The best plans are as strong as the relationships that are
2. Where exactly do Business Continuity and Emergency leveraged to accomplish objectives. A centralized but flexible
Management overlap? Senior leadership can play a pivotal business continuity support model should be established to
role in balancing between emergency response priorities facilitate a network of relationships instead of overreliance on
with ongoing business to get the best of both worlds: voluntary partners to produce optimal results. Ω
protection of life and property, but also restoration of
normalcy. While people need to survive, businesses need to
continue operating. References
1. Graeme B, Al-Hakim A, Breen K. Hundreds of thousands without power as
3. Decisions ought to be locally driven with centralized Dorian hits Nova Scotia [Internet]. Global News. 2021. Available from: https://
strategic support. Local Incident Commanders are vital to globalnews.ca/news/5870123/hurricane-dorian-nova-scotia/
running on scene operations effectively by breaking down
the complexity of the task at hand. Additionally, for large 2. Hurricane Dorian Becomes the 5th Atlantic Category 5 in 4 Years | The Weather
Channel - Articles from The Weather Channel | weather.com [Internet]. The
scale events, close collaboration among LICs and their Weather Channel. 2019. Available from: https://weather.com/storms/hurricane/
Incident Management Teams (IMTs) under Area Command news/2019-09-01-hurricane-dorian-atlantic-hurricane-category-five-history
is critical to overall operational success.
3. Lillo S. [Internet]. 2019. Available from: https://twitter.com/splillo/status/11682506
4. Senior leadership should assign a visible champion and 74183901187?s=20
must be ready to delegate authority, support on-scene 4. Tikkanen A. Swissair flight 111 | Summary, Investigation, Cause of Crash, & Facts
leadership with strategic support, technical and financial [Internet]. Encyclopedia Britannica. 2020 [cited 13 April 2021]. Available from:
resources to execute the business continuity plan in https://www.britannica.com/event/Swissair-flight-111
collaboration with public-private partners, municipal ECs , 5. Nova Scotians ‘opened their hearts and homes’ after 9/11 attacks | CBC News
and critical infrastructural agencies. [Internet]. CBC News. 2015. Available from: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-
scotia/september-11-attacks-and-halifax-s-response-remembered-1.3223825
5. A centralized coordination centre can facilitate resource
access, enable both emergency response and business 6. Quon A. A look back at Hurricane Juan 14 years after it tore through Atlantic
continuity teams for situational awareness, and act as a Canada. Global News [Internet]. 2017. Available from: https://globalnews.ca/
news/3776504/a-look-back-at-hurricane-juan-14-years-after-it-tore-through-
single credible information source to government officials atlantic-canada/
and the public.

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