Designing and developing a disaster management plan Essay

Designing and developing a disaster management plan - Essay Example The focus in the recent years has been shifted from the restoration of services at the earliest possible time to continuity of the business operations without loss of time. The utility industries are in a very piquant situation in view of various statutory compliances involved in the business operations apart from protection of employees, losses on account of disruption of the services, damages to the properties and machineries and civil and criminal liabilities arising out of such situations. It is pertinent to note that ‘accidents in the transportation field have had significant impacts on expenditure to reduce risks and increase safety, in some cases quite independently of the technical and economic arguments for investment but merely because public perception demands that particular ghosts be laid.’ (Perrow, 1984). A good disaster management plan envisages establishment of security policies and implementation of procedures in practice. Physical Security of the executives is of paramount importance, because avoiding breakdown in the decision making machinery is very crucial. Identification, analysis and evaluation of the facilities which are prone to disasters based on the available data may be the starting point. Understanding of peoples perception of and relationships with disaster should reflect in the personnel policy. No orders can be issued and effectively acted upon if there is inadequacy in this respect, because, these are the factors which govern their choices and actions. Honesty and integrity of an employee is very important in dealing with emergencies. Success of all management plans hinges on the company’s policy with regard to recruitment, background investigation, orientation provided and the continuous performance appraisal in relation to the employees. Security of data especially for a company in insurance sector is very important. Secret and confidential data should have very

The Split Capital Investment Trust Crisis Essay

The Split Capital Investment Trust Crisis - Essay Example The objective in this differentiation in the financial products is to make available risk, income and tax preference options based on the required of potential investors. These offerings are designed such that they can be wound up at a future date normally extending to seven or ten years (Adams, 2004). The norm in split investment trust companies was traditional splits consisting of income shares and capital shares and quasi splits that had an added zero-dividend preference shares. Income shares had a low risk and high income and were a suitable investment for elderly people, while capital shares offered high income with an element of risk involved. The zero-dividend shares received no income and so attracted no income tax and had the added benefit of being paid off first at the time of liquidation of the trust. The high risk for the capital shares came from their being the last in terms of settlement at the time of the liquidation of trust (Adams, 2004). Spurred by the buoyant financial markets in the 1990s and the pursuit of fees by the fund management firms and their broker/advisors, who were invested with the day-to-day management of the investment trust products led to a the aggressive combination of the traditional splits and quasi-splits wherein all income shares, capital shares and zero-dividend preference were combined in what came to be known as the barbell trusts (Adams, 2004). Barbell trusts as their name suggests consist of a growth portfolio at one end and an income portfolio at the other and nothing in between. The problem in this was that the growth portfolio invariably was invested in an area of growth that was popularly attractive at that period of time and carried a high risk potential. The barbells were however high yielding securities and found an easy market with investors, who had gone used to high returns