A Disaster Plan for Records and Archives - Research Paper Example

A Disaster Plan for Records and Archives Abstract This paper sought to establish the steps taken by the various organizations and firms in protecting their records and archives. This is because records just like the human resource are the basics of the organization’s operation. The information collected from the various organizations were tallied and presented in this paper. The research was more or less a comparative analysis of the disaster plan of the selected firms based on the protection of the records and the archives. Introduction There is a logical distinction between what emergency and a disaster is, an emergency is an unforeseeable event that occurs and requires immediate attention while a disaster in an unexpected occurrence with a significant amount of consequences (McColgin, & et al, 2000). It is appreciated that there is no organization that can hypothesize, plan, and mitigate the occurrence of a disaster successfully. It is barely impossible to provide or cushion an organization from disaster; this is a fact at least in the face of the very many disaster that can be experienced. Disaster can also be classified into two; the naturally occurring and the human instigated one, the classification notwithstanding, disasters do cause a serious setback in the organization by disorienting major operation of an organization. Hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, fire, and earthquakes do take place in many parts of the world probably every day. Wars and civil unrest are also experienced in most parts of the world. Electrical mishap, power blackouts, drainage error, and leakages are some of the disasters that have chances of occurring anytime (Penn, Pennix, & Coulson, 2011). In the cases of these emergencies, two categories do sustain severe consequences, the human being, and the records as well as the entire work environment. The disaster happenings are part of the precautionary measure that is taken by most organization. This measure can only be effective is a plan is put into place such that reference and precaution is taken as per the plan. A disaster plan is therefore a vital organization’s arrangement not only to protect lives but also to protect records and documents (McColgin, & et al, 2000). The development of the disaster plan is based on several issues; the organization’s asserts, the assets in this case would entails the workers, the supplies, the equipments, and the source of the organization’s critical information. The knowledge of the assets to be given protection is very crucial in the sense that it enables a procedure to be put into place so that in the case of emergency, normalcy can be restored in the shortest time possible. In this regard, a disaster plan can be defined as a developed procedural policy that is engaged in the event of a disaster to mitigate on the level of loss in terms of the people and the entire resources (Morris, 2009). Thesis Statement In an organization, there are two set of important assets, the human resource and the record, the two operates in tandem and loss of any of the two denotes that the operation of the organization will be halted completely. The human beings are mobile and in most cases can escape disaster that may be avoided by change of location, the records cannot. The records and archives thus need a much more stringent policy that will ensure that their safety is enhanced to withstand even the most devastating disasters possible. The organization based on the nature of the records should have an all proof protection of the records and the archives as way of effective precautionary measure in the disaster plan. Objectives In this research, the objectives designed to be unravel are as stipulated below. The objectives of the research were synchronized to that of the archives and the records only in organizations in anticipation of a disaster. I. To record find out if there are consistencies in the way organization identify sources of threats to the records and impact caused by the damages and loss of the said records II. To understand the development of a disaster plan III. To investigate the methodology of identifying and provision of safety to the organization’s vital records IV. To understand the contemporary disaster planning and the management of the organizations crucial records Identification of risks involving organizations records and archives In the research, it was found that most organizations are aware of the disasters and they do risk assessment to enumerate the possible sources of risk associated with the organization and again give an estimate to the degree of loss that can be incurred (Alire, 2000). These risks are arranged in a chronological order that denoted the most likely and the ones that are more devastating. It was found that the combination of the two informs how much and how an organization should invest in protecting its records. It should be noted that risks if not attended to adequately can turn to be an emergency which can subsequently turn to be a disaster (Alire, 2000). The difference is just how they are responded to. Most organization are much aware of the inability to completely mitigate on the occurrence of the disaster, this has made them to refuge on stringent disaster response. This is the only option of protecting the records for some disaster like fire outbreak. Other disasters are prevented by exercising keenness and professionalism at the work place, issues like leaking water from a tap or any other water discharging channel in the organization, if the water leaks for a long time without attending to it, it will turn to be a disaster. This therefore informs that other disasters are dependent on how responsible the employees are to prevent disasters. Risk assessment is thus an important tool in this case. Determination of the Potential Impact of the Disaster Within the organizations, after the determination of the risk assessment and the potential ones enumerated in the order of decreasing likelihood, the next is to rate the potential damage that can be caused by a risk in case of a disaster. As far as record and archives are concerned, most organizations have the experience that most likely disaster to happen may not carry equal damage compared to the other, which has the least probability of occurring (Wellheiser, & Scott, 2002). Carrying out this assessment has been found to help organization not only put measures with reference to the chances of a disaster occurring but also factor in the grand effect of even the most unlikely ones. If this is not done, the preparation by the organization may only be skewed to one side of the disaster leaving the others open for any eventuality (Wellheiser, & Scott, 2002). Review of the Risks Involved According the research, it was established that the assessment of risk is not a static process; this is because in most cases, the organizations do receive information of different kinds and different records. All these may require extra care. It was thus established that the process of assessing risk is in a continuous state and if halted, then the organization may not be in a position to adequately cope with disaster occasioned by such new technologies (Kahn, 2004). This is therefore a more dynamic process that is altered overtime for the sake of being compliance and relevant in terms of the preparation for the disaster. Ways in Which Assessment can be done In most cases, data is collected by individual interviews, relevant group’s discussion, and even questionnaires. Each of the methods used have weaknesses, and it was recognized that the source of information is very important for the accurate response to the information gotten in developing a proper disaster plan (Brookfield, 2006). Interviews are time consuming and expensive to carry out, questionnaire on the other side are prone to producing inconsistent answers since some respondent do not bother to fill all the provided spaces. The use of small groups discussions draw from the relevant individuals in the department is widely recognized to be used for making a more comprehensive disaster plan than the other groups. It is vital that a correct disaster plan is developed for a response and this can only be possible if the information collected is reliable. This stage in the development of a sound disaster plan is the most challenging. Identifying Vital Records After all is done and every information is recorded, the records are divided into two classes, the ordinary, and the vital. The vital records are given more stringent protection that those regarded as ordinary. This is owing to the sensitivity of the vital document. Vital document’s protection should not be left to chance as far as the disasters are concerned. Loss of these documents will be devastating to the organization and that explains why they are accorded a more stringent protection (Brookfield, 2006). Conclusion Information is power, the flow of errand and duties execution in an organization is based on the records regarding particular issues. It is therefore in order to protect the documents and records of an organization from those disasters that can be foreseen and those that cannot be hypothesized. It should however be noted that protection of the documents come second after that of the human resource, the employees. In most organization, this is the hierarchy of operation. Human beings are given priority over any other damage since life is irredeemable. References Alire, C. A. (2000). Library disaster planning and recovery handbook. New York: Neal-Schuman. Disaster planning. (2006). Brookfield, WI: International Foundation of Employee Benefit Plans :. Kahn, M. (2004). Protecting your library's digital sources the essential guide to planning and preservation. Chicago: American Library Association. McColgin, M., Farnon, B. E., Freyer, S., Nocera, J., Slusar, L., & Klein, P. (2000). Disaster planning. Chicago: American Library Association. Morris, J. (2009). Disaster planning. Detroit: Greenhaven Press. Penn, I. A., Pennix, G., & Coulson, J. (2011). Records management handbook (2nd ed.). Aldershot, Hants, England: Gower. Wellheiser, J. G., & Scott, J. (2002). An ounce of prevention: integrated disaster planning for archives, libraries, and record centres (2nd ed.). Lanham, Md.: Scarecrow Press ;. Read More