WTO COULD COME TO YOUR TOWN!

By Gennie Thompson, Shad Burcham

"WTO" was a weeklong gathering in Seattle, Washington, of officials from approximately 150 countries, complicated by demonstrators and disruptions. In retrospect, what can we learn from the WTO experience to assist in preparing for future similar events in our communities? Can we mitigate negative impacts from these events?

The destruction of private property and breaking of laws were the objectives of radical groups. An approximate four square mile area of downtown Seattle experienced riots, looting and several million dollars in damages. Other WTO events were held throughout the region and nearby cities. Responding to the crisis were representatives from OVER 60 federal, state, county and city agencies!

BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
•Protect employees, customers/clients, buildings and assets.
•Ensure essential business functions continue 24 hours a day.
•Develop plans to address worst-case scenarios.

RECOMMENDED BUSINESS STEPS
•Gather information from city, county and state officials, law enforcement agencies, internet sources and counterparts in other locations with similar experiences.
•Based on this intelligence, provide reports (and updates) so employees can develop and execute plans. Include vendors/suppliers, building managers and neighbors.
•Develop mutual aid strategies with other businesses and neighbors.
•Develop and test Lock-Down procedures for each building in affected area.
•Develop employee communications, to inform and advise.
•Develop methods to ensure safety of employees and customers (charter buses, sleeping dormitories, meals on site, telecommuting, etc.).
•Activate hotsites, warmsites and alternate work sites to decrease number of employees in high-risk area.
•Confirm round-the-clock scheduling of sufficient staff at your EOC.
•Monitor news and Internet sources 24 hours a day for current happenings and find creative ways to work around new problems.
•Document individual problems impacting your business as they occur, assign responsibility and track.

GOVERNMENT OBJECTIVES
•Provide a safe, secure situation for conference delegates and legitimate demonstrators.
•Develop plans to provide minimal disruption to traffic and normal citizen activities, and include worst case scenarios.

RECOMMENDED GOVERNMENT STEPS
•Carefully assess the potential problems of hosting a controversial group in your city by consulting with all cities and regional and state agencies who could be involved or impacted.
•If controversial groups are hosted by a city, consider negotiating some degree of financial accountability with them for costs incurred or damages sustained.
•Involve federal, state, county and local emergency management and law enforcement agencies in strategic planning, at an early date, if events take place outside the host city. Develop with them the worst case scenarios and create coordinated, detailed contingency plans.
•Use the Incident Command System (ICS) throughout all government agencies involved to effectively manage communications, logistics and problems. ICS plans should already be familiar to many fire and law enforcement agencies.
•Afterwards, involve all government agencies who participated in determining the Lessons Learned and coordinating their ideas and plans to improve interactions and support in the future.

About the Authors
Gennie Thompson, CRP, is Vice President, Bank of America, NW Business Continuity Management. Shad Burcham is Plans and Logistics Coordinator for the King County Office of Emergency Management. For more information on this topic call (206)205-8106.