INFORMING YOUR STAFF The first priority for any business is the safety of its staff and visitors, to whom it has a duty of care. It is essential that organisations retain the complete confidence of their staff before, during and after protest activity in the area. The prime way to achieve this is to keep staff fully informed and advised at every stage through all available media such as intranet, email, verbal or written briefings, Tannoy or intercom.


Experience has shown that staff working within organisations that are the target of, or adjacent to premises that are subject to, violent protest will become extremely nervous if not provided with up to date information on the course of action taken by the protestors. It is also important that staff are made aware when activity by the demonstrators is likely to impact on the transport infrastructure that they use when travelling between business venues


or to and from home. It is just as essential that staff are updated on a regular basis even when there are no major developments. The method of update and the responsibility for it should be included in the contingency plans that your organisation makes.


Your staff will need to know exactly what they should do if the building needs to be evacuated, but it is also important that they are accustomed to following preventative procedures such as locking away documentation at the end of each day, shredding documents which are no longer required, changing passwords regularly, keeping an incident log and removing any external rubbish or rubble that could be used as missiles.


You may find it worthwhile to introduce flexible work patterns on the day of any protest, in order to minimise any risk to your staff. This could include allowing certain members of staff to work from


their homes or changing working hours to avoid travelling at times when demonstrations may take place. All this can be done on an ad hoc basis, but it is more advisable in the long term to establish a business continuity plan, covering issues such as this and the circumstances in which flexible working would be encouraged (see Business Continuity, page 14).


Employees may feel more comfortable wearing leisure clothes to work, to avoid standing out as City workers and becoming a potential target. Others may feel that by ‘dressing down’ they may actually put themselves at risk. This may depend on the nature and circumstances of the demonstration and will be a decision for your organisation to take at the time.


You can find more information about flexible working arrangements at www.businesslink.gov.uk


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