Scottish Flood Forum

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The Scottish Flood Forum, as part of its support for the SEPA Flood Awareness Campaign, is hosting a series of free seminars aimed at Small to Medium Business owners and staff. This seminar provides a foundation for Business Continuity Planning and seeks to prepare owners and staff with the tools needed to be prepared for the worst.

The course covers:

• Looking after your most valuable assets.
• Understanding the Business Risk Matrix
• Planning for the unexpected and what to do
• What protection to use against floods

The seminars run from 2pm to 4pm each day at the following venues:

• 2 November – Room 205, second floor, Tower Mill, Hawick
• 4 November – Galashiels Rugby Club, Galashiels
• 5 November – Leckie Memorial Church Hall, Peebles

Places are limited so early booking is advisable. Please use our event booking form to request a place.

Further information is available by using our Contact Us form or by calling 07747 702 299.

The Scottish Flood Forum will also be attending flood information evenings with SEPA and Scottish Borders Council at the same venues from 5pm until 7:30pm.

Technorati Tags: Business Continuity, Galashiels, Hawick, Peebles, Scottish Flood Forum, SEPA

The National Flood Emergency Framework Workshop, held at Leeds on the 26th March 2009, was an open consultation with flood professionals, local authority reps, voluntary sector and many others involved in the aftermath and support of communities following a major flood incident. The Scottish Flood Forum was invited to attend along with SEPA where we were able to share and contribute to the discussions.

Technorati Tags: flood, Leeds, National Flood Emergency Framework Workshop, Scottish Flood Forum, SEPA

A “Business Flood Seminar” conference, organised in partnership with SEPA, was held on the 17th March 2009 in Surgeons’ Hall at the Royal College of Surgeons, Edinburgh. The Scottish Flood Forum was invited to share in this first business conference hosted by SEPA.

  
  Photo (Left): Roseanna Cunningham MSP – Minister for the Environment, David Sigsworth – SEPA Chairman, Louise Bachelor – Chair
  Photo: (Right): Paul Hendy – Scottish Flood Forum, Roseanna Cunningham MSP, David Sigsworth

Our keynote speaker on the day was Roseanna Cunningham MSP, Minister for the Environment. Other speakers included representatives from the insurance industry, farming community, flood defence products, and BAE systems – all came with a wealth of relevant practical experience in protecting businesses from the major impacts of flooding. The conference was professionally chaired by well known journalist, TV presenter and public speaker Louise Bachelor.

   
          
  Photos: Various speakers from the conference

Topic discussed on the day included flood projects, legislation, flood trauma and the impact on the workforce (SFF) and business recovery. The occasion also was an opportunity for SEPA to launch their new Flood Awareness Leaflet and the SFF to promote their business continuity training seminar.

More information and the presentation decks can be found HERE on the SEPA website.

The Scottish Flood Forum would like to thank all our speakers, everyone who attended and our chair for making the day such a success. It is our hope that delegates took away a wealth of information to apply in their business and are now better prepared for dealing with potential future flooding. A special thanks go to John Thomson, Chairman of Freuchie Flood Action Group, who graciously allowed us to use his photographs taken on the day.

Technorati Tags: BAE Systems, business continuity, David Sigsworth, flood, flooding, Freuchie Flood Action Group, John Thomson, Louise Bachelor, Paul Hendy, Royal College of Surgeons, Scottish Flood Forum, SEPA

Last night members of the Flood Group and business community in Hawick met representatives from SEPA to discuss the proposed flood warning programme SEPA plan to develop in 2011. I went along to act as chair. Hawick is unique in having such a strong and well organised Flood Group under the leadership of Councillor Stuart Marshall. They had just taken part in a training exercise (flooding) and found it an enjoyable and valuable experience.

Ideas during the evening ranged from looking at the problems as to why people in flood risk areas are so reluctant to sign up to a warning system to what sort of message and information needs to be communicated. The group were united in their support for the need for a warning system to be made available to the general public.

This meeting is part of a consultation exercise being held over the next few months in flood risk areas. Please let us know if you would like to take part and we will see if we can arrange a meeting for further discussion.

Special thanks to the Salvation Army, Stuart Marshall and Ian Hogarth for making the evening a success. 

Have your say – what do you think can be done to encourage people to ‘sign up’ to a flood warning system? – click the please let us know link for your ideas.

Technorati Tags: Hawick Flood Group, Paul Hendy, Scottish Flood Forum, SEPA

 
Something FREE in Scotland, this is something you won’t want to miss. Places are limited but if you register as soon as possible there may yet be room. The Scottish Flood Forum has worked very closely with SEPA on this event to ensure people get real life practical information they can take back to their place of employment.

Who knows lessons learnt may just save your company from total extinction. I have been responsible for securing many of the speakers for the conference and all of them have developed practical programmes and systems to ensure recovery and businesses continuity is a prime focus. Most of this information has never been made available to the public sector before.

I have seen first hand the impact of flooding on businesses, and have personally shared in supporting employers and employees to cope with the trauma of recovery. I have spoken to Directors who refused to let their competitors know they were flooded so as to maintain trading advantage. That meant in one instance moving the whole admin department upstairs to a small box room for 5 months, other staff were laid off for 3 months, data was irretrievably lost, and it could happen to you.

Our speakers have been chosen for the right mix of developing and delivering continuity plans into practical action.  It worked for them it may just work for you.

Other speakers join us from the rural communities. With representatives from Emergency planning, Environmental Health, and Insurance sectors.

For bookings – e-mail jean.atkinson@sepa.org.uk 

For more information – e-mail Michelle.stone@sepa.org.uk

Speaker details will be on this site next week.

Technorati Tags: SEPA, Scottish Flood Forum