Glossary of Threats

Negative Publicity: Any organization can become the victim of negative publicity. Once the media gets wind of a crisis, the onslaught of bad press can occur rapidly if proper strategies are not in place to field questions. Disgruntled employees, dissatisfied customers, and industry competitors can also prompt unfavorable media coverage. Each situation must be handled carefully and immediately. The longer an organization goes without responding, the longer the events stay in the headlines.

Power Outages: Power outages are the most common business interruption. Outages can be the result to a natural disaster, such as a flood, or events like car accidents and fallen tree branches. Power could be lost for minutes, hours, or days. Organizations must also plan for power-related incidents such as brownouts, surges, and spikes. Some experts predict that the deregulation of electric power utilities may have a negative impact on both power reliability and quality.

Sick Building Syndrome: Foreign particles flowing through the air in office buildings, including those from mold or invisible gases, can contribute to sick building syndrome (SBS). While there is no particular illness linked directly to SBS, victims are known to experience dizziness, allergies, colds, headaches, eye and upper respiratory irritation, nausea, fatigue, and other symptoms. One variable most commonly linked to the occurrence of SBS is indoor air quality (IAQ). Office pollutants fall into four major categories: Outside air (coming in through the ventilation system); building materials and furnishings (construction or installation of new office materials or furnishings); equipment (photocopiers and printers); and people and their activities (passing germs along to co-workers). SBS is defined as when more than 20% of employees complain of symptoms, complaints continue for more than two weeks, and the symptoms decrease in intensity or disappear when employees are away from the building.