On Wednesday 7th July 2010, a Tesco Express supermarket at the Westbrook Centre in Waterlooville, Hampshire was destroyed in an angry blaze. Fire fighters from Southampton and across Hampshire were called out at 6.30pm to the store in Grassmere Way, after staff located the fire outside, at the rear of the supermarket.

Once the 44 firemen arrived, the blaze had spread to the walls and roof, completely destroying the building. It took the fire fighters four hours to distinguish the fierce flames, with local residents and passers-by looking on in horror and dismay.

Although investigations are currently taking place into what caused the blaze, initial thoughts of the firemen are that it started when rubbish was set alight at the back of the store.

This dramatic event vividly illustrates the very real hazards and threats posed to local businesses from a variety of preventable and foreseeable risks.

Fortunately no-one was hurt in the Tesco supermarket fire but the after effects, including the cost of the clear up and the disruption to the local community, is likely to be very significant.

One would hope that a large supermarket chains like Tesco have robust business continuity plans in place to minimise the impact on their people, revenues and reputation; the coming days will reveal whether that is the case.  If not, then local residents will be queuing for the Christmas turkeys somewhere else come December.

We asked Bradley Wright our local organizational resilience specialist and owner at Veterus Consulting, what he thought about the Tesco fire.

“My heart goes out to local elderly residents, who doubtless rely on this shop for their groceries, and the Hampshire firefighters that have once again been called out to deal with a dangerous and avoidable incident perhaps due to the errors and omissions of others.

To my knowledge, this is the third time this sort of thing has happened at the same site – so it’s inexcusable that suitable systems have not been put in place to prevent and minimise the damage and potential for loss of life from this type of event. 

I’ll be interested to see what the insurers have to say about this and wouldn’t be surprised if they refuse to pay any claim.”

Take a minute to think about this event again. What if it was your own business?

Do you have practiced emergency evacuation plans in place ?

How would you communicate a change of premises to your customers to minimise the numbers that will migrate to your local competitors?

Could you find suitable alternative premises local enough to your recently destroyed site that would allow your staff and customers to access your business with minimal disruption?

What about insurance? Is your insurance paperwork up to date? Do you have an accurate inventory of what’s been lost and can you prove it? Have you talked to your insurers about the claims process and likely timescales for claims to be met? 

What about the impact on revenues? Are you going to continue paying staff whilst they have nowhere to work or not? Do their contracts cover the change in duties that you may wish to assign to them? Are they able to work from an alternative location?

When asked what Tesco should have done to prevent the fire from happening, Bradley commented,

“Locked bin stores are essential for most businesses and schools to prevent deliberate arson attacks – as is regular removal of flammable waste.  I’d also recommend basic sprinkler system and CCTV system – both of which could have prevented this costly and dangerous loss and helped identify the cause more readily – particularly if it was a deliberate act”.

“They also need to look at the resilience of the store building itself which burned to the ground in no time at all.  We could have been looking at a number of deaths here, particularly if aisles were crowded, the store was busy and elderly or infirm customers were unable to evacuate within a matter of a few minutes.  This should be a real wake-up call for local business owners.”

Business continuity planning is common sense but sadly not common practice.  It’s worth setting aside 15 to 20 minutes a week with staff to consider the risks to your business and agree action plans for responding to different emergencies to protect your people, revenue and reputation from damage, disruption and loss.

In the current market you can’t afford to interrupt trading for weeks and months for the sake of a small investment in time before the worst happens.

Don’t wait for your crisis to realise it’s too late and allow your business to go up in flames! [END]

ABOUT VETERUS

Established in 2007, Portsmouth based Veterus Consulting Limited provides expert business continuity and resilience consultancy services to large public and private organizations across the UK; helping them plan and implement strategic change initiatives whilst reducing the uncertainties that accompany market-leading innovation and growth. For more information about Veterus Consulting or Bradley Wright, please visit www.veterusconsulting.com

CONTACT INFO
For more information, imagery or to discuss coverage options, please contact Steph Brown on 0845 094 9948 or 01202 585508. Alternatively, email steph@cre8ivewisdom.com