A contingency plan, or alternate plan, also known colloquially as Plan B, is a plan devised for an outcome other than in the usual (expected) plan. It is often used for
risk management
Risk management is the identification, evaluation, and prioritization of risks, followed by the minimization, monitoring, and control of the impact or probability of those risks occurring. Risks can come from various sources (i.e, Threat (sec ...
for an exceptional risk that, though unlikely, would have catastrophic consequences.
Use
Contingency plans are often devised by
business
Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or Trade, buying and selling Product (business), products (such as goods and Service (economics), services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for ...
es or
government
A government is the system or group of people governing an organized community, generally a State (polity), state.
In the case of its broad associative definition, government normally consists of legislature, executive (government), execu ...
s. There are five steps of implementing contingency plan, which are organize a planning team, assess the scope of the problem, develop a plan, test the plan, and keep the plan up-to-date. For example, if many employees of a company are traveling together on an aircraft which crashes, killing all aboard, the company could be severely strained or ruined by such a loss. Therefore, many companies have procedures to follow in the event of such a disaster. The plan may also include standing policies to mitigate a disaster's potential impact, such as requiring employees to travel separately or limiting the number of employees on any one aircraft.
During times of crisis, contingency plans are often developed to explore and prepare for any eventuality. During the
Cold War
The Cold War was a period of global Geopolitics, geopolitical rivalry between the United States (US) and the Soviet Union (USSR) and their respective allies, the capitalist Western Bloc and communist Eastern Bloc, which lasted from 1947 unt ...
, many governments made contingency plans to protect themselves and their citizens from
nuclear attack. Examples of contingency plans designed to inform citizens of how to survive a nuclear attack include the booklets ''
Survival Under Atomic Attack'', ''
Protect and Survive'', and ''
Fallout Protection'', which were issued by the British and American governments. Today there are still contingency plans in place to deal with
terrorist attack
Terrorism, in its broadest sense, is the use of violence against non-combatants to achieve political or ideological aims. The term is used in this regard primarily to refer to intentional violence during peacetime or in the context of war a ...
s or other catastrophes.
The
National Institute of Standards and Technology
The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) is an agency of the United States Department of Commerce whose mission is to promote American innovation and industrial competitiveness. NIST's activities are organized into Outline of p ...
has published a contingency planning guide for
information technology
Information technology (IT) is a set of related fields within information and communications technology (ICT), that encompass computer systems, software, programming languages, data processing, data and information processing, and storage. Inf ...
systems.
In the United States, all
HAZMAT operations require contingency plans. The
United States Environmental Protection Agency
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is an independent agency of the United States government tasked with environmental protection matters. President Richard Nixon proposed the establishment of EPA on July 9, 1970; it began operation on De ...
, through RCRA and EPCRA, has defined specific formats for Local Emergency Planning and the National Contingency Plan.
See also
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References
External links
Association of Contingency Planners
{{Authority control
Civil defense
Emergency management
Home front
IT risk management
Military terminology