Introduction of business continuity plan for small and medium-sized local construction companies and restoration activities in Japan in the event of natural disasters

Abstract

In recent years, Japan has suffered significant damage due to natural disasters such as major earthquakes and flood Construction companies are expected to play an important role during natural disasters and respond quickly and restore infrastructure. The first author runs a small local construction company in Okayama, Japan. During a flood in 2011 at Okayama, the embankment restoring site turned extremely dangerous for workers. At this juncture, the first author, in the capacity of a company manager, identified the safety and administrative issues, and in 2013, the company began to implement BCP. When there was heavy flooding in Okayama in 2017, they supported the administration in recovery operations based on their BCP. The impact of BCP is to be acknowledged as the emergency operations were safer and timelier. BCP of the company has been continuously improved, and they were invited to join infrastructure recovery activities in the disaster area of Great East Japan Earthquake in 2019. The area is not the usual business region of the company, but 1,000 km away. There is a high requirement for human resources and equipment for emergency and recovery activities immediately after a disaster. Most of the construction companies are small and locally based in Japan, and several resources available at the construction site itself for initial recovery activities. It is desirable to prepare a plan so that the affected companies themselves can respond. The main tasks are the training of personnel to provide guidance and support for BCP, and the development of systems and laws that can actively support activities. By capturing accurate information on resources of local construction companies, their capability and response speed during an emergency can be improved. It is also necessary to create a system to receive support from other companies or organizations in case self-help is difficult or insufficient.