Heavy rainfall that caused flooding across Southern Alberta continues to challenge the area, particularly in Calgary, where the Bow and Elbow Rivers both overtopped their banks. Roads and bridges were washed away; notably, the Trans-Canada Highway was damaged by mudslides west of Calgary. At June 28, power has been restored to much of Calgary, and the Trans-Canada Highway has been repaired west of Calgary.

Attenda been accredited with the new ISO 22301 International Standard for Business Continuity Management. The company has been working for the past twelve months to align its business to the ISO 22301 standard, carrying out detailed assessments of the organisation and technology elements and processes, including a number of scenario based exercises with its crisis management team.

Companies are finding it increasingly difficult to control their supply chains at a time when the cost of failure is higher than ever, according to Airmic. Case studies examined during the research included the grounding of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, the Japanese earthquake and tsunami, Thailand floods, Nestlé's Kit Kat attacked by Greenpeace for using unsustainable supplies of palm oil, Mattel recall of millions of toys.

In response to this week’s demonstrations running up to the G8 annual meeting, the Cross-sector Safety and Security Communications group (CSSC) has issued the following protective security points, which summarise guidance from a Centre for the Protection of National Infrastructure (CPNI) publication on the same.

SunGard Availability Services has signed a five year contract with Serco Group that will see the business continuity and managed services provider take responsibility for Serco’s UK IT infrastructure and undertake a technology transformation. Serco will also be moving a portion of its current estate to a virtualised, managed hosted model, using dedicated SunGard-managed platforms.

Drew Gibson has joined Atos Consulting Business Continuity and Resilience team from Canary Wharf Group, where he was business continuity and risk manager. Gibson joins the Atos team to lead the development of its crisis management offering and provide a range of planning, training and exercising for their clients.

The winners of the 2013 Business Continuity Awards were announced last night at a Gala Dinner and ceremony hosted by comedian Marcus Brigstocke at the London Hilton on Park Lane. Among the winners, USAA, Camelot, HP, Zurich and the Cross-Sector Safety & Security Communications Partnership. Read on for a full list of the stars from the night...

A new report by UNISDR and PwC warns large multinationals’ dependencies on international supply chains, infrastructure and markets poses a systemic risk to ‘business as usual’. Ban Ki Moon has described economic losses from disasters as “out of control”, after a separate report was released (GAR13) showed mounting losses this century from catastrophic events topping US$2.5trn.

Comedian Marcus Brigstocke is to host the 2013 Business Continuity Awards Gala Dinner. The Business Continuity Awards recognise the endeavours of business continuity, security, resilience and risk professionals. Judged by an independent panel of experts for exceptional performance, service and results in this dynamic industry, this year's winners will be announced and awarded at the Gala Dinner on Thursday 30th May.

Following a multi-million pound investment to enhance and upgrade its business continuity centre in Hamilton, Scotland; IT services and business continuity provider Phoenix is extending an open invitation to anyone interested in IT or business continuity, to visit its newly extended and improved centre on 30th April for educational presentations, guided tours of the facility and hands-on experience of the technology.

News in brief: Week to 5th April 2013, including news from SunGard Availability Services, RPC, AJ Gallagher, EIOPA, Kroll and PwC.

SunGard Availability Services has today published a report suggesting that steady and sustained growth over recent years in managed services adoption has led to an improvement in the UK’s business availability practices. They believe organisations have made a shift in their approach to business continuity, building resilience into the business through investment in cloud and virtualisation technologies, as well as managed recovery programmes.

The Business Continuity Awards recognise the endeavours of business continuity, security, resilience and risk professionals. Judged by an independent panel of experts for exceptional performance, service and results in this dynamic industry, this year's winners will be announced and awarded at the Gala Dinner on Thursday 30th May 2013 – an evening that brings together industry leaders for a night of networking and celebration. This year's shortlist follows...

Xchanging has been appointed by Homecare Insurance, part of CPP Group, to provide business continuity and recovery solutions for its infrastructure. Under the three year contract, Xchanging will provide solutions to provide Homecare with stand-alone capability as part of its approach to risk management, prevention and recovery. This will include a hot-start business recovery centre, provided by Xchanging.

The British weather continued to catch UK businesses by surprise in 2012, according to new research released by the Chartered Management Institute, British Standards Institution, the Business Continuity Institute and the Cabinet Office. Three in five firms suffered financially as a result, with managers estimating the average cost to their organisation in excess of £52,000, and some as high as £1m.