When a water main broke in one of Convergys' leased facilities early one morning last year, the facilities manager was on vacation, but the security guard at the site knew exactly what to do.

As a result of prior disaster response training, "the security guard knew there were filled sandbags onsite and he put sandbags around our telecommunications room, which is the heart of the calls coming in, and he was able to keep water out of the area because of that plan," recounted Carol Fox, director of risk management at the Cincinnati-based software company.

The training the security guard received was part of a four-year-old business continuity/disaster recovery program that Convergys had launched in response to the risks associated with Y2K computer crashes.

While it is essential that every organization has a catastrophe management program in place to ensure continued operations in the wake of disaster, it is perhaps more important that every individual participating in the plan be trained to ensure its effectiveness, business continuity experts say.

Catastrophe management training also must be updated and tested regularly to keep up with the changing nature of business, experts insist. It should be tailored to the unique needs of each individual organization, they add.

Unfortunately, not all U.S. businesses are as prepared as Convergys to handle catastrophes, according to a recent survey by Factory Mutual Insurance Co., which does business as FM Global; the Financial Executives Research Foundation; and the National Assn. of Corporate Treasurers.

Thirty-four percent of 400 financial executives and risk managers at Fortune 1000 companies surveyed earlier this year reported their companies were unprepared to recover from a major disruption to their top revenue source. In addition, 28% of companies reported that disruption to their top revenue source would threaten their business continuity.

"Every organization needs to have at least minimal business continuity or disaster planning because insurance doesn't cover their market share, their customer base or their reputation as a supplier," said Mike Morganti, customer training manager for FM Global in Norwood, Mass.

"And once they get a plan, they have to realize it's a living document. It's not just something you do once and leave it on the shelf. It's got to be kept current. As the organization changes, as the business priorities change, it's got to change as well. If they don't keep it current, it's not going to work," he said.

"Training is probably one of the most important aspects of proper implementation" of a business continuity plan, and "communication is pivotal to the training," said Lori A. Brassell-Chicchini, assistant vp in Sacramento for Philadelphia-based ESIS Inc., the risk management services division of ACE USA.

"Everyone needs to know their roles and responsibilities, what they need to do, and because these events don't happen often-and businesses hope never-it's something that, if you don't train for, you're not going to be prepared for," Ms. Brassell-Chicchini said.

"If nobody's familiar with the plan or well versed in the operations or the steps involved, then it's really not going to work," warned Dave Gluckman, vp and property risk control executive at Willis Group Holdings Ltd. in Florham Park, N.J.

And the more involved an individual is in executing the plan, the higher the level of training, he advised.

For example, "if somebody's in charge of fire extinguishers, they should have hands-on training," he said.

Because certain individuals designated to fill particular roles integral to the plan may not always be present, backups should be appointed for when those first-string leaders are on vacation or traveling on business, Mr. Gluckman added.

In Convergys' case, "each of the functions within the incident command team has a backup function, and, in some sites, because of the size and the criticality, they may be three and four deep on backups," Ms. Fox said.

Depending on the type of operation and potential exposures, training and/or drills should be conducted at least annually, experts say.

"If you are an operation that changes dramatically, like some of these high-tech firms, or biotech firms, you'll probably want to practice your plan or update your plan at least on a monthly basis because you have such changing exposures within your facility," advised Victor Sordillo, global technical services manager at Chubb Inc. in Whitehouse Station, N.J. "But if you're a pretty stable operation, you might go to an annual" training program, he said.

It is "absolutely critical to repeatedly test" employees, said Tom Mawson, executive director of DRI International of Falls Church, Va., a nonprofit company that provides business continuity training.

"Every single time that people change or a policy changes or a new branch opens, it is going to affect some aspect of that business continuity plan, so it's a good idea to constantly exercise the plan. Even if you don't have a full-scale test where people go to a backup site or meet in the parking lot, if you just have a tabletop....you should constantly update the planning and make sure that everybody in the company knows," Mr. Mawson said.

In addition to regular testing, communication is an important component of an effective catastrophe management training program, experts say.

"I think everyone is familiar with 9/11 and has read the stories as to what went very well and where there were some communication errors," said Ms. Brassell-Chicchini.

"Communication sometimes is just taken for granted. We're all receiving so many e-mails and so many phone calls, and everybody's doing more with less, that it makes communication even more important," she said.

In addition to communicating the plan to existing employees, it should be outlined to new hires as part of their new employee orientation, suggested Willis' Mr. Gluckman.

Because not all organizations have the internal resources necessary to develop in-house catastrophe management training programs, insurers and loss control consultants offer these services.

At its fire lab in Warren, N.J., Chubb also provides other types of catastrophe management training, including cargo and transit security and industrial hazard identification and safety, which covers the gamut from slips and falls to industrial hygiene and chemical exposure, according to Mr. Sordillo.

Likewise, ESIS provides disaster recovery training services, according to Ms. Brassell-Chicchini.

But other organizations not directly related to the insurance industry can also be a source of valuable disaster recovery training, experts point out.

DRI International, for example, offers three levels of certification in business continuity training, and nearly 3,000 individuals have earned the certifications since the organization was founded in 1988.

The American Institute for Business Continuity Training, based in Niagara Falls, N.Y., offers a five-day intensive workshop on business continuity planning featuring instructors who all have the DRI designations.

Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, numerous other disaster recovery and business continuity training programs have also been launched.

"Sept. 11 showed that you must have a solid crisis management plan and be able to evacuate an entire building quickly," said Harry Nolan, a loss control consultant at E.G. Bowman Specialty Services, a division of the New York-based insurance broker E.G. Bowman that recently introduced a crisis management training program.

Training "gives the people the confidence to handle the situation. They have a plan and know what actions to take before the event," said Convergys' Ms. Fox. "It's not enough to put a plan together. You really have to have a team practice together."