James Royds has joined Steelhenge as a director and head of consulting

Companies are being advised to take extra fire safety precautions during the planned industrial action by the UK’s Fire Brigade Union. The strikes, scheduled to take place today and on 5-7 November, represent a potentially serious threat, with an increased chance of them being unable to control a fire on their premises.

Research just published shows that as many as seven out of ten organisations have suffered at least one supply chain failure in the last nine months. The survey,, conducted by the BCI, suggests that while awareness of supply chain risks is increasing, many businesses remain exposed to high levels of risk.

Over two-thirds of large companies in the UK expect the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games to have virtually no impact on their ability to operate business as usual, according to new research from Deloitte.

SunGard Availability Services has launched Replication-as-a-Service (RaaS), a cost-efficient, on-demand way to replicate vital data contained within an organisation’s diverse storage devices. SunGard’s RaaS replicates data in a secure private cloud environment, which is linked into its recovery network.

Business continuity service provider, ICM Continuity Services, has completed the rollout of its new state-of-the-art VoIP system to 7,500 end points across its eighteen business continuity sites nationwide.

Following the coldest winter for three decades last year, which caused widespread disruption to businesses, forecasters are predicting another harsh, snow-filled winter in the coming months.

Business continuity service provider, ICM Continuity Services, has launched two enhanced versions of its business continuity planning software, Shadow-Planner.

The authorities have warned of the increased potential of a terrorist attack in the UK and Europe.

Managed services and datacentre provider, The Bunker, has been named as one of Britain’s most successful technology businesses in the 2010 Sunday Times Microsoft Tech Track 100. The Tech Track 100 ranks Britain’s fastest-growing private technology companies.

Vodafone UK has attained the globally recognised ISO/IEC 27001:2005 (ISO 27001) certification relating to the provision of IT services such as application hosting, data management, technical support and consultancy for its business customers.

Following the devastating peatland and forest fires in Russia and resultant smog in Moscow and the surrounding regions, Marsh is urging affected organisations to review their current business continuity plans and insurance provision.

Brit Insurance has announced the promotion of Ray Cox to chief executive officer of its UK Strategic Business unit. Cox will join the executive management committee and report directly to group CEO Dane Douetil.

Marsh has promoted Richard Waterer to the newly created role of head of operational risk for Marsh Risk Consulting (MRC) in the UK. Waterer will report to Jeff Colburn, UK MRC leader.

Vocal has released a new software offering for schools. SafeText and SchoolAlert have been designed to allow parents and pupils to contact teachers and the school out of hours quickly and simply without exchanging any personal contact information. Messages can be sent to individual parents, teachers, pupils or specific groups, regardless of location.