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For Immediate Release
June 2, 2005
Stamford the fourth northeast city to enlist in
the growing, innovative pre-crisis credentialing system for businesses
Dr. Robert H. Leviton, President of the Business Network
of Emergency Resources, Inc (BNet), announced today the addition of
the City of Stamford, Connecticut as the newest municipality to join
the growing family of governments utilizing the Corporate Emergency
Access System (CEAS) to assist business recovery following a serious
emergency or disaster. Stamford Joins New York City, Boston and Buffalo
in using the CEAS program.
CEAS is a public/private partnership that assists local
businesses to re-enter areas restricted to public access due to emergency
conditions. By providing critical business employees with secure identification
cards, before an event occurs, business “first responders” are quickly
identified by local law enforcement officers. When conditions permit,
CEAS allows these identified employees’ priority access to company
work sites to help sustain guardianship of their company until "normal"
local conditions resume.
The CEAS program exists by written agreements with local,
county or state governments that recognize the importance of business
continuity and agree to utilize the program in the event of an emergency
that causes a business interruption. The cost of the program is bourn
entirely by the participating private sector companies without cost
to the governments initiating the program.
The program is operated with the assistance of BNet,
a not-for-profit organization that develops public-private initiatives
between businesses and local and state governments throughout the
United States. Other cities and regions including Cambridge, Massachusetts
and Westchester County, NY are currently developing CEAS programs.
“Municipalities are finally making the connection between
the survivability of businesses at the local level, the welfare of
the local economy and the potential downstream impact on national
critical infrastructure following a major emergency or disaster” said
Dr. Leviton. Dr Leviton also noted that, “At BNet we realized long
before the September 11th tragedy the need to assist business recovery
by developing a system that identifies those with legitimate need
to access a restricted area.”
"One of the many hard lessons learned during the response
to 9/11 was the time, manpower and effort it took to initiate a credentialing
process following the event to allow business people to re-enter the
Ground Zero restricted zone”, said Peter Picarillo, Executive Director
of BNet and Former Director of Public-Private Initiatives of the New
York City Office of Emergency Management. “Since it is a pre-event
program, CEAS goes a long way to helping alleviate the burden from
local government and eases business access during times when they
need it the most".
The Business Network of Emergency Resources, Inc. (BNet)
incorporated during 1999 as a result of the federally funded Joint
Loss Reduction Partnership (JLRP). The results of this unique and
original public-private endeavor sought to identify and address critical
business needs immediately following a disaster.
A key finding of the JLRP was that during emergency
events, business employees were routinely denied access to restricted
areas, often for extended periods of time, and could not gain access
to critical business information and infrastructure. BNet’s mission
is to carry out the final recommendations of the JLRP report, one
of which was to develop a uniform credentialing system for businesses,
now known as the Corporate Emergency Access System (CEAS). For more
information about BNet please visit www.bnetinc.org.
For more information about CEAS, visit www.CEAS.com
or call BNet at (888) 353-BNet.
In Stamford Contact
William Callion
Director of Public Safety, Health and Welfare
City of Stamford
203-977-5919
Tanya Court
Director, Public Policy & Programs
The Business Council of Fairfield County
203-359-3220
Contact
Peter Picarillo
Executive Director
Business Network of Emergency Resources (BNet)
(845) 778-3778
(888) 353-BNET
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