BUSINESS owners in Craven are being given free advice through a new online service on how to deal with a range of emergency situations to ensure that their enterprises are able to cope during major events.

The new artificial intelligence tool has been launched to provide interactive conversations for businesses across the Yorkshire and Humber region about how to prepare for emergencies ranging from flooding, fires and extreme weather to power outages, cyber-attacks and pandemics.

Using an artificial intelligence chatbot, the online tool will allow businesses to have real-time, two-way conversations about emergency preparedness.

Launched earlier this month, the tool will initially be offered to businesses throughout North, West, South Yorkshire and the Humber through a website.

Members of the public can also use it to talk about emergency awareness through the interactive website and QR codes.

The website includes a number of case studies of businesses which have coped with emergency situations, such as flooding and fire. There is also advice to businesses from police inspector Gavin Mayes on hardening their businesses against cyber challenges.

Ins Mayes, who manages the North Yorkshire Police cybercrime and digital forensic units, says a government survey in 2023 highlighted the fact that the most common cyber threats were 'relatively unsophisticated'.

He said: "Having worked in policing, with a specific remit on cybercrime for almost ten years, I have seen hundreds of successful cyber-attacks from a broad and varied spectrum of attack vectors. There are some very capable people out there who can find and exploit both hardware and software vulnerabilities for the purposes of criminal gains. However, in my experience the weakest link in cyber security architecture is nearly always the human element.

Broadly speaking I mean user error, such as inadvertently creating exploitable access points through poorly configured networks/firewalls, failure to patch known vulnerabilities or a simple a lack of process controls, such as network administrators failing to manage permissions, access levels and enforcement of password management. In addition to that, employees often fall foul of phishing emails, social engineering and having credentials compromised, all of which brings risk to your organisation. That coupled with an often-seen mentality of “it will never happen to us” and complete lack of preparedness in the form of business continuity plans makes for the perfect storm of business disruption, monetary losses, and impact on customer confidence, especially in the context of any resulting data breaches."

The Mayor of the York and North Yorkshire Combined Authority, David Skaith, who owns a clothing store in York, said businesses were at the forefront of how communities responded in times of emergencies.

He said: “I’m pleased to see local resilience forums coming together to develop this app. In emergency situations businesses are at the forefront of how we respond as a community and this tool will support businesses across Yorkshire and beyond to be prepared and ready for emergencies together.

“We’ve seen how businesses across Yorkshire responded to the Covid-19 pandemic so we know there’s a strong tradition of being resilient and adapting. Through this tool businesses will be able to identify what measures they can take to reduce the impact of disruptions – whether that is a power cut during a storm, flooding, disruption to supply chains due to issues with the road networks, a mains water emergency, or a cyber-attack."

He added: “It is important that we engage with businesses, and later residents, in different ways and we hope this initiative will spark some great conversations about emergency planning, preparedness and awareness.” Tracy Brabin, the Mayor of West Yorkshire, added: “Our businesses are constantly having to evolve and adapt to change – changing labour markets, supply chains, technology, regulations, competition, and access to finance.

“What our businesses shouldn’t have to worry about are emergency, often preventable situations – from flooding and extreme weather events to cyber-attacks and transport disruption.

“So, I’m thrilled to see Yorkshire’s local resilience forums teaming up on this new, easy-to-use support. It’s a fantastic offer to business and I’d encourage all of our local firms to take it up.”

And Oliver Coppard, South Yorkshire's Mayor, said: “I’m proud to partner with mayors across Yorkshire to launch the Yorkshire Ready Together project. We’ve seen first-hand the challenges local businesses have faced in recent years, from flooding to dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic."

All conversations and insights gathered are anonymous and no personal information is recorded or held. There is also no need to download any apps or fill out any registration forms.

The project is being supported by the North Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, the South Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum, the East Yorkshire Local Resilience Forum and the Humber Local Resilience Forum.

Local Resilience Forums (LRFs) are multiagency partnerships that include representatives from all the local organisations needed to plan and prepare for local incidents and emergencies.

Partners include local authorities, emergency services, health, utilities and communications providers and government agencies and departments.

In a survey conducted in October 2023 on behalf of the Yorkshire and Humber LRFs, 63 per cent of the respondents felt community resilience to emergencies is worth aiming for.

However, 78 per cent of respondents felt that the lack of information and awareness about risks and how to prepare was the biggest barrier holding their community back from becoming more emergency ready.

Visit www.yorkshirereadytogether.co.uk to find out more and join the conversation about ensuring businesses are prepared for emergency situations.