Boston, MA / New York, NY; July 22, 2009 – The National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) and the Disaster Recovery Institute International (DRI) have joined forces to create an education and certification program that will qualify participants to audit disaster/emergency management and business continuity programs against existing standards and regulations. Certifications available are: Certified Business Continuity Auditor (CBCA) or Certified Business Continuity Lead Auditor (CBCLA).
NFPA, the authority on fire and life safety, and DRI, the leading certification and education body in business continuity planning, today announced a new interactive certification program that provides training, tools and hands-on experience. Through the program, participants will be able to apply the key components of disaster/emergency management and business continuity, the relevant standards, laws and regulations, the process of risk assessment, vulnerability analysis, loss prevention, risk mitigation, and develop, implement, test and maintain their plans and procedures.
“Professionals dealing with the growing need for disaster management and business continuity planning have been clamoring for a turnkey solution to help them measure the level of their organization’s preparedness against appropriate standards and regulations, and this certification program answer that call, “ said NFPA’s Bob Vondrasek, vice president for technical projects “This unique interactive program uses tools that allow novice and experienced corporate planners, internal and external auditors, and those interested in self-assessing their programs, or their clients’ programs, to perform an audit to better measure their state of preparedness.”
Course materials delve into existing legal and regulatory requirements by industry and country, as well as emerging requirements including: NFPA 1600, DRI International’s professional practices, financial services, insurance, healthcare, utilities, public sector guidelines and many others are explored. In addition, careful attention is given to the processes by which disaster/emergency management and business continuity programs are initiated with an eye toward corporate governance, policy, and procedures.
“Education is the key to success for professionals working in environments where they are expected to be well versed in the ever growing set of regulatory requirements, and laws and standards,” said DRI International Executive Director Al Berman. “This certification gives participants the opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge, experience to help entities assess their preparedness programs, which is something that is increasingly needed.”
At the end of the course, a qualifying examination is conducted and individuals who have passed will be eligible to apply for certification as a Certified Business Continuity Auditor (CBCA) or Certified Business Continuity Lead Auditor (CBCLA). The certification level (CBCA or CBCLA) will be granted based upon the amount of demonstrated audit experience of the applicant. Those seeking the CBCLA designation will be required to provide references to verify that they have at least five years of active audit experience. The certification will be granted by DRI International, the largest business continuity certification organization in the world. DRI International has certified over 12,000 applicants in over 90countries in its 20 year history.
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