When selecting a recovery site, careful consideration should be given to its location. In particular, the distance from the live site is important. Too close and you risk it being affected by the same incident that denies access to your site. Too far away and staff may be unwilling to travel there in the event of an "invocation".

There are no hard and fast rules, and much will depend on your own location, type of business and specific risks, but factors to consider include :

• Accessiblity : does it have good access by road, rail and air? Is access more difficult at certain times of the day or days of the week?

• Services : are power, water, gas, telecommunications, etc provided from a different source (sub-station, exchange, etc) to the primary site?

• Risks : is it subject to the same risks as the primary site. For instance, is it on the same flood plain or earthquake zone?

Whether you use a 3rd party recovery site or one of your own, you need to ensure it will be available to you if you need it, and that your staff can actually get to it, within a sensible time.

Ask any estate agent – they’ll tell you that location is everything!