BRK manages emergencies and crises through a robust directive

The Company adopts a plan to react to atypical situations with the potential to compromise the business model

Ensuring the continuity of operations is essential for BRK to guarantee the supply of water and sanitation to its customers. To respond to possible emergency situations, the company has an Emergency and Crisis Management plan, updated in December 2021. This corporate Directive establishes the processes and actions to be taken, exercising a specific hierarchy and governance flow for the handling of these conditions.

By concept, emergency is characterized as any risk situation that demands immediate response actions to protect life, the environment, property and reputation. A crisis, in turn, is defined as a situation or emergency that affects – or has the potential to affect – the sustainability, continuity and stability of the company’s business.

The existence of a Directive that deals with the Emergency and Crisis Management was fundamental, in 2020 and 2021, to guarantee the continuity of service to the population in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The operation and maintenance teams continued to work, with prevention protocols and actions, continuously updated, to avoid contamination. On the other hand, the company was able to quickly adapt its entire service model to virtual platforms, allowing, for example, store employees to work remotely, as recommended by the health authorities.

All initiatives to ensure operational continuity and protect people’s health were led by the Crisis Committee, which was quickly installed due to the procedures and processes already provided for in corporate standards. Monitoring the evolution of protective measures also followed the planned processes, allowing the flow of communication to work between the administrative headquarters and the business areas.

Event classification

BRK classifies the handling of events outside the routine of the operation in three ways: “atypical situations”, “emergency” and “crisis”, clearly explained to the response and command teams, trained by the company.

Response to events

BRK Ambiental uses the ICS (Incident Command System) method that classifies response teams into: Tactical Response Team (TRT), Incident Management Team (IMT), Business Support Team (BST) and Crisis Management Team (CMT). Each team respects their respective niches of activity, while BST and CMT represent BRK’s top executives, always active in case of emergencies and crises.

Business Continuity Plan

BRK also has a Business Continuity Plan, whose purpose is to prepare the company to deal with the effects of an emergency related to events of interruption and continuity of operations. The scope of the Plan includes objectives, strategies, procedures and resources required for the resumption of critical functions, and is based on the Corporate Risk Matrix. This Plan was created during the second half of 2021 and will be implemented in 2022.