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Emergency specialist at Dubai Municipality, Arnel Capule Capili, to outline corporate responsibility for employee welfare at the height of a disaster at a Business Continuity Forum in Abu Dhabi

Dubai UAE, 1 February 2012 - Arnel Capule Capili, specialist for corporate emergency plans at Dubai Municipality 's Public Health & Safety Department, has joined the powerful speaker platform for Fleming Gulf Conferences' 2nd Annual Business Continuity & Emergency Response Forum, to be held from February 13-14 at Park Rotana Hotel, Abu Dhabi.

With 12 years experience in emergency management, Arnel holds the prominent position of being the first Philippine national to be a Certified Emergency Manager by the International Association of Emergency Managers. Prior to being Dubai Municipality 's emergency specialist, Arnel was the Emergency Services Officer at the Asian Development Bank where he saw himself presiding over one of the largest emergency response operations in Philippine history during a super typhoon that affected 60-70% of the bank's workforce.

Emergency planning and business continuity are amongst Arnel's top expert fields and strongly advocates that planning for any uneventful incidents, both man-made and natural disasters, is the key to robust business operations. "Emergency planning is not a top priority for most organisations as this involves time, money and resources. Nevertheless, we've witnessed in the past, that even global brands from the west do experience temporary shut down of businesses due to system and technological failures resulting to billions of dollars lost in profit. Emergency planning is an investment that we have to do now. Preparedness is the first step towards addressing problems that might happen in the future," Arnel said.

Dubai Municipality recently demonstrated a heightened commitment in emergency preparedness and employee welfare system during emergencies, crisis and disasters. This is reflected with the municipality's recent initiatives which include issuing a guideline on emergency preparedness for all public and private establishments in Dubai. The guideline will require establishments especially those dealing with the public such as malls, hotels, property management to develop their own emergency plans which will be compulsory within the year. Also, they have recently joined UNDP's 2010-2015 World Disaster Reduction Campaign - Making Cities Resilient. Dubai is considered as the pioneer from the Gulf countries to join the campaign. Dubai is set to be a role model for the region with the standard preparations that Dubai Municipality submitted during the application process.

Along with public safety, Dubai Municipality has their concern focused on their employees' welfare. Arnel has the crucial role in ensuring that all departments within Dubai Municipality are prepared for any emergency and that they can respond well to these emergencies, may it be within the workplace or within Dubai. Although, very fortunate that Dubai's geographical location is not vulnerable to natural calamities, there are still several emergency situations that has to be considered. There are oil spills, chemical spills, fire and even disease outbreak that can happen in any workplace.

According to Arnel, there are two core ingredients of having a strong resilient business continuity plan - committed upper management and a strong team. When asked how a company can benefit from having an emergency plan, he replies, "A business continuity and emergency response plan will serve the company in two ways. First, is continuity of operations - if you have a plan in place your business operations continue, you will be able to fulfil obligations to stakeholders, without losing any profit. Second, reputation - if your company is deemed as an organisation that takes care of its employees not only will you gain admiration within your industry, you will also increase your employer brand causing employees to be more productive and more loyal to the company."

Arnel served as the Regional Director of the Philippine Civil Defense for 8 years where he also held the position as the Executive Officer of the Regional Disaster Coordinating Council. "I am looking forward to engaging with the audience in Abu Dhabi at the Business Continuity & Emergency Response Forum where I will be speaking on corporate responsibility for employee welfare at the height of a disaster," Arnel continued.

The second edition of the Business Continuity & Emergency Response Forum is endorsed by United Nations Development Programme and features an associated exhibition. The forum is designed to provide governmental bodies, executive offices, central government, civil defence, police as well as financial and oil & gas companies a greater insight into having an efficient business continuity plan with topics that cover planning, designing, testing, training and maintenance, and how the plan can be used to enhance business resilience to any kind of disruption.

Arnel Capule Capili joins what is shaping up to be a stellar speaker platform which includes: H.E. Dr. Elissar Sarrouh, United Nations Resident Co-ordinator & United Nationals Development Programme Resident Representative of UAE; Alok Tuteja, ADNOC, Head of IT Audit; Tim Marjason, Chief Inspector & Corporate Business Continuity Manager, Metropolitan Police Service and Ryan G. Carter, Emergency Planning Manager, Emirates Airline.

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© Press Release 2012