Overview - ISO/TS 22330:2018 (People aspects of business continuity)
ISO/TS 22330:2018 is a Technical Specification from ISO that provides practical guidance for the people aspects of business continuity management systems (BCMS). Published in 2018, it expands on ISO 22301 and ISO 22313 by focusing on planning and managing the workforce and other people affected by disruptive incidents. The standard covers the full people lifecycle during disruption: prepare (awareness & learning), respond (immediate effects), recover (manage during disruption), and restore (support after return to business as usual). Management of people in large-scale civil emergencies or societal disruption is explicitly out of scope.
Key topics and requirements
ISO/TS 22330 outlines guidelines rather than prescriptive requirements; major technical topics include:
- People aspects overview - rationale, structure and the need for a people-focused approach in BCMS.
- Precursors - duty of care, organizational attributes, team and individual competencies.
- Preparing to respond - business impact analysis for people, managing people-related risks, knowledge/skills/abilities, learning and development and awareness programs.
- Delivering the response - immediate protective actions, incident response organization, mobilizing workforces, use of alternative sites and working from home, people management during disruption.
- Restore and sustain - actions for sustainable restoration and continued workforce support.
- People support strategies - family/friend support, physical and psychological wellbeing (see Annex A on psychological response management).
- Communications - internal/external communications, systems, social media and nominated emergency contacts.
- Review and continual improvement - exercising, feedback, record-keeping and risk review.
The specification also includes informative annexes (e.g., psychological response management and relatives response team) and references ISO 22300 for vocabulary.
Practical applications and users
ISO/TS 22330 is intended for organizations that have, or plan to establish, a BCMS and need structured guidance on workforce resilience. Typical users:
- Business continuity managers and resilience professionals
- Human resources and occupational health teams
- Incident response and emergency planners
- Senior management integrating duty-of-care and people risk into organizational continuity plans
Applications include designing people-focused continuity policies, building training and awareness programs, planning workforce mobilization and alternative work arrangements, and developing communication strategies to support employees during incidents.
Related standards
Keywords: ISO/TS 22330:2018, people aspects, business continuity, BCMS, duty of care, workforce resilience, incident response, recovery, restore, communications.