Business owners in the UK are well prepared when it comes to disaster recovery planning.

That is one of the findings of a new report into business risks from Grant Thornton, which looked at more than 7,000 business owners in 32 different countries.

More than three-quarters (77 per cent) of UK businesses have documentation in place to deal with disaster recovery, and plans for a major IT failure. This meant that the UK was in fourth and fifth place respectively for these categories, and compares favourably with the global averages of 57 per cent and 61 per cent.

As well as this, 81 per cent of firms have in place a plan for dealing with a breach in the security of their electronic information, indicating that IT security is high up on the priority list for many.

"Risk management should be an integral part of every firm's strategic management, so it is encouraging to see so many UK businesses appearing to take the issue seriously," said Alysoun Stewart of Grant Thornton.

"Identifying fundamental risks and taking steps to prepare for them is essential for minimising the impact of a disaster, which is key to the continuity of privately held businesses."

A recent study by US research firm Aberdeen found that more than four-fifths of best-in-class companies have a formal, written data protection and recovery management policy.

Research for Connect in 2007 found that 88 per cent of UK businesses were interested in Disaster Recovery systems primarily to protect their critical applications and data