What Will You Do When the Roof Falls In? Protecting HQ and Other Critical Facilities

By Marcia Kittler|2022-05-18T18:17:36+00:00June 22nd, 2012|0 Comments

Have you ever heard someone complain, “You sound like a broken record?” Broken records can be trying, especially when they apply to severe weather. And last year, our nation and region had plenty of broken records. And more may be on the way.

In fact, last July, the National Weather Service reported that Chicago set a new record for the wettest July in recorded history. The 11.15 inches of rain that fell in Chicago that month beat the 9.56-inch record set more than 120 years ago. The tornados of 2011 were the most deadly and destructive in decades, and this year a new season of massive storms has begun to steal lives and destroy properties.

Have the properties in your area been impacted? You bet. Will storms like this happen again and soon? You bet. It’s not a matter of IF, but WHEN severe weather will impact your facilities. How can WE, as business continuity professionals, best protect our physical workspaces? Following are 5 steps that will help lead you to facility preparedness.

1. Know Your Business Requirements for Facilities

The January, 2011, blizzard that embarrassed Mayor Daley by stranding hundreds of motorists on Lake Shore Drive also closed Chicago public schools for the first time in 12 years. As 20.2 inches of snow fell in Chicago’s thirdlargest winter storm on record, a large manufacturer with an office, factory and warehouse facility in northwest Chicago was activating its BC/DR plan to deal with a power outage. Responders busy protecting IT resources weren’t paying much attention to the snow piling up outside. Soon, their dock area was clotted with large drifts. Overnight, compacted snow was plowed onto their property from neighboring driveways, and the sub-zero temperatures that followed the storm turned the mess into ice. Early the next morning, the facility manager found the ice impossible to move with the company’s old snow blower. The dock was impenetrable.

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This firm’s business continuity team had failed to consider the impact that the dock and other lost facility resources could have on the business. During the two weeks it took to reopen the dock doors, the company lost thousands of dollars in revenues, disappointed customers, and took a hit to their reputation. What an opportunity to benefit from lessons learned!

Can you enhance your business continuity plan with facility-specific mitigations, RTOs and recovery strategies?

Just like any building, every contingency plan requires a sound foundation. Reliable recovery plans are founded on comprehensive risk assessments and impact analyses that establish prioritized recovery objectives in support of business requirements.

When facility assets are included in risk assessments and impact analyses, facility availability and recoverability are optimized. Such assessments and analyses require a sound understanding of the facility.

2. Know Your Facility

Reliable facility recovery plans are also founded on up-to-date inventories of the facility’s features, assets and resources. There are many to consider. Behind those snowed-in dock doors, for instance, were the organization’s staging areas – which are crucial to the company’s shipping, receiving and handling functions. Recognizing the functional value of such facility elements (workspaces, storage, equipment, utilities, etc.) facilitates the development and execution of holistic recovery strategies that recognize the interdependence of all organizational resources – physical as well as virtual and human.

Design

Recognizing the benefits of the facility’s design is as valuable as identifying facility hazards and risk. For example, appropriate use of fire barriers and air handling (intake/exhaust louvers and filtration systems) can contain incidents and save lives.

Provisioning ready access to information about the structure promotes response and recovery successes. Maria Vergara, AVP of Business Continuity Management at RBS, shares her experience with the horrific 2004 LaSalle Bank headquarters fire. Because information about the structure was readily available to first responders, the fire department did not waste time considering whether to drill through the ceiling as part of the firefighting strategy.

“Our facilities team worked closely with the Chicago Fire Department before the disaster, and the building blueprints were already on file with the City before the incident. During the fire, the teams were well aware that drilling through the thick concrete floors would not work, and they had to plan their strategy around that,” says Maria. “Working with your city to make sure current blueprints are on file and building a relationship with your local emergency services are key. Also key would be for your security and facilities teams to have blueprints locked and stored, but easily accessible in the event of a disaster.”

Contents

The facility recovery plan will incorporate mechanical equipment protections and replacement priorities. Warranties, service schedules, and contact information for installers and maintenance providers should be included, as well as safety features noted (e.g., elevator recall capabilities and shut-off switches).

Identifying multiple, reliable sources and lead times for critical equipment and parts contributes to facility recovery success.

Utilities

What utility companies provide service to your facility? Training the facility team about the utility equipment, service entry points, and shut-offs for electricity, natural gas, water and sewage is a wise investment. Business requirements, examined closely, may identify the need for multiple points of entry, emergency sources or alternate suppliers.

Water supplies also require protection to provide for hygienic drinking, sanitation, fire suppression and engineered systems (e.g., cooling). Obtaining bottled drinking water may seem easy enough, but what are viable options for other water needs? For example, when a food manufacturing plant has insufficient water to satisfy its legal requirements (e.g., HACCP, USDA), facility relocation may be required.

Consider the circumstances of a major metropolitan hospital that lost its water supply when a water main unexpectedly ruptured. Maintaining the ability to regularly flush toilets became the recovery manager’s top priority. Fortunately, her team was able to gather enough pails, carts and personnel to form a bucket brigade to another water main which city personnel tapped for the hospital. For four hours, the brigade passed water down elevators, across hallways, out doors, and along sidewalks. Surely every hospital has a water contingency plan in place. Might your organization need one too?

Power (Electric/Gas)

Power availability is an instrumental and fundamental element of most contingency plans. The comprehensive facility plan will consider storage tanks and lines, transformers, switchgear and circuit controls, along with reliable service contractors, generators, reserve supplies and spare parts.

3. Know Your Vulnerabilities

The threats, vulnerabilities and risks a particular facility is regularly exposed to are typically taken into account during a comprehensive risk analysis. What about additional risks that may present themselves during a disaster, e.g., when the facility boundaries have been compromised?

When the facility is surrounded by yellow tape, established relationships with first responders and proper credentials can help ensure the facility recovery team gains entry into the property. Well-timed, disaster-appropriate facility security services and access controls are effective mitigations.

Hazmat

Facility recovery teams must be aware of the intermittent and frequent presence of hazardous materials in, on and near the property. Types, locations, quantities and reference numbers are most helpful, as is responder access to MSDS sheets, protective garb and other safety materials.

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4. Know Your Resources & Opportunities

The resources that can be employed to mitigate facility risk and promote facility recovery success are most effective when catalogued and kept handy. These resources might include, as appropriate:

Landlords/Property Managers

Careful pre-incident reviews of leases and agreements help ensure that planned facility recovery roles and responsibilities appropriately dovetail with, and take full advantage of, contractual commitments for security, maintenance, restorative repairs, etc. Contact information for the landlord’s contractors should be included in the plan; in the event such support is needed when the landlord cannot be reached, using the landlord’s contractors is an excellent choice.

Emergency Service Providers

Water/fire/mold remediation services are wonderful resources during times of disaster. Having formal relationships and agreements in place minimizes the risk that your organization will end up at the bottom of long waiting lists created by excessive demand. Several days after a recent storm, Mike Collins of J.C. Restoration (JCR) reported that more than $5 million in storm remediation requests overwhelmed JCR’s capacity to deliver within the narrow timeframes necessitated by flood cleanup. “We’ve referred almost $2 million in our clients’ work to restoration contractors who came from across the country to help JCR’s clients and others in need,” says Collins.

Interim Service Providers

Anticipating temporary needs likely to arise during the interim between disaster response and restoration needs (e.g., waste disposal, enhanced security) enables proactive procurement of necessary temporary services.

Neighbors

Not only are neighbors often the first responders on a disaster scene, they are often an instrumental source of assistance. Mutual aid agreements can benegotiated in advance to create reciprocity for utility services, work spaces, fixtures, and recovery aids and amenities.

Insurer/Broker

Keeping insurance information safe and secure will help maximize insurance benefits and expedite claims. This information includes: policies and riders, coverage limits, deductibles, claims forms, filing information, and, of course, proof of ownership and value — also, make/model/serial number and cost information for facility assets.

Architects/Building Engineers

The individuals who designed, constructed and remodeled buildings and other facility fixtures often prove to be a repository of indispensable recovery information and support.

5. Know Your Plans

It’s time to get back to that broken record and point out the indispensible value of up-to-date contingency plans, trained teams, regular reviews and updates, and verified strategies for preparation, response, recovery and resumption. Ensuring plans are kept in alignment with ongoing facility risk assessments and impact analyses is vital. Critical vendors and suppliers should share contingency plans as well.

Lastly, applications are available that enable teammates and managers to obtain, share and manage accurate plan information, track expenses, share communications, report progress, and create audit trails.

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About the Author: Marcia Kittler

Marcia Kittler, a certified business continuity professional and enterprise strategist, prepares organizations to survive … and thrive … through the implementation of holistic plans and policies that recognize resource interdependencies. Marcia may be reached at MK Business Solutions, Inc. via [email protected] or by telephone (773) 329-3907.

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