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O+M Spotlight: Life Safety and Business Continuity
O+M Spotlight: Tips for Creating your Power Outage Plan
Emergency preparation is about thinking ahead. We have all seen how that “that’ll probably never happen” attitude has worked out at one point or another. Bottom line is that preparation means lower costs when the inevitable does happen. A power outage may not seem like a disaster, but it can have serious impacts on your property and especially your tenants. Develop a plan so that you are not left in the dark.
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TAKE A LOOK AROUND
You never know when a power outage is going to strike but there are a few possible suspects that you may want to address. Fallen trees and old machinery are two repeat offenders when it comes to making buildings lose power. Take care to update your machinery and check up on it to avoid shortages. Also, monitor the trees around your property and their relation to wires. Take down or trim any older trees that look like they could cause problems. This is also the time for a risk assessment. Gather information about your tenants and their businesses’ ability to operate during an outage. Do they need to close? Can they still produce goods? Are there perishables at risk? Knowing your tenant’s plans will help you prioritize and provide better aid when an outage occurs.
DEVELOP A PLAN
Once you have a base knowledge, it is time develop a written plan. As with all emergency preparedness, it needs to cover everyone who could possibly be in the building (tenants, guests, admin), have a clear chain of communication and contain information about any
first-responders. Your plan should address such factors as: payroll recovery, transportation for tenants, security and access to the building, backup power, stored drinking water or communications. The advice for countering most of these items in an outage is backup. backup.backup.
CREATE AWARENESS
Once the plan is written, it needs to be spread. Hold employee awareness sessions, run a power outage drill and make the plan available to all tenants. Practice whatever communication tree you have decided on and make sure each employee knows their role in the event of an emergency.
Creating checklists for tenants, employees and systems is a great way to efficiently asses any outage situations you may encounter. After the outage, ensure safety of tenants and staff, count any losses that may have occurred and make sure the source of the outage was identified and the problem resolved.
If the cause of the outage was something around or on the property, begin at step one with more preventative maintenance. Tenant safety is important, and no one likes feeling like they don’t know what to do in the event of an emergency. So, the next time your yearly safety discussions come up, make sure power outages make it on the list.
Sources: https://www.fema.gov/media-library-data/1510690314175-1e6c48 74b251c3022ac4b57b0369e2da/Power_Outage_Ready_Business_Toolkit_ Interactive_Final_508.pdf
In case of an emergency, it is always helpful to have a plan. Business continuity plans are the backbone of a building’s resiliency when faced with a natural disaster or disruptive event. Whether a hurricane or a power outage, business continuity plans can help a property bounce back quicker. There are many steps to making a business continuity plan and a few considerations that must be made to make it as strong as possible.
Starting From Scratch
Many teams already have a business continuity plan for their properties, but in case they don’t, here are a few tips on how to create one. It is important to tailor it to the specific property. Think about where the property may be vulnerable, what grid it sits on, and the functions that are considered critical for your property.
It is very important to think of every step of a certain event occurring. Considering appropriate amounts of downtime for a system, specifying a communications strategy for tenants, and developing a plan for the continuing of operations after the event will make sure that the process runs smoothly.
Also, consider what kinds of plans the property may need. Until recently, many properties may not have had a pandemic plan. Think about the climate and tendencies of the region and develop relevant plans.
Crossing the T’s
Committing a plan to writing is a great first step, but it is certainly not the last one. Make sure that all relevant parties are privy to the plan and have been given time to contribute. Building engineers and property managers working together will allow for different inputs and ideas about the overall operations of the building. Create a controlled testing strategy to make sure that the plan will work if needed According to CIO, a building will test its business continuity plan about two to four times a year. Consider creating scenarios that purposely exploit the possible flaws or weak points in the plan.
Moving Along
After creating and testing a plan, it is important to keep it updated. Bring in fresh eyes each time this is done so that nothing glaring is missed. It is also a great way to introduce new or younger team members to this practice and help them get to know the property.
According to CIO, it is important to make sure your objectives stay reasonable and that the plan is updated accordingly with technological advancements. It is also extremely important to make all involved aware of the plan. Distribute the plan and make sure to train people so that they have a full understanding of their role. This includes tenants, day and night staff, and anyone that may fall in the chain of command in the event of an emergency.
Before COVID-19, not every organization had a pandemic plan. Now, many are developing business continuity plans for if this event ever occurs again. On page 22, you can see BOMA International’s new guide to help organizations in their plan development. The process of creating and implementing a business continuity plan is not a one-time exercise. It is a continuous effort focused on the longterm success of a property. With careful consideration and earnest
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testing, a property can be ready to bounce back at a moment’s
