September 2003 Mfg.Trust

Mfg.Trust is a monthly feature of the
            NCMS InfraGard Manufacturing Industry Association
                        Infrastructure assurance for manufacturers
                                    Powered by NCMS.

This month – OCCASIONALLY DISCONNECTED ELECTRICITY
Practical Preparedness Revisited

See the Resources Page for this Story 

Editor's Preface:

As anyone who has lived, and/or worked outside the US knows, Americans enjoy the most stable, reliable electric power in the world. That excellent performance leads us to expect perfect reliability in the design of our personal and industrial systems. Yet, we were recently reminded that ‘perfect’ is an inappropriate adjective for ‘reliability.’

The outage of August 14th in the northeast United States provided a strong lesson. Government and its people were made to realize that they must pay the bill for a party we have enjoyed for a long time. Both serious conservation (suppose they sold electricity differently?) and infrastructure repairs are in order.

The important arguments will all receive attention. Long distance selling of power, power plants near your community, power plants distributed within your community, and the appropriate roles of industry and government, will all get air time. This will be a long debate. In the interim, we should plan for future power outages.

This feature revisits the ‘practical preparedness’ themes for individual and small manufacturers that the NCMS InfraGard Manufacturing Industry Association (IMIA) introduced earlier this year. We got you past duct tape and plastic sheeting. Let’s look at full gas tanks and changed expectations about reliance on cell phones.

Editor

OCCASIONALLY DISCONNECTED ELECTRICITY

The timing of the August 14th outage, near the end of a summer workday, was significant. We would have different observations if the outage occurred at night, on a weekend, or in the winter. However, warm weekday
afternoons are when the electric power industry experiences peak power demand.

Your editor was with DTE Energy that day. Their headquarters is a high-rise office building in Detroit.
 

Employee Safety

Evacuation was safely executed for all the (thousands of) people in the DTE high-rise office building. This is no small accomplishment. Those without full motion capability received considerate attention. Two full sweeps of a large building, spaced an hour apart, gave confidence that no one was left behind. To achieve this performance, occupants must perceive emergency response plans as ‘real’ (as in really conducting exercises). Security and business leaders prove their worth by their response in a crisis.

Fueled Vehicles have Great Utility

Motown commutes with cars. Here, near-empty gas tanks produced a lot of sadness – people stuck with few alternatives. We just did not expect fuel to be unavailable. After this experience, we may behave differently for a while. Aviators have a good rule of thumb – carry enough fuel to reach your destination, plus an alternate (like getting back home), plus 30%. When returning home at the end of the day, perhaps we should consider maintaining a minimum fuel tank level based on tomorrow’s plans.

The public reaction to near-empty gas tanks caused two other situations. Apparently, some people just headed for home, into a huge traffic jam. There were a large number of cars abandoned along the road, presumably out of fuel. Contrast this uncomfortable and potentially dangerous situation with a more thoughtful person’s reaction. He walked over and played nine holes of golf while others sat in traffic. Traffic quickly calmed down after two or three hours. Highways were safer than streets because there were no (inoperative) traffic signals.

Our second lesson happened the next day. As many drove off in search of some place with electricity that could pump fuel, we learned that all the cars in town collectively hold much more fuel than all the gas stations in town. The lesson: vehicles with adequate fuel have great utility.
 

Cell Phones are Not Part of Your Emergency Plan

The phone companies, landline and cellular, performed reasonably well in this emergency. Those cell phone towers do have backup power and generally it worked. However, nothing could prevent the overload caused by everyone with access to a phone calling someone else as soon as the lights went out. We might just accept this fact and alter our expectations.

For public safety purposes, there may be an alternative. In some places, it is possible to prioritize certain phone numbers and exchanges so that police, public safety, medical, and utility repair crews have a better chance to communicate. This is an appropriate backup to radios for such occupations. You might inquire if your business fits this category.

Noisy Problem Areas – and the Quiet Heroes

Power companies generally mark ‘public health and safety’ facilities such as hospitals, police, fire, water, sewerage, phones, other utilities, public communications, and the like for priority restoration after a storm. But this outage was different. Power companies had to first focus on getting plants back on line and matching their individual output to isolated sections of load, without the convenience of sharing across a power grid. Only later could the above priorities come into play.

The lack of water and wastewater treatment capability in Michigan received attention in the management of this crisis. The electric power company narrowly averted one disaster by restoring power to a particular facility just hours before it would be forced to dump raw sewerage into a river (or back up the sewers of the city residents, a worse disaster). Detroit residents boiled a lot of drinking water. Now that the crisis is over, these facilities should answer for their lack of emergency preparedness.

In contrast, you never heard from the gas company. Their electric power was out too. Nevertheless, they were prepared and their emergency systems worked. The implications of loss of gas pressure are simply annoying in summer. In winter, however, loss of heating is deadly serious for those who are shut in and/or cannot communicate their needs.

In the US, public radio and TV responded well to the emergency. They kept the public informed, with commendable smoothness in the first hours of the crisis. We should not take this good service for granted. The silence of my favorite Canadian radio station was deafening.

Planning for Your Safety in the Home

A recent IMIA Mfg.Trust article addressed power failure preparation. Portions bear repeating:

“The environment you live in and these three factors should influence your preparedness planning:
* Incidents that occur frequently
* Incidents where prompt response is important
* Outcomes that you can influence

There are two considerations about outcomes you can influence. One is the nature of the incident itself. The other is the physical capability of the person(s) concerned. A minor incident for a healthy, mobile adult can be a nightmare for the elderly, the infirm, or the child.

Flashlights (that work) give you an opportunity to safely set up longer lasting candles or oil lamps. Battery powered radios provide an opportunity to remain informed. Telephone power is separated from electrical utilities. Always install one ordinary (non-electrically powered) telephone instrument in your house.

Know how to turn off electricity and water at the house main supplies. Show your family how to do the same. Know if you can turn off your main gas valve from the outside. According to FEMA guidance, if you shut off the gas supply at the main valve, you will need a professional to turn it back on.

Be aware that most gas furnaces and high efficiency hot water heaters require electricity to function. Thus, an electrical failure may impact your heating or the convenience of hot water. This lack of convenience may turn into catastrophe in an extended winter emergency. The Resource page offers FEMA guidance for extended emergencies and home disaster planning.”

Conclusion

We enjoy wonderful levels of comfort and quality in our lives, but there is still danger in the world. You can mitigate this potential danger significantly for your employees and your family through planning and preparedness, coupled with a dose of caution and situational awareness. The US Dept. of Homeland Security website says it well:

Make a kit
Make a plan
Be informed

Please take a moment to review the Resources Page. You will find good advice there.

LINKS

http://trust.ncms.org, select ‘Publications Index’ tab to find:
February 2003 Mfg.Trust - Practical Preparedness, Please
March 2003 Mfg.Trust – Preparedness for the SME

NCMS Online Courses at http://training.ncms.org/index_shock.htm
Critical Incident Management Series
SAFE – Security Awareness Fundamentals & Education

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If you liked Mfg.Trust, please forward it to a colleague in your company!

For questions, comments, or for NCMS Alliance Partners to request their own FREE subscription to Mfg.Trust, send e-mail to johns@ncms.org