A Disaster Waiting to Happen?

No amount of planning can prevent some disasters from happening, but as has become all too apparent recently, how you prepare and respond to a disaster make all the difference in the world.  We need only look at the government’s (local, state, and national) responses to Hurricanes Katrina and Rita to see that there can be long-term repercussions from actions taken in the first few hours following a disaster.  In hindsight, many “common sense” steps that could/should have been taken were unfortunately not – largely because of a lack of proper planning or planning implementation. 

The Cooperative community has historically been on the front lines responding to many disasters and has been very effective pitching in wherever and however possible.  We at EnerVision are proud to be associated with clients that make it their highest priority to help others in time of need. 

The RUS is also to be commended for their proactive approach.  Many clients are telling us that the RUS’ recent requirements that each borrower complete a Vulnerability and Risk Assessment (VRA) and Emergency Restoration Plan (ERP) are already paying dividends – this is despite the fact that many cooperatives are still in the process of completing their ERP.  If your cooperative is among those that haven’t yet completed or (gasp) haven’t yet begun writing the ERP, here are some helpful hints we’ve picked up from working with clients on theirs.

The document itself can be structured many different ways: according to disaster type, according to assets destroyed/businesses disrupted, or even by department (then by disaster type).  Regardless of how the Table of Contents is ordered, there are some key elements that should be included:

• Contacts.

  • Internal.  Names and numbers of key employees, contractors/business partners, emergency customer call center(s).

  • External.  Names and numbers for key customers, local authorities, local/regional/state emergency organizations, media, neighboring cooperatives/ utilities.

• Chain of Command.  Names and titles of who’s in charge of the organization and each department, with alternate persons for various contingency events.

• Departmental “to-do” list in priority order.  Note that restoration procedures for many departments can and will be different depending on the nature of the emergency and the critical assets destroyed/compromised (e.g., distribution system, headquarters, information systems).

• Key Documents. 

  • Location and retrieval procedures for backups of key documents/ information.

  • Other disaster recovery related documents to be referenced in event of emergency.

You’re probably aware that the deadline for completing the ERP is fast approaching (January 12, 2006).  That said, the ERP is not something to be rushed through if you haven’t started yet.  Most cooperatives, our clients included, have appointed a single person to “champion” the effort, and assembled a team to pull together the various elements of the document.  The champion can come from one of any number of functional areas – we’ve seen cases where it’s the Operations/Engineering Manager, Information Technology Manager, Accounting/Finance Manager – and the choice doesn’t even need to be based on where the major risks lie.  However, this person does need to 1) be familiar with people throughout the organization, 2) have good project management skills, and 3) have enough time to devote to the effort.  Clearly number three doesn’t mean this person has nothing better to do, but often means that they’ve compiled a competent team of others that can absorb some of their “normal” duties while they’re working on the ERP.  Other team members also should have these same characteristics at some level and must be senior enough to make decisions when needed (e.g., who will be in charge if “x” occurs). Being consultants, we also think it can be a good idea to solicit external help to coordinate the effort – it provides an independent review, helps you incorporate best practices from others, and takes some of the pressure off of the champion and other team members. 

For more information about disaster recover planning - Emergency Restoration Plans (ERPs) and/or how EnerVision might be able to help, please contact Charles Nash at (888) 999-8840 or e-mail him at charles.nash@enervision-inc.com.