Issue link: https://cp.revolio.com/i/549869
22 | THE DATA CENTER JOURNAL www.datacenterjournal.com d owntime carries an enormous price tag, so it is critical to minimize interruption to your operations. However, electrical emergencies are oen inevitable due to the unexpected nature of blackouts, equipment failures, hurricanes, lightning, floods, high winds and other natural disasters. Every business depends on electricity, and ensuring its re- liability is vital. When the power is out, the costs to a business can be immense: due to restoration costs and lost productivity, sales and inventory. If you do not have an effective crisis recovery plan in place, it is nearly impossible to coordinate a streamlined response during the emergency, which can cause already substantial losses to multiply. Additionally, during a large-scale or regional crisis, all local companies with recovery plans in place will have more than likely retained the resources you may need to start the recoveries – which will result in even more downtime while trying to secure resources and paying top dol- lar for them. Further, the recovery process can take be further delayed if updated critical facility information is not available, such as: up to date one lines, spare parts, equipment inventories, and system restoration priorities. Attempting to sort out these priorities during the chaos that follows an event makes decision-making more difficult, with fewer resources available and labor rates at a premium price. Eaton recommends that planning for these events ahead of time will get a facility in a crisis recovery mode faster, and in a cost effective manner. With pre-established emergency procedures, the con- sequences of the loss of electrical power can be minimized if a disaster occurs. Pre-crisis audits also provide the benefit of potentially identifying internal problems that could cause is- sues, including: overdutied or malfunctioning equipment, stor- age blocking equipment access and/or escape routes, missing breaker racking or liing tools, missing drawings, and so on. It is also important to make emergency preparedness part of the culture of an organization, so employees are trained and versed on how to respond. developing a pre-crisis response program in 5 steps Consult with a qualified first- response service provider with trained and experienced personnel for the equipment you have at your facility. Research the service providers' capabilities. Ensure they have toured your facility and have identified critical areas. Recognizing that for widespread disasters like hurricanes, both your employees and those working at your support organiza- tions may be affected so it is critical that the provider you select can source manpower and materials from out of the area if necessary. Putting in place a contract with rates, fees and retainers up front puts the company in the best position for the ne- gotiation. e company should set caps and documentation requirements in the contract to ensure there are supporting documentations or services being provided. It is also key to that all insurance and training requirements are stipulated, and the vendor and employees comply with all the required train- ings before any crisis occurs. Perform a pre-crisis risk mitigation audit to estimate the potential impact of credible disaster scenarios and to identify ways of minimizing vulnerability in the event of a disaster. Critical load audits can help identify which loads require backup power. Identifying consequences of potential nature and man-made threats will allow you to evaluate all physi- cal surroundings and financial impacts resulting from loss of equipment or regional infrastructure resources. You should also outline the consequences of electricity losses for varying durations and use this data to develop a contingency plan to deal with each consequence. In addition, conduct a safety audit and establish procedures to ensure injury-free remediation. All documentation should be periodically updated to reflect current facility or field conditions. Extra copies of this information should also be stored off-site to ensure it is acces- sible no matter the extent of damage incurred. Additionally, aer evaluating assets, the company should have discussions with their insurance provider to ensure all re- quirements are met prior to a disaster to make reimbursement and financial support as smooth as possible. Consider adding local electrical power generation or quick- connect temporary power sources for critical areas of operation. Permanent on-site local generation comes at the highest cost but provides the highest level of assurance. Local gen- eration can increase reliability to ensure systems are always functioning, but ensure that contracts are in place with trusted fuel providers for quick delivery. 1 2 3