Opinion
Emergency Planning for Protection and Restoration of Services: Something We Should All Be Thinking About
Elaine F. Schumacher McCrone Associates, Inc., 850 Pasquinelli Dr., Westmont, IL 60559
eschumacher@mccrone.com
We hear daily in the media about disasters, large and
small, natural and man-made. We witness injury, loss of life, and destruction of homes and businesses. We get estimates of the economic consequences from the loss of property and income. We empathize as we watch the efforts of victims to recover and return to normal lives. And yes, we all hope that it never happens to us. However, as responses to a recent listserver inquiry of
mine have illustrated, there’s a chance that it could happen to you; that fire, flood, loss of utilities, or a similar scenario could affect your laboratory, leading to downtime and/or damage to instrumentation and infrastructure. How do you approach emergency planning to protect your resources and restore services? How do you ensure the safety of those who may have to deal with equipment and facilities in the aſtermath of an emergency? Listserver responses generally fell into two categories: (1)
protection of equipment to prevent or minimize damage and (2) strategies for cleanup and restoration of services. Based on the experiences of those who responded, flooding seemed to be the most common emergency occurrence, followed by fire damage and electrical outages. In terms of planning and protection, the suggestions
included: (1) a phone tree for notification of lab personnel, (2) dissemination of early warnings to allow for safe shutdown of equipment, and (3) sand bagging of lab doors if flooding is expected. Some power-related considerations: (1) generators to run
sump pumps, (2) installing cables and control boxes raised off of the floor as much as possible, (3) UPS backup of instruments coupled with a system that notifies you of power failure, thus allowing time to come in and shut down instruments safely, and (4) shutdown at master shutoff switches to minimize damage from a power surge at the instrument when service is restored. It is also useful to (5) have plans for computer backup, including both data files and the customized soſtware that you use to run instruments and analyze data. For cleanup and restoration, (1) know where you stand in
the priority list for help, both within your organization and with your instrument service providers. Will facility engineers be available to assist you, or will they be responding elsewhere first? Will maintaining service contracts put you higher on a priority list? In the case of smaller instrumentation, (2) can your vendor provide loaners until your equipment can be
80
repaired or replaced? (3) If you have insurance, what is the age of your equipment, and are you sufficiently covered for replacement value? Regardless of other support, in the event of an emergency
it will likely be up to lab personnel to deal with the brunt of the recovery operation. Bear in mind that, in the event of a large-scale disaster in your area, your staff will be dealing with personal issues, too. Tese may range from just difficulty in getting to the lab to displacement from their homes; thus, support and understanding of their situations are paramount. My thanks to Bill Anderson for a list of things to have on
hand in the aſtermath of flooding: • Phone numbers for physical plant or a plumber to stop the water flow
• Well-labeled electrical panels to know which circuit breakers to switch off and, just as importantly, which ones NOT to switch off in a panic situation
• Plastic sheeting to throw over systems and workbenches • Wet vacs or similar vacuum cleaners that can suck up water
• Electrical extension cords that won’t electrocute the person vacuuming
• Fans to help dry out the lab • Wedge blocks to hold doors open • Absorbent pads, sponges, etc.
Bill notes that most microscopes, if installed correctly, can tolerate a few inches of water on the floor; however, they should be shut off and restarted only aſter lab humidity returns to normal levels. Tose who have experienced fire and smoke damage
emphasized cleanup difficulties due to permeation of soot into equipment and infrastructure. Remediation may involve hiring a specialized cleanup company to go over surfaces to remove soot, and the use of specialized paint to seal pipes, walls, and other surfaces. Delicate electronic and optical equipment will also require specialized cleanup or may need replacement. It becomes obvious when contemplating emergency
planning that you can’t anticipate every potential scenario, and some events will be on a scale that precludes the possibility of acting on any plan to restore services. However, some thought should be given to the more common, small-scale occurrences, especially those that are most likely in your area. Finally, because we deal with complex and costly instru- mentation, we should operate in “what if” mode every day.
doi: 10.1017/S1551929511000472
www.microscopy-today.com • 2011 July
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84