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BK-72
11-24-2008, 08:40 PM
I work in the Safety Services department for a large corporation. It's roughly 200 acres with three large buildings (about 3 million square feet includes office and warehouse/distribution). There are roughly 4,000 people working there during the day when I work.

Our department is responsible for everyone's personal safety in addition to protection of company asset's.

Personally I feel that our emergency plans don't go far enough. Oh we can get the people out of the buildings in the event of a fire or into shelter's during severe weather easily enough.

The problem I feel is that we have no concrete plans for sustaining the population inside the buildings if we have to shelter in place for any reason. There are no emergency kits in stock, and I believe we would go through the stocked food and water from our cafe's in maybe two day's.

Would anyone have some thoughts on what I could present to my department leadership to improve our situation?

crashdive123
11-24-2008, 08:54 PM
I would imagine it depends what your department leadership sees as a threat. If there is the potential for a threat that would cause the situation you are concerned about just present it and your plan in a logical manner.

wareagle69
11-24-2008, 09:34 PM
best i can say is to look at other corporations of equal or larger size and find out if they have any plans in place network and share

Ole WV Coot
11-24-2008, 11:21 PM
Back in the '60s we cleaned out blankets, cots, first aid kits in govt & telco bldgs from WWII. This stuff was sub basement behind thick steel doors. Don't know if any of you remember the old CD sign? Talk to the manager and our Uncle should have a plan to store what you may need, if they think you're "necessary" in the grand theme of things. When I was in school you got under your desk to "save" yourself from an A bomb. They may order more desks.

RobertRogers
11-26-2008, 05:03 PM
Sounds like a very big undertaking but also a GREAT opportunity for you to stand out from the crowd, take action, and perhaps even make your own special niche in that large company. I say go for it.

Rick
11-27-2008, 08:30 AM
I'm sorry but I missed this thread somehow.

BK - I managed disaster recovery for domestic operations for several years and was a member of DRI International as well as the Business Continuity Institute. Any DR/BC plan, whether it involves hardware, buildings or people will require a business plan if you want to suggest changes to upper management.

Know your threats. If you have not already done so, identify which threats are most likely to occur and what impact each would have on operations. What scenario do you see occurring that would force your employees to stay within the building for more that a couple of days? And what is the likelihood that scenario(s) would occur and no assistance would be available (separate issues).

I would think 4000 people trapped in a given location would be a huge priority to first responders.

Think outside the box. I once inspected a new facility that had done extensive planning for DR/BC. They had spent a lot of money installing a diesel generator, indoor fuel tank, multiple fiber routes into the building and redundant servers. All located in the sub basement.

What happens if the sump pump fails? I asked. Where is your backup? Millions had been spent only to be the potential victim of a several thousand dollar component. Think outside the box.

Few people know there are two trans-continental telephone cables originally designed to be the last means of communications for government should a nuclear attack occur. The repeater locations were all underground bunkers complete with blast doors, self contained water and power and 30 days worth of food. Those locations still exist but the food is no longer stored in them. Technology changed the need. My point to this example is there may be some technology that would mitigate your threat scenarios. Look for them.

On the surface it may appear that the solution is supporting 4000 people for x number of days on self stored wares. The real solution may be how to get them back to their homes or how to bring in additional wares beyond the time frame you can currently support them.

Just some thoughts.

bulrush
12-03-2008, 08:44 AM
We have backup tapes of all our files stored off-site. Just in case fire destroys are first set of tapes.

But you were probably referring to food and water, maybe blankets. Storing food and water is an on-going expense, not likely to be supported by management. You must rotate old food and water out, and buy new stuff to put in periodically. That's why I bought a water filter, and I don't store water, but I do have water containers handy, in case I have to fill them up quickly before a storm.

The most dangerous thing I have to prepare for is ice storms, typically in early winter or early spring. The ice makes trees heavy, they fall over and take power lines with them, shutting off power for a couple days. That means I will have no heat or city water.

So I dress warm, bought wool blankets, and I have camping equipment to boil water or cook food. I can also get water from other areas that still happen to have power. Power outages are often confined to random areas.

crashdive123
01-03-2009, 12:54 AM
Sarge - Move to General Emergency Preparedness