By Bob Kenyon
It is an anniversary that many would like to forget: Ten years ago on Aug. 14, the massive Northeast Blackout left around 50 million people in the U.S. and Canada in the dark. As we think back to 2003, it is worth remembering that blackouts continue to pose significant operational challenges for real estate professionals here in the Midwest. Because, while the Northeast Blackout was particularly memorable for its size and scope, smaller local and regional outages remain a frequent source of damaging and costly business interruptions across the Midwest.
While few of those outages make headlines, the numbers are startling. In 2012, there were 268 reported power outages in Michigan, Illinois and Wisconsin alone. And those outages come with a sizable price tag: power outages and interruptions cost the U.S. economy anywhere from $80 billion to $188 billion each year.
The picture does not look much better when you break it down to the individual firm level. The Department of Energy reports that IT systems power interruptions result in around a third of companies losing between $20,000 and $500,000; a fifth losing between $500,000 and $2 million; and 15 percent facing losses that exceed $2 million.
Real estate professionals across the Midwest need to be cognizant of these sobering figures and should educate themselves about the relatively modest preparations they can make to mitigate or eliminate their exposure to costly blackouts. What follows is a basic checklist of the simple steps that any company can make to protect its assets (both virtual and otherwise) from the costs and consequences of unplanned downtime.
Flip the Switch
Investing in emergency generators is a basic and essential first step. Medical facilities and a few select businesses are legally obligated to maintain generator backup, but many properties that are not required to do so end up making the investment.
Getting your generators up and running also means understanding the installation and maintenance basics. Protect your generators with regular care and upkeep, and remember to position them in a dry and flood-proof area.
Rely on Your Supply
A guaranteed fuel supply is anything but a luxury. For generator function in a true emergency, it is a logistical necessity. When fuel supplies are disrupted, even the best generators will do you no good.
One popular option is to participate in an emergency fueling program that guarantees uninterrupted fuel supply for your business or property. The best providers of these emergency fuel services should be able to demonstrate that they have the infrastructure, experience and resource availability to get your fuel to you in even the most significant and sustained emergency situation.
Don’t Get Interrupted
Because many generators do not come online immediately, an essential piece of many power-supply protection systems is an uninterrupted power supply (UPS). A UPS is an electrical device that delivers instantaneous emergency power that bridges the power gap between an outage and generator start-up.
UPS solutions can vary significantly, so be sure to consult with an expert to determine what device and/or system is right for your business or building.
Share and Share Alike
One of the most overlooked components of an effective and efficient business continuity program is a crisis communications plan: a detailed and comprehensive breakdown of how emergency messages and important announcements will be communicated to employees, tenants, patients, customers and even the general public.
One popular option is to blast out mass messages to large numbers of phones and email accounts through an emergency notification services provider. For property managers who can simply upload their tenant list, this is particularly appealing.
Social media is another valuable tool that real estate professionals can use to provide important information to large numbers of people in a short amount of time.
Analyze and Scrutinize
With generators, fuel supply, a strategic plan in place and employees trained so that they understand their roles and responsibilities in an emergency, real estate professionals and business owners have one critical step left: testing. A detailed and demanding testing program should validate (and periodically re-validate) the effectiveness of your current emergency response and business continuity plan not just immediately after a big power outage, but on a regular basis.
Comprehensive training and testing of equipment and emergency procedures should also include challenging your own assumptions and revisiting prior conclusions to ensure that the plan remains relevant as people, properties and businesses evolve over time. Prior assessments about who requires UPS coverage, for example, may need to be reassessed to ensure optimum coverage. Without a regular and rigorous testing program (and appropriate updates as needed), even the best plans will become less effective and provide less protection over time.
Prepared & Protected
As important as the steps above are to any effective business continuity and blackout response plan, they are only the beginning. To optimize your protection, it is important to put in place and develop infrastructure and strategies that reflect your own professional priorities and technical realities.
Real estate professionals across the Midwest would be wise to use the 10th anniversary of the Northeast Blackout as a call to action, not a historical curiosity, and should appreciate the degree to which this memorable event has influenced the principles that guide decision-makers today.
Companies that apply these basic principles and best practices will discover that, when it comes to protecting their properties and businesses against the damage and disruption of power outages, a little bit of thoughtful preparation and strategic planning can go a very long way toward keeping the lights on when they need it the most.
Bob Kenyon is executive vice president of Atlas Oil Co. Emergency Fuel Solutions (EFS), a division of Atlas Oil Co., specializes in emergency fueling for mission-critical businesses including: hospitals, data centers, utility companies, food retailers and financial centers. Based in Taylor, Mich., EFS currently services 26 states. For more information visit www.emergencyrefuel.com.