Emergency Planning Guide for Utilities

An increase in major natural disasters—and the growing number of damaging events involving gas, electric, water, and other utilities—has led to heightened concerns about utility operations and public safety. Due to today's complex, compliance-based environment, utility managers and planners often find it difficult to plan for the action needed to help ensure organization-wide resilience and meet consumer expectations during these incidents. Emergency Planning Guide for Utilities, Second Edition offers a working guide that presents new and field-tested approaches to plan development, training, exercising, and emergency program management. The book will help utility planners, trainers, and responders—as well as their vendors and suppliers—to more effectively prepare for damaging events and improve the level of the utility’s resilience. It also focuses on planning needed in the National Incident Management System and ICS environment that many utilities are embracing going forward. In doing so, utilities will be able to improve the customer experience while reducing the impact that damaging events have on the utility’s infrastructure, people, and resources.

INTRODUCTION AND USE OF THE GUIDEIntroduction Opening Remarks Primary Learning Objectives Introduction to the Second Edition Organization of Topics Using the Guide with Other Resources Emergency Programs and Resilience Your Plan for Your Company Models for Plan Development Closing Notes for Using This Guide PAST, PRESENT, AND FUTURE OF EMERGENCY PLANNINGLooking Back Roots of Emergency Planning Need for Change: Developing More Effective Plans Agency Involvement NIMS and the Incident Command System Where Are We Now? Current Planning Needs for the Utility Planning for Resilience Planning for Technology Advancements Maintaining Compliance and Preparedness Evaluating Systems for Planning Requirements Summary of Steps to Consider What Can We Expect? Use of Technology: Before, during, and after Damaging Events METHODS AND DYNAMICS OF EMERGENCY PLANNINGRisk Studies and Analysis Why Are Risk Studies Important? Assessing Risks for the Utility Conducting the Vulnerability and Risk Study Using Metrics and Qualifying Data Eliminating Gaps in Preparedness Leveraging the Risk Study and Analysis Implementing the Emergency Planning Process Emergency Planning Guidelines What Are Emergency Plans? Preparedness versus Response Peacetime versus Real-Time Planning Key Objectives for Plans Steps to Develop a Plan Emergency Plan Development (EPD) Model Training and ExercisingTraining Response PersonnelPrograms to Enhance PreparednessAnalyze Training Programs, Feedback, and Metrics to Enhance Training ProgramsWhy Feedback Is Essential to Development and How to Use It When You Hold a Drill or Exercise Exercises; Measure and Analyze ResultsRevising the Plan Keeping the Plan Current Publish Revisions Maintaining Improvement in the Emergency Program Packaging and Issuing Revisions; Ensuring People Have the Right Plans Maintain Quality Control Now and in the Years Ahead The Corporate Emergency Preparedness Program: An Essential Program for Utilities Prepared Organization Models: The Prepared Organization Response Model Approaching Organization-Wide Plan Development: Coordinating Plans Budgeting for Preparedness Affiliation with Agencies during Disaster Recovery Backup Power Systems Post-storm Damage Assessment: Tabulating Accurate Results Emergency Communications Emergency Communications: How Will You Handle It? Media Communications Communications Systems The Most Important Asset in Recovery: People Mobilizing the Response Essential Notifications Crisis Decision Making: Better Decision Making in Utilities Stress and Decision Making Site Emergencies: If You Must Leave Your Building Keeping the Emergency Program Alive Special Supplement: Emergency Planning for Public Power Utilities Opening Remarks Emergency Planning in Public Power Utilities Essential Planning and Mitigation Measures Checklist of What Plans Should Do A Model for Implementing a One-Stop Interface to Essential Information Closing Remarks EXHIBITSExhibits Summary List of Resources Included Emergency Program Quick-Start Guide Emergency Plan Development Model Emergency Program Administrator Summary of Duties Primary Duties Summary Specific Ongoing Duties Other Related Duties Sample After-Assessment Questions Important Links to Emergency Program Information Suggested Readings Mutual Assistance (MA) Questions for Group Discussion Forms and Diagrams Section Form: Articles of Corporate Preparedness Form: EP-1, Developing the Plan Scope Form: EP-2, Developing the Risk Assessment Form: EP-3, Prioritizing Core Services Form: EP-4, Developing Recovery Strategies Form: EP-5, Developing Procedures Form: EP-6, Event Timeline Form: EP-7, Emergency Duty Assignments Form: EP-8, Emergency Planning "Info Base"Spreadsheet Risk Assessment Tool The Emergency Plan Development Model Utility Emergency Program Resources Menu Some Prudent Questions to Consider for Utility Organizations Emergency Duty Description Form Sample Emergency Plan Contents Sample Newsletter Sample Plan Audit Form INDEX

Sam Mullen has more than 30 years experience in utility operations, planning, and management. He is the author of three books on contingency and emergency planning and technical communications, including Emergency Planning Guide for Utilities 1st and 2nd Editions, and Critical Communications: An Operations Guide for Business. After a long career in power system operations and system control, Mullen founded MPS in 1994, a practice working primarily with utilities. Sam consults on a full range of projects involving power system emergencies, EMS and SCADA operating procedures, information technology, business process design, computer applications and controls, communications, and regulatory compliance.