Checklist
for Businesses
Post-Disaster Transportation and Utility Disruptions
Post-Disaster Transportation and Utility Disruptions
|
Checklist
for Businesses
Post-Disaster Transportation and Utility Disruptions |
|
|
|
The following checklist should help your organization minimize the number of impacts of disruptions in transportation and other infrastructure systems following future earthquakes and other disasters, and to cope more effectively with those impacts.
Transportation disruption planning is critical. Employees, customers, and suppliers will need to use roads to get to work, as well as to gain access to key facilities that need repair. Everyone should anticipate transportation disruptions in areas through which they generally travel. However, some of the transportation issues are more critical for manufacturing companies than for service or office workers.
Utility system disruption planning is also needed. Water, sewer, and natural gas power pipelines will be broken, and utility crews will be faced with a disrupted transportation system, further delaying repairs. Communication and power systems will also be disrupted. It does not take a natural disaster, such as an earthquake, to cause power and communication problems. Again, the diffence in a major disaster is that damage to these systems occurs in an enviroment where there is additional damage.
The principal focus of the checklist is intended to be on minimizing
the impacts of disruptions in transportation and other infrastructure systems
following earthquakes
and other disasters, not to replace checklists made by other agencies with other
emphases. Therefore, it is recommended
that potential users of these checklists undertake a comprehensive review of
their emergency preparedness using information, for example, from the Governor’s
Office of Emergency Services, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the American
Red Cross, and the California Seismic Safety Commission. The reviews and associated plans should be
updated and exercised regularly.
|
Regarding
Employees |
q
predesignate employees who are critical
so that non-essential employees are comfortable remaining at home and
not on the road
q
predesignate shifts and/or
crews for employees to avoid everyone reporting for work at one time and
simultaneously becoming overworked; data on commute distances and patterns
may be used to assign employees to shifts
q
work with employees to know
their commute patterns and identify possible alternative routes from their
homes to your key facilities and offices in an emergency which avoid known
faults and other major obstacles, such as toll bridges (collecting information
on maps or by zip codes as a first step)
q
encourage employees to pre-arrange
family phone contacts outside of your area so that they can communicate
their safety and location to isolated family members
q
investigate the possibility
of pre-designating an employee to have the principal responsibility after
a disaster of contacting all employees
families to learn of safety (thus, this person would need to know all
out of area family contacts pre-disaster)
q
encourage employees to be
prepared for disasters at home by, for example, providing disaster kits,
to improve their family safety and therefore increase the likelihood that,
if at work, employees can remain there, and, if at home, critical employees
could travel to work more readily
q
cross-train employees to
allow for some workers being unable to reach your facilities in a timely
manner, if feasible, or know the resources of your neighboring
agencies or organizations and develop checklists of key components of
these jobs to aid employees in performing them
q
promote employee training
in first aid, CPR, and, in some cases, train some Emergency Medical Technicians
(EMTs)
q
promote training for licensing
of amateur radio operators among employees
q
include earthquake hazard
information in training crews that may be working on repairs so that they
can identify and avoid life-safety hazard situations that may be close
to the damage they are repairing
q
know what you plan to do
with injured and how you might want to transport them to emergency care
q
investigate the possibility
of providing on-site day care after an disaster to allow essential or
critical employees to work if their normal day-care options are not available |
|
|
q
if the phone system is operational – (a) plan to use voice mail to broadcast work and staffing information to employees (b) as an alternative, investigate establishing a pre-designated hot-line or telephone trees for employees to call to gain similar information
(c)
train employees to change
their voice mail messages to state that they are safe and use the phone
instead of the roads
(d)
train employees that the
phone system may be operational even if you do not have immediate dial
tone; remain on the phone and wait for dial tone rather than hanging up
repeatedly |
|
Operations |
q
plan to set a priority of
keeping open surface roads in and out of your facility routinely maintained
by your agency
q
develop resource lists of
heavy equipment that may not be owned by your organization, as well as
pre-arrange contracts with potential private suppliers and establish mutual
aid agreements with potential public resources (realizing that you may
not be a top priority for external suppliers of this equipment)
q
know your neighbors, including
their potential resources and problems by, for example, becoming involved
in local emergency councils
q
use local emergency councils,
industry groups and other forums as a way of sharing useful information
and techniques to minimize the potential of having to reinvent checklists
and procedures that have already been developed by others
q
ensure that you have stocked
your operations center with food, water and sanitation systems to allow
for disruptions off-site
q
focus on flexibility and
redundancy of disaster operations
q
check that fuel pumps at
vehicle yards are connected to a backup power system
q
ensure adequate fuel supplies
should restocking of fuel supplies be delayed
q
provide, anchor and test
back-up equipment used for fuel, power and emergency communications, particularly
for your emergency operations center and other essential facilities, and
have extra flashlights with batteries
q
size fuel supply tanks for
emergency generators; power outages may be longer than expected
q
provide, anchor and test
back-up communications equipment, such as portable radios and relay towers
q
install back-up supplies
of water on-site and anchor tanks
q
anchor all equipment and
nonstructural items
q
minimize glass in hallway
exit routes and consider installing film
q
design on-site utility lines
to minimize risk of pipeline breaks
q
develop a facility hazard
checklist and run audits, particularly related to buildings, critical
equipment, hazardous materials, and nonstructural items that may cause
injuries, to allow for a rapid post-disaster walk-through and
know the status of these pre-disaster
q
if facilities are critical,
pre-arrange for post-earthquake assessment by local structural engineers |
|
Location |
q
examine the location of your
facilities relative to exposure to various earthquake hazards such as
violent shaking, liquefaction, differential settlement, and earthquake-induced
landsliding
q
if exposures are found, address
problems through mitigation or make the conscious decision to accept the
risk |
|
During
the Emergency Phase |
q
work with employees to pre-establish
those essential employees who should attempt to reach the workplace after
an disaster
q
pre-establish optional work
schedules to allow for limited employees at work and communicate these
decisions to employees
q
for employees at home – plan on not being able to get to your office for
up to 72 hours after an disaster, due to phone and travel restrictions necessary
for emergency operations (creating a “desktop in a briefcase” with key
phone numbers is a good start)
q
for employees at work – ensure that your employer knows who is and is
not at work so they can communicate this information to others
q
plan on a stockpile of emergency
supplies and equipment (including plywood) so as to support employees
and business concerns for the first 72 hours after a disaster
q
plan methods for disseminating
post-disaster information to employees and their families, including (a) setting up “rally points” based on where employees live with access to multiple forms of communication equipment
(b)
if the phone system is operational – using voice mail to broadcast work and
staffing information to employees |
|
During
the Recovery Phase |
q
plan possible alternative
routes and methods of transportation, including small boats and ferries
q
investigate options for radically
redesigned work schedules to minimize the need for commuting
q
investigate the option of
providing limited housing for employees who may choose to remain on-site
such as establishing pre-disaster contracts with modular building suppliers
q
if you are not a manufacturing
company or do not provide critical services, work with employers/employees
on emergency telecommuting options (THINK – how essential are you?)
q
explore the option of having
employees report to alternate work sites closer to their homes, either
at another of your company’s facilities or at a facility where you have
contracted for emergency office space
q
plan on utilizing mass transit
(including ferries) or carpools if telecommuting is not an option |
 |
The development of these materials was funded
by grants from the State of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services,
as well as the Office of Traffic Safety through the Business, Transporation
and Housing Agency with additinal support from the U.S. Geological Survey
and the Association of Bay Area Governments. A modified version of this checklist is also available as a PDF - click HERE. |
 |
 |
 |
This page was last updated 4/8/04 by jbp.