Ready or not!

Here it comes. Some of us have learned the lessons of recent natural disasters. Others haven’t – yet. Woe unto you.

Toto! Auntie Em!
  Hurricanes, tornadoes and earthquakes, oh my.

Although no place in the United States is completely safe from natural disaster, some manufacturers still seem to think their location is.

However, the good news is that the majority of companies responding to our survey on disaster plans claim to have a plan in place. The bad news is that even with a plan, not many feel they could cope should a house fall out of the sky.

Have plan, worried anyway
According to our survey, nearly 87 percent of respondents have a formalized disaster plan in place. But not all of them are sleeping well — only 47 percent believe their company is truly ready should a tornado or hurricane come calling. In fact, nearly 22 percent checked the most telling box in the entire survey, “God forbid anything should happen here.”

The remaining 31 percent believe their people are covered but that their equipment would be toast.

Initially, a mere five percent of respondents said their company has no plan, but the more troubling (and larger) figure is that nearly nine percent of respondents don’t know if their company has a disaster plan or not.

Worse, when we asked if the plan was written and available for employee review, a slightly higher number of respondents, about 17 percent, decided they maybe didn’t really have a plan after all. Only 35 percent said their plan was visible to employees daily. Nearly 31 percent said it wasn’t posted anywhere.

Well-laid plans
Of the companies that do have plans in place, most have done their homework: nearly 65 percent used OSHA/FEMA guidelines to write their plans while about 35 percent just wrote their own. Nearly 70 percent of existing plans have utilized thorough risk assessments, but fewer — only 56 percent — are confident those plans address human and physical resources as well as business continuity.

Where to go, what to do
Most respondents (74 percent) have designated personnel trained in disaster response and employee evacuation. Even more, 86 percent, have briefed their employees on what to do in emergency situations. However, only 82 percent have escape routes well identified and posted within their facilities. Hmm.

Fewer still, just 69 percent, have contact information in a secure area for all employees plus local, state and federal response agencies.

Worse still, less than 48 percent of existing plans contain utility shutoff procedures and contact information. Not the most comforting thought when high voltage lines start doing the watusi across the yard.

Another disturbing oversight is that just 65 percent of facilities have an NOAA (National Weather Service) weather radio with a tone alarm to warn of approaching severe weather.

Where’s the first aid kit?
Companies also aren’t scoring well in terms of having disaster response tools and supplies securely stored in a central location. Just 52 percent got this one. A further 26 percent don’t seem to store emergency supplies at all and another 22 percent just don’t know.

However, of the companies that do maintain emergency supply stores, about 57 percent periodically inventory those supplies. Not great, but at least they’re thinking.

Living in Oz
When looked at in all its good, bad and ugly, the survey paints a picture of broadly varying states of readiness and internal communication of response procedures. Clearly many companies have heeded the lessons of Hurricane Katrina, but others haven’t. You might say they’re living in Oz.

Dorothy’s disaster plan was a suitcase and a dog. To those companies with not much more, act now before someone drops a house on you, too.

This article appeared in the October/November 2007 issue of MRO Today magazine. Copyright 2007.

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