Volume IV, Issue 3
May/June 2011
This issue includes these topics:
From our professional roles to our personal lives, systematic planning is essential to success in all that we do. We learn from a young age to prepare for the future, whether it is an anticipated occasion or an unforeseen event.
Throughout the past 10 years, the world has either fallen victim to or witnessed devastating natural disasters, civil disputes, terrorist attacks, nuclear threats, etc. It is evident that disruptions, hazards, and threats can occur naturally beyond our control or as result of human error. No matter the cause, the majority of disasters and emergencies come unannounced, and the effect can be paralyzing. We are unsure of what will happen tomorrow or what lies beyond that, but preparation can help determine the overall outcome in any situation.
This edition of the Boost discusses the importance of planning for any emergency situation that endangers the critical functions and operations in the property and facility management industry. Provided within are helpful suggestions on emergency education, as well as insight from an industry professional on emergency preparedness and response.
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Spotlight
Emergency Scenario
Preparing for a Pandemic
One may not think to include an illness outbreak in the same category with natural disasters or internal operations emergencies, but the truth is a pandemic event could drastically change the face of both business and our culture. In recent years, the largest threats have been swine flu, avian flu, SARS, and the West Nile Virus.
The 20th century saw three significant pandemics:
- The Spanish Flu of 1918: At least 20% of the world’s population was infected and more than 675,000 people in the U.S. died. Estimates of the worldwide impact range from 20 to 50 million human deaths.
- The Asian Flu of 1957: Influenza A (H2N2) was first identified in China and spread to the United States, causing around 70,000 deaths. Worldwide, it killed approximately two million people.
- The Hong Kong Flu of 1968: The flu strain H3N2 descended from H2N2 and spread to the United States, causing almost 34,000 deaths. Worldwide, it killed almost one million people.
It is possible that we have not suffered through another pandemic on the scale of 1918-’19 because we now have a better understanding of how to respond to the initial outbreak. It is also possible that we have been lucky. Although none of the threats in this century have escalated to a true pandemic, they serve as reminders that we need to prepare for similar outbreaks that could viciously strike the global community.
A Different Type of Preparedness
Property and facility managers have traditionally implemented disaster preparedness plans to respond to sudden but limited events, such as a fire, riot, terrorist attack, or weather-related emergencies. However, a pandemic presents a different type of challenge. While other businesses may have contingency plans for employees to work from off-site locations, it would be difficult for building and facility staff to protect, maintain, and operate their property from another location.
To plan properly, you will need to establish an emergency response team. The team should include staff from all levels, both for planning and emergency response. Use a broad cross section of people from throughout your organization, and keep the focus on those with expertise vital to regular business functions. Include at least two people from each group. Define crisis management procedures and individual responsibilities in advance, with a back-up person identified and trained for each responsibility.
You will need to assess how your company functions, both internally and externally, and determine the staff, materials, procedures, and equipment absolutely necessary for continuous operations. Review your business process flow chart, if one exists, and identify critical operations. Develop contingency plans for payroll, financial decision making, and accounting systems to track and document costs. Establish a succession of management and, if possible, include at least one person at
another location.
Recovery in a Box
Access to information is vital. You should have copies of critical documents and computer files stored at an off-site location. Critical supplies may also be housed off-site. Commercial storage facilities often have climate-controlled and secure areas for storage. Consider creating a recovery box for your business or business unit and storing it off-site. This box should contain items you will need if your facility is not accessible, and could include:
- Copies of forms you will need immediately or daily.
- Copies of procedure manuals and other critical documents.
- A store of unique supplies necessary for daily operations.
Be prepared for the opportunity to enter your facility for a short time. If allowed restricted or time-limited access, be prepared with a list of critical items in order of importance. This list would likely include electronic files, computers, certain paper files, and work in progress.
You will need to have personnel location forms updated daily, as well as plans for staff members to contact a centralized location to report on their status. For staff who are able and required to perform business functions, you will need to have status report forms that document their tasks and track their progress on any given function. These forms should be distributed to staff before an emergency occurs and should be stored off-site. Staff members who can continue working should also report on a regular basis to a controlling centralized location.
Communication is key to business continuity. Employees will cooperate the most when pandemic response planning and decision-making processes are transparent and accessible. Policy makers must be fully accountable. Some extra steps to take to help ensure continuity include:
- Update contact information for employees.
- Establish sick day policies that discourage sick employees from coming to work.
- Sponsor an influenza vaccination program and consider a pneumonia vaccination program.
- Monitor updates and bulletins from the CDC, WHO, and local health agencies.
- Have multiple forms of communication of pertinent information in case a system fails or is temporarily inaccessible.
- Gauge the possible demand on local public health facilities and consider arranging private contracts.
You must have a management succession plan in place. Establish a chain of command that responds fully and quickly to each stage of the situation. Know whom to turn to when a key member of management falls ill or is not available. Create a formal crisis leadership team. It is important to have:
- A plan and process for the chain of succession.
- Identification of and assignments for substitutes.
- Identification of operational dependencies and planned redundancies.
- Identification of critical business processes and a plan for keeping them moving forward in the event of an interruption (documentation must be available for substitutes).
- Identification of essential employees and a cross-training regimen.
- Identification of an ancillary workforce.
- Knowledge of local markets.
- Good relationships with vendors.
- Arrangements with back-up suppliers of goods and services.
Action towards business continuity and recovery should address the needs of your organization’s people. Actions that businesses can take during a pandemic to increase employee comfort, safety, and loyalty include:
- Providing accurate and timely communications regarding the state of the crisis/outbreak, thus reducing confusion about the company’s functional status.
- Providing transportation and childcare, thus relieving logistical personnel problems during an outbreak.
- Providing aftercare accommodations for staff beyond the pandemic with the understanding that a widespread crisis will have long-term stress and trauma ramifications.
- By addressing the intense personal needs of employees during a pandemic, businesses can allow employees to commit themselves to efforts that will allow for business continuity and survival.
Controlling the Aspects Beyond Your Control
The time to talk with your business partners about the continuity plans they have in place is before the pandemic strikes. As a matter of practice, part of the assessment process after an outbreak should be contacting business partners, tenants, and suppliers to get information on their status. Communication is always vital to keep business running. In recovering from a pandemic, this will be especially important.
Other actions that can be helpful in both continuity and recovery include:
- Developing a communications plan that includes contact information for suppliers, customers, and employees, as well as a process for contacting these individuals.
- Testing communication systems and protocols to be used in case of an outbreak, and making contingency plans for these communication systems with employees, customers, and suppliers.
- Establishing and publicizing a website and dedicated phone line to be used to convey vital information to business partners and employees during an outbreak event.
- Establishing channels of remote access to business materials, including the transference of phone lines, for employees who can work off-site.
- Developing as much online automation and teleconferencing as possible in order to keep business flowing even if you, your partners, or customers are locked down by an outbreak.
Business as Usual
The actions you take before and during pandemic events will directly impact your organization’s ability to return to business as usual. It is important to recognize the human aspects to a pandemic; people have legitimate family and community responsibilities, and continuity and recovery planning needs work with these realities.
You should expect people to be concerned about contracting the disease; this is natural and will likely be a widespread worry. It is also important to remember that a pandemic will not likely cause a complete business shutdown. Regardless of the extent of the outbreak, your continuity plans should enable you to keep your business open as long as possible, or right through the pandemic.
Download samples of the emergency preparedness forms mentioned above.
Note: Content in this article is based on a webcast titled "Pandemic Preparedness and Response for Property and Facility Managers," presented by BOMI International, and is not at all a complete guide to pandemic preparedness.
Understanding the ROI for Proper Employee Education as it Relates to Disaster Avoidance
As a quick-moving, monetary-based society, we seek immediate satisfaction, meaning we do not have the time or the money to wait for results. Therefore, when it comes to paying an upfront expense for a deferred benefit, some may be inclined to pursue another option that will provide them with instant gratification.
However, before a final decision is made, it is important to assess the opportunity cost by weighing the expense against the expected return to determine which is worth more. Ultimately we all want our return to exceed cost, which sometimes means we must wait for a payoff rather than reaping the benefit instantaneously.
This basic fundamental of economics applies when understanding the ROI in regard to properly educating employees now (cost) so they understand disaster avoidance and are prepared for an emergency or incident (benefit) should one occur. The perfect plan can become obsolete if the responsible persons do not have the proper resources, knowledge, and skills to correctly implement it. Improperly trained, incompetent employees consequently present more of a hazard than a help; thus proving the value of the expected return surpasses the initial upfront cost.
The Importance of Education
Building and facility management teams are responsible for ensuring all systems are maintained and procedures are followed at all times. Therefore, they should be properly educated and prepared for emergency events so that property damage, as well as personal injury, can be minimized, and all operations can proceed ahead quickly. These individuals need to be able to anticipate future challenges in order to properly analyze potential impacts, as well as develop and implement preventive measures and innovative strategies that work.
In addition, management teams should have the knowledge to actively educate others in these systems and communicate the information needed to use them efficiently. Dynamic communication builds trust and increases collaboration, which is essential if a disaster were to occur. Those who are uncooperative or unaware of certain procedures present a severe risk and can cripple disaster-avoidance attempts, or prevent an emergency plan from being successful.
In addition to traditional education, teams should be subjected to conditional preparation drills. A simulation requiring employees to carry out the plan is vital to ensuring a thorough understanding of proper procedures and will instill confidence of know-how if an emergency situation occurs. These mockup sessions should be repeated regularly so emergency procedures become virtually innate—there is no such thing as being overly prepared.
Assessing Education Options
Once a decision has been made to move forward and invest in education, the next obstacle is determining which program is the best. Choosing an education regimen should be based on the program curriculum, credibility, and the value it offers.
BOMI International educational programs provide an overview of many important environmental health and safety considerations in building operations, including risk assessment, planning, mitigation, and continuity of operations. From communicating preventive maintenance in the boiler room to assessing and developing strategic safety plans in the board room, BOMI International offers programs designed for property and facility management professionals of all levels.
For additional information on BOMI International’s educational offerings, please visit www.bomi.org.
Interview
Expert Insight from Emergency and Incident Preparedness to Emergency and Incident Response
While it is important to be prepared for an emergency situation, it is just as important to respond properly. As a former consultant in business continuity, crisis and emergency management, and safe work practices, Walt Flannery, RPA, FMA, SMA has extensive experience and knowledge on emergency preparation and response. Below he has provided insightful information relating to both aspects.
Walt Flannery, RPA, FMA, SMA
Facilities Maintenance Manager
Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
Emergency and Incident Preparedness
- Boost: Aside from developing a detailed emergency or incident plan, how do you know if you are truly prepared to respond if a disaster occurs?
Walt: You have to drill to keep your skills up. What you do in practice helps prepare you for the unknown. Your confidence keeps building with each drill. Don’t wait for the next drill. When there is a localized power outage, a small pipe break, a parking lot fender bender, or a burning bag of popcorn, practice as if it is a larger emergency. This is a great time to check your call out-list, practice your action plan, write a press release, or see if your response gear is in good condition.
- Boost: Is it wise to have various plans ready depending on the disaster? For example, is there a difference in planning for a natural disaster as compared to an internal operations emergency?
Walt: All emergencies/incidents are different, so you have to be ready to respond to emergencies in general. One of the basic concepts of emergency response is ability. The response team will grow and shrink with the size of the incident. By practicing several different types of incidents, (local, regional, national, and international), you will see that the scope of the incident will drive the scope of the response. In larger responses, the positions, processes, and procedures are the same but are added to. There is still one incident commander, one operations section chief, etc. Now the sections become larger with the scope of the response requirements. Each section can grow by adding divisions, task forces, strike teams, sub-sections, etc. As the response dies down or gets smaller, the sections shrink and combine together until the core incident command is all that is left.
Emergency and Incident Response
- Boost: How should a business measure the effectiveness of their emergency or incident plan after a disaster occurs? How do you determine if your strategy should be altered?
Walt: You do not have a plan until it is tested. Hopefully you have tested your plan before the incident. Tested or not, immediately check if your plan met your objectives. In any, I mean any, response, one of the first positions you need to fill is that of the Historian. After the response, review the notes made by all your Section Chiefs, the Incident Commander, and meld them into a report with the Historian’s data. This is a valuable habit to get into. On smaller events, you can see what worked and what needs improvement. It also documents your response to limit damage and captures what damage was done. This is great information to have when filing or defending against claims.
During the event, if your plan needs altering (the scope, risk, or conditions change), you should be ready to modify the plan as needed. If you alter your plan, document when, where, how, and why you altered the plan. This is a powerful exercise. It forces you to think about the consequences of altering the plans. It enables you to capture your reasoning for later review. It also helps you feel more comfortable about your decision and can be used to improve the plans, procedures, or processes. It is a good idea to practice some scope, risk, or condition changes in you drills. You can practice changing and documenting your changes.
- Boost: What are the necessary steps taken to get back on track after an emergency situation?
Walt: You really need two types of plans (and in many cases, two types of teams). At a minimum, you need an emergency response plan and a business resumption plan. Some businesses or agencies combine two and call them business continuity plans and teams. For me, I prefer the two team approach, as many times the response is winding down as the resumption team is ramping up.
First, the emergency response team gets the emergency under control (the incident is not getting larger in scope or risk).
Next, the response team can tackle the problem knowing what resources are needed. At the same time, the resumption team starts bringing the business back on line.
Finally, now that the response and recovery plans have been successfully executed, both teams come together and review their notes, capture lessons learned, evaluate the success of the plan, and make recommendations for improving the plan.
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Educational Offerings
Browse Our New Schedule, Register for Courses, and Save with Our Early Bird Specials
Our new course schedule is now available and so are our early bird specials! Click to read our full early bird policy.
- BOMI International-Sponsored Accelerated Review: By registering 60 days early for these courses, you will save $200. If you register 30 days prior to the scheduled start date, you will receive $100 in savings.
- Instructor-led Online: If you register 30 days early for an Instructor-led Online course, you will receive $100 in savings. By taking advantage of our online learning atmosphere you will also:
- Experience convenience/flexibility.
- Maintain your busy schedule.
- Easily access course material.
- Interact with fellow learners.
Try a demo to explore the additional benefits of our Instructor-led Online education programs.
Visit our eCampus and enter "demo" as your username and password.
Learn to Successfully Develop and Properly Implement a Plan for Sustainability
Once a buzzword, sustainability is now a standard operating procedure in the property and facility management industries. Like most operations, the practice of sustainability requires a comprehensive understanding, as well as a specified skill set, in order to analyze and execute successful strategies.
The Sustain Smart Seriessm is a new online educational program designed to provide one with techniques and best practices needed to develop and implement plans for sustainability. The two-part Series is broken down into strategic modules that address current and relevant information on all aspects of sustainability. Each of the modules is comprised of a set of critical readings, a 60-minute video presentation delivered by experienced presenters, and facilitated dialogue with fellow participants.
Upon completion of the program, participants will have an increased knowledge in sustainability, allowing them to make informed decisions that will positively impact their bottom-line results. Participants will earn the Sustain Smart Seriessm certificate of attendance upon completion of all 7 (Series 1) or 8 (Series 2) seminars.
Registration is now open! There are no prerequisites, and anyone is invited to register.
Register for both Series at once and save $500!
Series 1 begins August 1, and Series 2 begins October 17.
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Updates & More
J. Bradley Kennedy Scholarship Recipients Announced
BOMI International is proud to announce the recipients of the 2011 J. Bradley Kennedy Scholarship, in honor of Mr. Kennedy's focus on excellence, and his lifelong commitment to education. The recipients will have the opportunity to use their scholarship award beginning July 1, 2011.
Congratulations to:
- Paris Morgan, Designation Scholarship
- Lisa Willis, Course Scholarship
- Heather Jackson, Course Scholarship
Changes to BOMI International's Board of Trustees
Effective July 1, 2011, changes will be made to BOMI International's Board of Trustees. Click on the links below to read the full announcements.
BOMI International will be Exhibiting at Upcoming Trade Shows in...
Washington, DC
BOMI International will be exhibiting at the BOMA 2011 International Conference & The Every Building Show June 26-June 28 at the Gaylord National Resort & Convention Center in Washington, DC. Visit us at booth #627!
Exhibit Hours:
- Sunday, June 26, 4:00 PM – 7:00 PM
- Monday, June 27, 10:30 AM – 2:00 PM
- Tuesday, June 28, 10:30 AM – 2:00 PM
Northern California
BOMI International will be exhibiting at the Northern California Facilities Expo – Introducing Managing Green Buildings September 21-September 22 at the Santa Clara Convention Center. Visit us at booth #848!
Exhibit Hours:
- Wednesday, September 21, 10:00 AM – 4:00 PM
- Thursday, September 22, 9:00 AM – 4:00 PM
Use Self-Marketing to Position Yourself for Long-Term Success
Upon earning a BOMI International designation, it is imperative to promote your new credentials within the property and facility management industries. We are all aware of the portals available to present and highlight our achievements, such as attending networking events and using social media tools, but it is also very important to understand what you should communicate to your audience.
One of the main aspects setting BOMI International apart from similar education providers is that we are the Independent Institute for Property and Facility Management Education, meaning we focus solely on education. Therefore, we spend all of our time and resources ensuring our educational offerings, including our premiere designations, are of the highest value. Completion of our educational programs is impressive and shows dedication. Hence, when describing where you received your designation, focus on the quality of your education. Touch upon the following:
- Curriculum is industry-standard and is developed in-house by industry and academia experts.
- Courses consist of both practical and strategic material based on latest industry advances and best practices. All of our designations courses are approved by the American Council on Education, and the majority are approved by the United States Green Building Council.
- One must demonstrate mastery of, not just exposure to, course material via a rigorous computer-based exam administered at secure third-party testing centers.
Once you have wowed everyone with where you studied to earn your designation, brag about the knowledge and experience you gained and how valuable you are. We cannot tell you exactly what to say since you know better than anyone the skills and qualifications you now possess, but don’t forget to mention you are now properly educated and able to successfully tackle complex demands of the highest level with confidence and authority.
In addition to the above, make sure to stay current with your Continuing Professional Development program. Fulfilling this requirement is mandatory, but it is also another way to add value to your resume and promote your designation. For additional self-promoting strategies and materials, visit our Career Development page.
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