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Continuity of Operations for Critical Facilities

This is the first part in a series covering Continuity of Operations for Critical Facilities.

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As I begin this new year and my schedule quickly fills up for the remainder of January, I am reminded of a presentation Scott Simpson of KlingStubbins in Cambridge, Massachusetts, gave the project managers at Rice University several years ago.

"Most people know that the month of January was named after the Roman god Janus, a unique fellow with two faces, one looking forward and one backward. It was this peculiar form of double vision that allowed Janus to see both the future and the past at the same time. Janus would be a good choice as the patron saint for project managers. As primary navigators of the design effort, they must know at all times what’s been accomplished, what remains to be done, and how to choreograph the team’s remaining activities within the parameters of the available budget and schedule. Thus, a good project manager must live simultaneously in all three tenses—past, present, and future."

He then went on to describe the conventional design process and the sequential decision-making as a project becomes more defined, team members are added, and it moves into construction. Yet, as the design and construction industry continue to struggle with adapting HyperTrack and Integrated Project Delivery into their cultures, I've found the basic principles can be paralleled to the emergency management of critical facilities.

Mr. Simpson stated, "The logic of this [conventional] approach is that expertise is added to the team as required, building a body of knowledge that culminates in the final project. However, there is also a downside to sequential thinking, which is that the newly arrived team members do not have the benefit of the history of the project … they don’t always know who made key decisions or why. By the time they arrive on the scene, certain things may be set in stone that, with additional insight, might have turned out differently (but now it’s too late)."

In states like Texas (where critical facilities have quickly forgotten about Hurricanes Alex, Dolly, Ike and Rita) or Louisiana (where critical facilities have still not rebuilt from Hurricanes Gustav and Katrina), our industry witnesses companies offering inferior products move in immediately post-disaster. The products are marketed as low-cost alternatives, fast installation, and minimal disruption to the buildings and its occupants.

For facilities owners that resist this initial urge will usually turn to conventional A/E/C firms to manage the recovery. However, who is charged with educating the facility owners and A/E/C firms about doing more than the bare minimum standard required by code? Every facility can respond and recover from an emergency, but how can Continuity of Operations be guaranteed when emergency prevention and preparedness are so often overlooked?

(AP Photo/Gerald Herbert)

Houston All-Hazards/All-Stakeholders Summit 2011

Houston All-Hazards / All-Stakeholders Summit 2011

Thursday, December 8, 2011 | 8:00 am - 2:00 pm

Hyatt Regency Houston | Houston, TX

The continuous threat hurricanes and other natural disasters pose for the Houston area require emergency management officials to constantly update plans and collaborate on best practices. As a Tier 1 UASI (Urban Areas Security Initiative) region, there is a heightened need to improve the city’s capacity to prevent, protect against, respond to, and recover from terrorist incidents.

This is a must attend event for all responsible for the safety and well-being of the public. You’ll leave with a wealth of best practice information, new ideas and peer relationships critical to Houston’s unique all-hazards challenges.

Benefits include:

• New relationships to pave future collaboration strategies
• Briefing regarding latest federal initiatives and their regional impact
• A better understanding of leadership skills to use before and during an incident
• Best practices/lessons learned in collaborative emergency planning
• Current technologies and trends in Communications, GIS, and Incident Command

Registration is free for public professionals and non-profit organizations.

Hope to see you all there!

Source: Emergency Management

Protecting Houston from the Next Hurricane

To protect Houston and Galveston from future hurricanes, a Rice University-led team of experts recommends building a floodgate across the Houston Ship Channel adding new levees to protect densely populated areas on Galveston Island and the developed west side of Galveston Bay. The team also recommends creating a 130-mile-long coastal recreation area to sustainably use wetlands that act as a natural flood barrier.

The recommendations appear in a new report this month from Rice University's Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center. The report follows more than two years of research into lessons learned from Hurricane Ike, which made landfall at Galveston Island in September 2008. Ike caused 112 U.S. deaths and is the third-costliest storm in U.S. history, with damages estimated at $30 billion.

"Ike was a Category 2 storm, and Houston and Galveston stand to suffer greater losses from stronger storms, particularly if they hit south of Galveston Bay," said Phil Bedient, director of the SSPEED Center and Rice's Herman Brown Professor of Engineering. "As we studied this, we also met with leaders from industry and government to determine the most realistic and feasible way to protect lives and property from the next big storm."



Source: Rice University

Other Links:

Rice Study Wishlist: Houston Ship Channel Watergate, Galveston Bay Levees, 130-Mile Recreation Zone Along Coast

Rice University's Severe Storm Prediction, Education and Evacuation from Disasters (SSPEED) Center

New Hazard Mitigation Funding Opportunity

I want to let you all know about an upcoming deadline for hazard mitigation grants in Texas. Below is a link to the federal declaration for the wildfire disaster (DR-4029) in September with a note about the Hazard Mitigation Grant Program (HMGP). While only the counties affected by wildfires are eligible for public assistance, all counties in Texas are eligible for hazard mitigation funding for any natural hazard. Please tell your project managers, so that they may be able to take advantage of this opportunity, whether it is for new hazard mitigation projects or for resubmitting previously denied grant applications. This is your chance to further protect your facilities!

http://www.fema.gov/news/dfrn.fema?id=16897

The deadline to submit a Notice of Interest is December 2, 2011, and the deadline to submit the application is March 23, 2012. These grants are a 75/25 cost share with FEMA, but I always remind my clients that the grants usually cross into several fiscal budget cycles, so the 25% can be partially funded each year until the total is reached. Below are the contacts with the Texas Department of Emergency Management (TDEM) that run the HMGP program in Austin. They both know me well from the work I did at Rice University and can provide you with more information, as well as put you in contact with your local TDEM officer. As always, if you have any other questions, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Mr. Greg Pekar
State Hazard Mitigation Section Administrator
(512) 424-2429
gregory.pekar@txdps.state.tx.us

Ms. Hildy Soper
Mitigation Grants Officer
(512) 424-2454
hildy.soper@txdps.state.tx.us

Measure Twice, Cut Once Fail

New Orleans, Louisiana

Introduction

While I am new to Phoenix Architectural, I worked with their teams for some time when I was a project manager at Rice University over several years.

At Rice, I served as the owner representative for the design and construction of a new $132 million multi-building complex and managed several other projects including 75 federal grants for disaster assistance and hazard mitigation totaling $9.9 million. During this time, my experiences and research led me to develop a front end planning tool for sustainable projects, which was introduced at the International Conference on Construction Engineering and Project Management in Jeju, Korea, in 2009.

After a 5-year building expansion campaign and the recent recession, the grants I was writing and administering for Rice were adding up to more than their fiscal capital project budget cycles. So, I decided to see what I could do for other universities and institutions to help with their mitigation efforts.

What I have seen as I travel the Gulf Coast states now, is that clearly, there is an unmet need for disaster aid assistance in the distribution of these funds. This blog serves as a platform and forum for the design and construction management industry as it relates to emergency management. The goal is to improve your emergency management, maximize disaster aid from FEMA and HUD, and minimize repetitive losses and insurance premiums.