The key to a good emergency restoration plan is having suitable resources qualified and proficient in using the emergency processes and protocols. An emergency restoration plan uses resources, both internal and external and is often anticipated to work collaboratively using processes and systems they may not use frequently during their normal business day. This can cause personnel to improvise or overlook critical steps when confronted with a real emergency. During serious emergency events, circumstances change promptly, and little room for errors and on-the-job training exists in any emergency restoration plan. An emergency restoration plan brings together resources across multiple geographical locations must function in a synchronized manner in accordance with the emergency plans tailored for the specific events. A responder's inability to quickly and effectively execute the plans could risk employee safety, delay the service restoration time and potentially cause customer dissatisfaction and regulatory scrutiny. Assessment and enhancement planning for emergencies require clearly defined and articulated documentation on how specific tasks were performed from qualitative and calculable standpoints during an implementation or a drill. It is important to identify lessons learned and corrective actions. Data collection complexity increases with the number of participating members, organizational units and organizations. Software tools designed to collaborate and document exercises and drills can alleviate complexities and provide a cost-effective way to conduct effective exercises and drills for all-hazards readiness. Emergency Restoration Plan Benefits of Drills include: • Training and testing employees' knowledge and awareness in deploying the emergency plans and processes, • Validating and benchmarking response and recovery capabilities, and • Identifying areas of improvements to achieve the desired state of perpetual readiness. The most important key to any emergency restoration plan is, the correct balance must be established with scheduling and designing the appropriate number and type of annual exercises and drills based on anticipated threats, actionable intelligence and weather forecasts. By planning and participating in adequate exercises and drills, energy delivery companies can be better prepared to meet high- and medium-probability threats. To learn more about ROD please watch my video blog.

• published: 06 Sep 2013
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