How to prepare for the worst
Here in Texas, and in my company in particular, we had to prepare for the imminent arrival of hurricane Rita. We were fortunate that the hurricane had pretty much run its course by the time it arrived here in my part of East Texas earlier today. Others were not so lucky, and I wish them well. Here's what us "peanuts" learned in preparing for the storm.
It is never to early to prepare. We run a small telephone company here in East Texas, so continuing to provide service during and immediately after the hurricane was very important. We began formulating plans early in the week assuming the worst would happen. We decided what supplies we would need, and who would be in charge of what portions of the preparation. By identifying all of the necessary tasks early on, and who needed to do them, we had the luxury of time preparing for Rita. Planning early meant that when we rented equipment and bought supplies, they were still available. Our early planning also allowed us a chance to continuously review our preparedness and make alternate arrangements as necessary.
If you fail to plan, plan to fail. Without a plan, it is difficult to prioritize needs and determine what contingencies to account for. We implemented a planning team on Monday and went through several disaster scenarios. This helped focus our team on the most critical components of our business, and the most likely problems we would encounter. It led us to buy things like high velocity cooling fans to protect our electronics, rent a second back-up generator, buy extra fuel cans, update contact lists for all of our employees, contractors and vendors, and so on. Without this plan I am sure we would have left some bases uncovered.
You always need fuel and water. Even though this part of Texas was scheduled to receive a glancing blow based on the late week forecasts, by Friday it was difficult to find bottled water, and gas stations were running out of fuel. What happened? The highways from Houston to Dallas were jammed, and miles and miles of traffic diverted via alternate routes through our town. Guess what everyone stopped to buy? We filled up all our vehicles and generators on Wednesday and avoided the rush, shortages and price hikes.
Follow up on the plan. One of the most interesting things we learned through this planning process was what we needed to do after the hurricane to make us better prepared for next time. We now have a follow-up plan to acquire additional equipment, make changes to our facilities and get higher on our suppliers and partners priority restoral lists. We will be in a better position for the next potential disaster.
Many times in life we are blindsided by one kind of a problem or another. In these situations, we do the best we can to get by. Sometimes, however, we are given ample warning of an impending potential disaster. In this case it is best to use all the time allotted to make sure you can survive.
It is never to early to prepare. We run a small telephone company here in East Texas, so continuing to provide service during and immediately after the hurricane was very important. We began formulating plans early in the week assuming the worst would happen. We decided what supplies we would need, and who would be in charge of what portions of the preparation. By identifying all of the necessary tasks early on, and who needed to do them, we had the luxury of time preparing for Rita. Planning early meant that when we rented equipment and bought supplies, they were still available. Our early planning also allowed us a chance to continuously review our preparedness and make alternate arrangements as necessary.
If you fail to plan, plan to fail. Without a plan, it is difficult to prioritize needs and determine what contingencies to account for. We implemented a planning team on Monday and went through several disaster scenarios. This helped focus our team on the most critical components of our business, and the most likely problems we would encounter. It led us to buy things like high velocity cooling fans to protect our electronics, rent a second back-up generator, buy extra fuel cans, update contact lists for all of our employees, contractors and vendors, and so on. Without this plan I am sure we would have left some bases uncovered.
You always need fuel and water. Even though this part of Texas was scheduled to receive a glancing blow based on the late week forecasts, by Friday it was difficult to find bottled water, and gas stations were running out of fuel. What happened? The highways from Houston to Dallas were jammed, and miles and miles of traffic diverted via alternate routes through our town. Guess what everyone stopped to buy? We filled up all our vehicles and generators on Wednesday and avoided the rush, shortages and price hikes.
Follow up on the plan. One of the most interesting things we learned through this planning process was what we needed to do after the hurricane to make us better prepared for next time. We now have a follow-up plan to acquire additional equipment, make changes to our facilities and get higher on our suppliers and partners priority restoral lists. We will be in a better position for the next potential disaster.
Many times in life we are blindsided by one kind of a problem or another. In these situations, we do the best we can to get by. Sometimes, however, we are given ample warning of an impending potential disaster. In this case it is best to use all the time allotted to make sure you can survive.
posted by slates at 2:44 PM
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