A Propane tank on the rear of a forklift ruptured and caught fire at a beverage distribution plant in San Diego the other day shutting down traffic on I-5 and causing the evacuation of people within a mile radius of the plant.
No one appears to have been injured during the incident including the forklift drivers.
I was sent this recent survey and given permission to share with you here on Disaster Preparedness Blog. I have long said there is a significant disconnect between IT and the Business on Disaster Preparedness, now we have a survey that shows as much. Enjoy!
There is a significant disconnect between IT and business executives when it comes to disaster recovery preparedness, according to the results of a new State of Disaster Recovery survey.
While both sets of executives share the same views on the importance of information availability to the business, survey data reveal a split in how to achieve the goal of minimizing downtime when an unplanned IT outage occurs.
In the survey commissioned by SunGard Availability Services and conducted by Harris Interactive, both IT and business decision-makers say information availability is important to the success of their business (83 percent of IT, 78 percent of business).
However, fewer than half of business executives say disaster recovery and business continuity are important to business success compared with a large majority of IT executives (74 percent of IT, 49 percent of business).
On Wednesday afternoon, July 8, 2009 a fire in the hills of Santa Monica forced the evacuation of approximately 800 employees and 1,600 visitors of the Getty Museum.
The fire also prompted fire officials to evacuate nearby Saint Mary's College even though the fire was about a mile away at the time.The school at the time was not holding regular sessions but was hosting a conference with about 100 staff and 200 visitors.
Though no one appears to have been injured and everyone appears to have been evacuated safely, it is events like this which highlight the need for contingency planning.
The staff did everything right, including taking steps to protect the art work inside, providing a way to evacuate visitors quickly, and utilized an alternate route off the mountain and away from the museum.
With a situation like this, so much could have gone wrong very quickly, but with proper planning and training they were able to successfully get everyone out alive and well.
If there was a fire in your work place, or a wildfire threatening your business would you be able to do the same?
After a long absence, our Sun once again has sun spots which are currently giving off moderate solar flares. This current cycle known as Sun Cycle 24 was predicted to start around 2013, and was also predicted to produce moderate solar flares.
Why are we writing about solar flares and solar storms here on Disaster Preparedness Blog?
Because there have been major events in the past where these storms (also referred to as, solar tempest, Geomagnetic storms, Geomagnetic Induced Currents - GIC, Coronal Mass Ejections - CME's, among others,to learn more please refer to our references) have caused outages to communications equipment.
One of the most notable is the events of September 1st 1859, in which telegraph lines were completely burned up leaving only ashes behind on the ground.
While there have been other events, such as the GIC induced blackout in Quebec, Canada which occurred in March 1989, and in 2003 over 20,000 people in Sweden lost power, and two Japanese satellites were disabled.
Also, in 1994 a Canadian telecommunications Satellite was disabled and it took six months and approximately $70 million to repair. These are not the only events which have occured due to these storms, but are some of the most notable.
A recent report by the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) titled: Severe Space Weather Events - Understanding Societal and Economic Impacts: A Workshop Report (which can be viewed at the link) highlights our vulnerabilities and suggests that should the events of August 28th through September 2nd 1859 occur today the estimated dollar value of the damage caused would be around $2 trillion (for the first year) and would cause a cascade of failures which would take from 4 - 10 years to repair.
If this should occur, communications lines, and technology would be severely impacted. Even satellite communications would most likely be sporadic, if not completely disrupted as well.
This event would nearly instantly set the United States as well as other locations around the globe back to pre-telegraph days and reliable communications with customers and clients would be severely impacted.
For businesses the only viable forms of communications for such an event would be to rely on traditional mail and courier services, and some communications through hand-held radios or HAM radios may be possible if these systems were protected.
The United States is entirely unprepared for such an event, and the impact would have long term devastating effects on critical infrastructure and private sectors alike.
Having a plan in place now can help you keep your business going, don't wait till it's too late!
With the number of healthcare workers in the United States becoming infected with novel Influenza A (H1N1) reaches at least 81, we are left with the question Are hospitals doing enough to protect against the spread of the H1N1 virus?
While I cannot speak for each healthcare facility individually, I would have to say with the information in the MMWR (Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report) the answer is a resounding no. Half of the 48 included in the study were found to have been infected in the heatlhcare setting and include one possible case of a heathcare worker infecting another. The report also has found 11 cases deemed to be patient to healthcare worker transmission.
According to the report, only two of the persons included in the study indicated that they always wore surgical masks (inadequate protection) and only 1 indicated that they wore an N95 respirator mask. Two others indicate they wore masks sometimes.
In the healthcare setting it is important to identify patients with swine flu or H1N1 early, or as Dr. Michael Bell of the CDC's Center for Preparedness, Detection and Control of Infectious Diseases puts it these patients, "need to be identified at the front door" of the hospital so that personnel will know they need to take preventive measures, such as wearing masks, isolating the patients and paying particular attention to hand hygiene.
He also stated "absolutely essential that healthcare personnel be vaccinated annually, for their own protection and to protect patients in hospitals."
It is also important that healthcare workers remain informed and take proper PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) precautions.
I've also come to discover at one location where a confirmed H1N1 case was being taking care of, that healthcare attendance within the unit dropped 25% at that particular facility.
This may be attributed to a lack of educational awareness, a lack in PPE equipment, a lack of adequate hospital preparedness measures or a combination of the three. Of course the argument can be made that it was coincidence, or the workers were actually ill, but this is most likely not the case.
While it is impossible to 100% completly stop the spread of the H1N1 virus or any other such disease, there are steps that can be taken to prevent and reduce the spread.
Healthcare facilities need to ensure that proper education of employees is taking place and that these procedures are being followed. They also must ensure that proper and timely screenings are being done as potential patients are entering the hospital or other healthcare setting to help reduce the spread.
My name is Keith Erwood, and disasters are my life. Well, not just disasters really, but to help people like you, owners, executives and managers of businesses prepare for disasters and emergencies.
You can connect with me via social media sites at Facebook - LinkedIn - Twitter.
Monday, August 24, 2009 at 7:01AM