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Preparing to be Resilient: Hurricane Preparedness
8/20/2019 12:00:00 AM
Businesses can be uniquely affected by catastrophic events and that is why leaders of businesses and organizations must proactively prepare for disaster. We rarely think about power availability until it is unavailable. Most businesses require electricity to operate and without it, operation can stall or halt all together. According to a study by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), weather and climate-related disasters cost the U.S. economy $80 billion in 2018 and have cost the nation about $100 billion per year over the last five years.
Power outages happen for several reasons. Mother Nature can be blamed for many power failures. According to the Edison Electric Institute, 70-percent of power outages in the U.S. are weather related. Some operations mandate an onsite emergency power backup system, like hospitals, data centers, water and sewage facilities and other buildings that protect public health and safety. For businesses that do not require a backup system, having a generator onsite is still one of the best ways to avoid financial losses from power outages. Equipment can pay for itself in the end by helping the owner avoid financial losses from power outages. In some cases, the purchase price of a generator is recovered within a single year or even within the timeframe of a single severe outage.
A report from Frost & Sullivan Research found that in the past year, 50-percent of companies experienced an outage lasting longer than one hour. According to a survey done by Information Technology Intelligence Consulting, 98-percent of organizations say one hour of downtime costs them over $100,000.
According to the National Hurricane Center, hurricane season lasts from June 1 to November 30, so a permanent backup generator can be an invaluable safety net for businesses in at-risk areas. The time to prepare for an inevitable storm is now. According to climate scientist at NOAA, as the climate continues to warm, we can expect the trend of larger, slower, more powerful and more destructive hurricanes to continue.
To prepare for any outage, make sure your generator is ready to perform. . If your generator requires stored on-site fuel, stocking up on fuel is one of the most important things you can do. Getting fuel can be challenging after a storm hits and it is easy to run out during extended outages. Generac recommends having enough fuel to last at least three days. Units after the storm can run 24/7 and will need to be serviced more frequently. However, according to the NFPA 110, fuel tanks that are subject to temperature variations can experience accelerated fuel degradation, especially if the tanks are outside and above ground. The presence of water can lead to microbiological contamination and growth, which in turn can lead to general or pitting corrosion of steel tanks and components, possibly resulting in filter plugging, operational issues or a hydrocarbon release into the environment. By comparison, natural gas generators avoid those fuel supply and maintenance issues. The natural gas pipeline network is robust. According to a 2013 report by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory, natural gas distribution systems operate at a reliability rate exceeding 99.999%, with the exception of seismically active areas. Incidentally, that makes the natural gas distribution system approximately one-thousand times more reliable than a single-engine generator set, which is typically assumed to be 99% reliable.
It is also advised that you start the unit before the storm to make sure everything is running properly. Generac recommends exercising generators weekly. If the application will allow it, put facility load on the generator monthly. That will create the highest sense of reliability and ensure the generator is up to the task of running the facility. By running necessary exercises and tests on the generator, as well as following all of the laws and regulations, your Generac generator will be ready to tackle any storm.
FEMA also recommends a business take these following steps to prepare your company for a disaster:
Develop a Business Continuity Plan: This plan will make sure that personnel are protected and assets function properly.
Minimize Impact to Essential Operation: By acquiring equipment, like a generator, it increases your company’s opportunity to continue to operate. A generator can keep the power on during and after a storm and make sure key business functions continue as normal.
Protect Data and Information: Protecting key information will ensure decisions can continue to be made to facilitate organization recovery.
Increase Reliability: Give your organization the ability to mitigate all-hazard conditions.
Protect Market Share and Minimize Financial Losses: Proactive planning and accounting for recovery resources before they are needed will make sure things go smoothly.
Preparation well in advance and immediately before a hurricane can help limit damage, keep workers safe and get you back to business more quickly. While developing a hurricane emergency plan, assign roles to team members. Also, it is important to establish communication procedures and to compile a list of important phone numbers. Make plans for securing materials and back up your business data. You may want to review your insurance policies to see if you are covered for water or flood damage.
Being prepared is an ongoing process of improvements. Processes should be reviewed and checked regularly. Preparing to a standard will provide a uniform and consistent basis for developing and implementing action plans within the organization and proper preparedness will help your corporation minimize loss of revenue, data, or productivity. The disruption of operations for a few hours or a few days can deeply affect your organization internally and externally. Making the choice to prepare today can protect your corporation tomorrow.
For more on the consequences of power outages and what you can do to prepare yourself, check out fact sheet on
GeneracIndustrialPower.com
or contact your
local Generac Industrial Power Dealer
.
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