Could negative thinking actually be useful?  Well, in the context of emergency preparedness, the answer is a resounding yes! Consider this example.  Years ago, before word processing or desktop [...]

For utilities, emergency exercises are necessary, but without proper visual tools, can sometimes be deceiving. When I went to work for an electric utility, one of the first stops on the [...]

To a utility’s damage assessors and restoration teams, the season’s Super Bowl comes in many forms: lightning, snow, ice storms, wind, forest fires, floods, dust, spills, twisters or [...]

Sometimes, when we’re researching ways to get a point across about outage restoration and emergency preparedness, we run across an article from an outside source that really hits home.  [...]

When emergencies strike, utility senior leaders must demonstrate solid management practices to efficiently and effectively guide the restoration process. Unfortunately, this reality sometimes [...]

It boggles the mind how subjective many utilities’ storm activation decisions can be.  I simply do not agree with companies that leave these decisions open to widespread interpretation or [...]

For utility companies, training exercise injects are sort of like virtual reality – like, say, The Matrix.  You know, the movie where humankind is enslaved in an interactive virtual reality [...]

When you think about emergency planning, the role of human resources (HR) may not be the first thing that comes to mind.  After all, why think about emergency preparedness HR policies when there [...]

One of the most important things – if not the most important thing – electric utilities can do to minimize restoration times is to find ways to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their [...]

Outage management systems (OMS) have become standard for U.S. electric utilities.  These systems have historically been built either in-house or by deploying a third party solution. At its core, [...]

The notion of lineman safety is certainly not new within the utility industry.  It’s literally the #1 stated goal of any electric utility worth its salt, and it is a particularly important [...]

“What are we talking about? We’re talking about practice, man.  I mean, how silly is that?” Allen Iverson, May 7, 2002 Emergency drills are practice.  While I’m not so sure about the [...]

When outages happen, utility liaison personnel really have a lot of walking to do – as in walking the tightrope, walking a fine line, walking on eggshells, or, as it may sometimes seem, walking [...]

“The measure of who we are is what we do with what we have.” – Vince Lombardi For electric utilities, restoration metrics are critical in much the same way as all forms of measurements in [...]

Ted Koppel, ABC Nightline’s founding father, and one of the last old-school most-trusted TV journalists, is outraged. And Afraid. Very, very afraid. After dusting off a 2010 letter to the [...]

We have beaten the drum for frequent drills and exercises enough to give even our own veteran associates and clients virtual headaches. And while we are still true believers in the beneficial [...]

The other day I was babysitting my 2-year old grandson when he yelled from across the room that he had a problem. Well, by the time he was within 10 feet of me, I knew exactly what the problem [...]

A police officer awakens you to inform you that your son or daughter has been arrested and needs to be picked up from the local police station. Your real estate agent lets you know that you lost [...]