Storm Response Strategies and Best Practices
As we all know, emergency preparedness for a utility in any sector boils down to storm response. We plan, and plan, and plan some more, in order to maximize the efficiency, effectiveness, and speed of the response to minimize the duration of outages. End of story.
But this is clearly easier said than done. Storm response is often challenged by difficulty tracking the movement of people, facilitating effective communication, and maintaining maximum preparedness via best practice execution of training, exercises and drills. I read a great article from Electric Energy Online which outlines some best practices that can help us all!
Best Practices for Storm Response
According to the article, there are many best practices, and the article goes into a tremendous amount of detail. Here’s a summary of some of the critical best practices for storm response as described in the article:
- Utilize a detailed and accurate response planning checklist that’s approved by all stakeholders (see the article for a specific checklist you can use). This helps ensure that nothing falls through the cracks.
- Analyze people, system and process changes early in the planning process.
- Create storm profiles based on analyses of past events. This will help categorize various types of storms, speeding up the process of determining mobilization details such as when to activate EOCs and/or mutual assistance efforts, how to determine the number of crews needed, and how to calculate ETRs.
- Regularly review storm response level criteria, and update plans and documents as needed.
- Develop an annual ‘preparation schedule’ to optimize the efficiency of emergency preparedness efforts.
- Adopt a philosophy of continuous training – incorporating a mix of simulations, online training, role-based training, drills, and multi-site exercises.
The takeaway? Storm response is hard. You know it, and I know it. But following best practices can help ease the pain, one storm at a time!
