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Contingency plans - how to protect buildings in the wake of a disaster Issue 15 - Nov 05 (written by James Williams) Doing business in the 21st century is not getting any easier as buildings continue to become soft targets for insurgents and natural hazards. When one considers the role a building plays in terms of supporting the activities of a business, what happens when that structure is suddenly compromised? And how does it affect core business activities, if at all? A wellstructured contingency plan is the first line of defence. A key feature of any successful plan is how it will provide effective data transfer between all necessary parties. As the Asian tsunami revealed, it was poor data exchange that accounted for its large-scale devastation. So even before a natural disaster strikes, the more information available the more prepared both the buildings and their inhabitants will be. According to the IFRC World Disasters Report 2005, data alone should be considered a form of disaster response. After establishing what processes are crucial to the business, data exchange and the management of information are the first things to consider when emergency response planning. The way that information is exchanged under the contingency plan may be affected by the nature of the disaster. Man made disasters are more spontaneous than natural ones, which can often be prepared for in a timeframe of days, rather than hours, and therefore require more detailed forward planning. As Aaron Leung, Regional Director of Operations, Steele Asia Pacific Limited explains, “In the event of a man-made disaster the building has little time to prepare itself. Once the disaster strikes one is often faced with a communications overload. It’s vital in any contingency plan to delegate responsibilities to the various security managers and building engineers so that they know how to respond. This keeps the flow of information focused and avoids unnecessary panic.” On the other hand, large scale natural disasters are less likely to affect grade A facilities in commercial districts, says David Watt, Executive Director, Asia Pacific DTZ (Debenham Tie Leung). So when planning for disasters the risks and likelihood of them occurring should be taken into account. So should the risk of damage to external infrastructure servicing the facility. identifying the risk Typical situations that require the implementation of a contingency plan in the Philippines include civil unrest or a coup d’Etat, according to security manager Ramil Maravillon. Based on events in 2003 at the Oakwood Hotel in Makati City, he explains how the plan was put into action. “The mutineers had cordoned off the area with bombs. Within the hotel we had Japanese clients that needed to be rescued. Our Disaster Management Team was immediately mobilised. The first step taken was to book our clients into a hotel outside of the danger zone. Next, unmarked vehicles were arranged to transport the clients to the safety zone. The final, crucial step involved direct negotiations with the mutineers, during which the names and room numbers of all known hostages were acquired. Our Emergency Response Team then entered the building to complete the operation by removing the hostages out of the back of the hotel into the unmarked vehicles.”
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threat or hoax Bomb threats, which if genuine could compromise not just the building structure but safety of all inhabitants, often come with demands. When faced with such a scenario, the security manager will typically look to see what tenants occupy the building, as a way of identifying why the threat has been made. The facility manager should be able to furnish such information on demand and real estate managers should look carefully at this information before making the decision to move in to that location. Several key questions should be considered: 1) What is the profile of the building? 2) Any government agency holding office inside the building? 3) Any feud or conflict with regards to the tenants of the building? 4) Any genetic research facilities or oil companies which could be a target? If the answer to any of these is yes, the bomb threat is likely to be serious. In this scenario, the contingency plan should stipulate sealing off the building to prevent anyone from entering or leaving. This clearly has a direct, negative impact on its business activity. But according to Aaron Leung, the effect it has on the building’s tenants can be controlled if three key steps are taken, as he discovered during a mass protest in Jakarta in 1999. “Firstly, the security director should establish whether the building has telephone recording capabilities. This allows authorities to listen in on the criminals and build up a psychological profile. Secondly, two-person security teams familiar with their own floor conduct a search operation, covering 1) public, 2) semi-public, and 3) private areas of the building. Finally, an announcement is made over the PA advising all tenants to congregate in the auditorium. At no stage are they ever told about the bomb threat.” Such plans, with each security and facility manager knowing their role, can delay the negative impacts on business activity, but this is only possible if crowd management is considered, rather than crowd control. Many such plans are now written this way, guaranteeing effective communication once they are implemented. avoiding fall out from civil uprising Civil unrest presents a challenge for contingency planners as it is unclear where threats will come from. In Makati City, the local government has recently devised a plan to deal with this by re-routing traffic to minimise disruption. Also, according to Aaron Leung, rioters are often drawn towards light and sound. “I was faced with a riot situation and immediately ordered the building engineers to board up the windows. Then, the power was shut down. The rioters went past because the building didn’t draw attention to itself. Oil was also dumped on the car park ramps to stop anyone accessing the premises.” In instances where the building is compromised, however, it is difficult to prevent damage and looting. This is why, in Maravillon’s view, “a high percentage of companies already have back-up facilities, so that the business can continue and no sensitive data is lost.” no plan is perfect To ensure that contingency plans remain effective they should be continuously updated. In the Philippines, precautionary measures undertaken by security professionals include educating staff through the use of practical emergency drills, and the dissemination of information via e-mail. Even though contingency plans are capable of alleviating a lot of the problems caused by disasters, they can’t account for every hidden variable. An example of where a plan was unable to fully protect the building is highlighted by Leung. “It occurred recently in a prestigious Hong Kong hotel. A typhoon struck. The decision was made to leave the cars in the underground garage by the Duty Manager, on the basis that a series of pumps could clear the storm water. The plan failed to take into account their capacity, however, and they soon became overwhelmed. The garage was flooded and caused $40million of damage.” This illustrates the need for plans to be re-evaluated once something goes wrong, so as to better prepare for the future, and, more importantly, keep the building operational. RFP

ISSN 1994-9464
Key title: RFP magazine
Abbreviated key title: RFP mag.

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