Restoring power as quickly as possible is vitally important

Picture the scene: A major disaster has struck the southern states. A massive hurricane has destroyed homes, flooded streets and downed power lines. Rescue efforts are being hampered by power outages which have shut down communication centers and severely limited the number of patients hospitals can handle. To minimize the loss of life and alleviate the suffering of people affected by this disaster it is vitally important electricity is restored to the affected areas.

The thorny problem of managing such a logistical nightmare often ends up squarely on the shoulders of the operations manager or fleet supervisors who need to muster their team and coordinate all the trucks, drivers and personnel to send them to affected areas as quickly as possible.

When responding to an emergency, there are several factors fleet managers need to take into account:

• What work needs to be done in the affected area
• What jobs are the most critical and what equipment do they require
• Which trucks are available for dispatch
• What are the attributes or capabilities of each truck
• What personnel (e.g. lineman) are available and what skills do they have (so workers can be matched to trucks and jobs)
• Estimated response times for each truck and personnel unit

That might seem easy enough but when you’ve got hundreds of trucks to coordinate and thousands of staff across a geographically dispersed area, it can very quickly get complicated. Adding to this is the pressure of responding quickly and efficiently, looking after clients and the company’s reputation.

So how do utility companies respond in emergency situations?

Particularly since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, it has been even more important for critical services such as utility companies to analyze their response plans in the event of an emergency, and follow the guidelines in the National Incident Management System (NIMS).There are two aspects to how utility companies deal with disasters – emergency preparedness and incident management. And they’re done in that order. As the name suggests emergency preparedness involves being prepared to respond efficiently and effectively should a disaster strike.

One of the keys to being prepared is for a utility company to have up-to-date and accurate records, particularly for personnel. Staff movements can mean either they are no longer available, or new workers may now qualify for specialized tasks, which is important to know in restoring large scale power outages. Ongoing training is also needed to make sure staff know what’s required of them when an emergency response is triggered.

And while disasters often present emergency services with unique situations, extensive training and preparation can make sure that workers are in the best possible position to do their job and help those affected. In some cases, staff are sometimes seconded to assist with specialized work due to the extra training.

Incident management is the second aspect of responding to emergencies occurs when the disaster actually hits. Utility companies access ICS (Incident Command System, part of NIMS) that provides a common set of procedures for how organizations respond and work together in a disaster particularly when it is on a large scale, crossing state lines. The ICS is a standard set of procedures that different government departments and service companies, such as utilities, refer to for instructions on responding to emergencies. By providing a standard set of instructions, there is consistency across different organizations, which improves coordination and sharing of resources.

What’s different about the top utility companies?

Any utility company will no doubt have both of these points covered to make sure they are ready to respond in the event of a power outage. But the companies that respond the quickest and get most of the work done are the ones that have a coordinated software system that gives them all the information they need to know where the outages are, how they have to be fixed and which trucks and teams to send.

When there’s no time to waste, utility companies can’t afford to sit around waiting for all the different reports to come together. Part of the advantage of a software-based system is the ability for it to bring lots of different parts together.

For example, a single fleet management program can bring together the following features to make life a lot easier for operation managers:

• Real-time location and engine status of every vehicle in their fleet
• A single platform that can integrate with other software programs using API technology
• Automatically optimize routes from start to destination, giving drivers easy flexibility when some routes may be inaccessible due to road damage
• Complete visibility of all fleets at any given time
• GIS data overlays that provide additional information such as weather, sewage pipes or power lines
• Real-time feedback so progress can be reported on, and shared with interested parties
• Reporting so actual response times can be compared with the benchmarks expected

Obviously, over time, software solutions will become more sophisticated in the information they can provide not just to utility companies but also any other organization involved with responding to disasters, and ultimately helping alleviate suffering as quickly as possible.