There are not many of us left who remember the last time
the UK was blighted by power cuts - the miners' strike of early
1974.
Last month's collapse of the North American power grid and last
week's blackout in London, combined with warnings that there could
be more cuts this winter, served as a timely reminder of what we
could face.
Of course, we've all got high-level disaster
recovery plans in place, but have we done the small and simple
things that can make a real difference to how we handle a
crisis?
Improving your IT department's ability to
handle a blackout will only take a few hours and can be paid for
out of petty cash. Here is a list of items that may fill some small
but critical gaps if the National Grid fails again.
Radios: When the power goes
out, you need information. How bad is problem? How widespread? When
will the power come back on? Get a few cheap, battery-powered
radios or maybe wind-up radios and test them to make sure you can
actually receive radio broadcasts inside your office or data
centre.
Walkie-talkies: Don't count
on your mobile phone for communications. In emergencies, mobile
networks get overloaded. In an extended blackout, battery backups
for cellular base stations run down. Buy some kids' walkie-talkies
to use as intercoms. You don't need expensive models; they just
need to work within your department.
Phones: Telephone services
usually stay up after the lights go out, but if your phones or
switchboards require external power, you can't use them. Get a
direct line for IT if you don't have one already and attach a
no-frills phone to it.
Computers: A low-power PC on
a high-powered uninterruptible power supply, with an internal modem
and its own direct phone line will be a lifeline. An old laptop
will probably do. On a good UPS, it could run for hours. Add a
cheap dial-up account with a national internet service provider,
and you'll be able to send and receive e-mail and get information
from the web long before your own network is back up again.
ISPs: Have an up-to-date list
of ISP access numbers in other cities. Even if our local gateway is
down, elsewhere they are probably working fine.
Torches: Buy a few good ones,
lots of cheap ones.
Batteries: Batteries for the
radios, the walkie-talkies and the torches. Make sure you've got
more than enough. Their shelf life is limited, your team will be
tempted to "borrow" them, but they are cheap. During a power
failure, nothing can take their place.
Contact lists: Make sure they
are up to date and on paper. When you've got only one working PC,
you don't want to waste power and time searching for vital phone
numbers on the screen. Print them out.
Procedures: Make sure they
are up to date and on paper. In a crisis, even smart people can
forget the obvious. Print out step-by-step instructions and put
them in a bright-coloured loose-leaf folder. Then attach a cheap
torch to each. Even step-by-step instructions are no good if it's
too dark to find them.
Testing: Designate a staff
member to check these items each month. That means printing out new
copies of contact lists and blackout procedures, updating folders,
testing torches and radios, counting spare batteries and replacing
equipment and supplies that have gone missing.
Staff time is the most expensive item on this
list. But it is the one place you should not scrimp on if you want
the benefit of the rest of your preparations the next time the
lights go out.