Operations Report On Business Interruptions & Recoveries July

Blog
Sep 6, 2018

JULY OPERATIONS REPORT ON BUSINESS INTERRUPTIONS

This year isolated incidents and planned events are some of the most common causes of business interruptions for our customers. More and more, our customers are turning to us to assist during situations that, although planned, can still cause major disruptions to critical functions.

In July recoveries, we deployed physical resources to six of our customers experiencing business interruptions. Nine additional customers placed us on standby for recovery.

We also supported 12 ongoing customer recoveries and facilitated 30 test exercises throughout the month.

Six Physical Recoveries  

  1. Shopping in the Dark?

    This national retailer experienced a sudden power failure due to arcing in a faulty electrical panel where city power tied into the building. In order to conduct repairs, the local utility was forced to completely disconnect power to the facility while a new panel was installed. The commercial electrician onsite estimated a timeframe of between 8 and 24 hours for the repair to be completed.

    They called us and requested a 300kW generator to power the store during the repair. Our team vetted the suggested solution and discovered that an additional 250 feet of cabling would be required in order to facilitate connecting to their building. We had delivered the cables and generator by the time the store opened in the morning.
     

  2. Business Interruption Mystery #72: The Case of the Cut Power

    When their power was suddenly cut, this customer called us and requested immediate deployment of a 500kW generator and 100 feet of cabling to their National City sorting facility, located just south of downtown San Diego. The local utility never explained why there was a power outage, but they later issued a notice that it would last at least until the next day. Within 45 minutes, our mobile team had sourced the equipment and began mobilizing it to the sorting facility.
     

  3. Legal Trouble

    This legal staffing and contract management firm based in New York City operates one of its 4 locations in Charlotte, North Carolina, with approximately 100 employees. To accommodate an upcoming renovation of their facility, they required temporary space for employees to operate for two months. They sought our help with securing office space, furnishings, and IT hardware.

    We developed a creative solution, phasing their recovery in 2 locations for different departments, which helped provide flexibility during the interruption. Our logistics and networking teams coordinated the multi-phase recovery in both a nearby ReadyOffice location and subsequently in a nearby in-line retail office space. They plan to remain in recovery for approximately 75 days.
     

  4. Hot Bankers Need AC

    This independent bank customer operates 134 branch locations throughout Texas. This July, as Texans suffered through intense triple-digit temperatures, utility companies struggled to keep up, causing intermittent brownouts in areas throughout Dallas, Fort Worth, and Houston.

    Our customer couldn’t keep their employees in facilities that continually lost power, so they called us to request a generator to provide consistent power, particularly to ensure their air conditioning unit would remain operational. The customer continued to use the generator periodically as the hot temperatures remained for 17 days.
     

  5. Weekend Power Problems

    PECO, the largest utility provider in Pennsylvania, provides power to a retail store location for one of our customers in Philadelphia. One Saturday evening, the store manager noticed issues with their power supply, which was subsequently discovered to be “phase loss.” Phase loss can be caused by thermal overload, damaged transmission wires, or mechanical failure.

    A phase loss that goes undetected can rapidly result in unsafe conditions, equipment failures, and costly downtime. HVAC, elevators, generators, and pumps are highly sensitive to phase loss and can be damaged beyond repair. As a retailer, the weekends are their highest traffic periods, and therefore it was critical their power was restored by 6am the following morning. Our operations team sprang into action that night, sourcing the appropriate equipment for delivery and connection the next day.
     

  6. Construction Blocks Employee Bathrooms

    This customer routinely conducts facility renovations and construction projects to accommodate their rapidly growing company. During one particular project at a fulfillment center in New Jersey, just across the Delaware River from Philadelphia, PA, they discovered that the project would prevent access to restroom facilities for their staff.

    They contacted us to request temporary restroom facilities on-site throughout the construction project. We obtained the specifications, sourced equipment, and had the facilities delivered the following morning as employees arrived for their shift.

Other Unexpected Events

  • Long Term Care Facility – Greensboro, NC – Alert for a power outage and failed backup generator
  •  Inpatient Rehabilitation Hospital – Round Rock, TX – Alert for 750kW generator due to scheduled power
    outage
  • Regional Bank – Crescent City, CA – Alert for a mobile retail bank branch, due to possible sick building
    condition making employees ill
  • Regional Bank – Aspen, CO – Alert for mobile retail bank branch due to nearby wildfires
  • National CPA Firm – Sudbury, Ontario, Canada – Alert for phone and internet connectivity due to severe
    microburst storm activity that interrupted service
  • Global Online Retailer – Campbellsville, KY – Alert due to nearby thunderstorm activity
  • Federal Public Services & Procurement Offices – Multiple provinces in Canada – Five locations on Alert
    due to severe storms
  • Local Municipality – Versailles, KY – Alert for power outage due to severe weather
  • Global Food & Beverage Wholesaler – Redding, CA – Alert due to power outages caused by nearby
    wildfire activity

Ongoing Customer Recoveries 

We also supported 12 other ongoing recoveries in July including the following:

  • Regional Bank – Billings, MT – Mobile branch recovery due to building fire
  • Regional Credit Union – Dudley, MA – Planned mobile branch recovery due to branch renovation
  •  Regional Bank – Elberton, GA – Planned mobile branch recovery due to branch renovation
  • Small Municipality – Cavendish, VT – Space recovery due to building fire at a garage facility
  • Medical Equipment Supplier – Jacksonville, FL – Site-to-site VPN Cradlepoint device due to ISP outage
  • Private Country Club – Clifton, NJ – Planned recovery due to facility renovation
  • Regional Credit Union – St. Petersburg, FL – Planned mobile branch recovery due to branch construction
  • Local Credit Union – Gadsden, AL – Planned recovery due to new employee training
  • Regional Bank – Fort Worth, TX – Planned generator recovery because of a prolonged power outage
  • Regional Bank – Houston, TX – Planned long-term relocation due to closure of an existing location
  • Small Municipality – Lafayette, OR – Mobile space recovery due to a building fire at one of their utility
    plant locations