For lifeline Utilities
What should individual lifeline utilities do?
What should your sector do?
Are your staff and their families prepared?
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Does your continuity planning address risks posed by external threats, such as from contractors or other utilities upon which you are dependent?
Do your operations staff have working relationships with central/local government and emergency services that will be effective during an emergency?
Are there mutual support arrangements with other utilities to assist in your survival?
Do you feel your sector’s response to a major event will be coordinated and thus protect the marketplace?
Can you ensure continuity of services required for essential health, police, fire and local government CDEM activity?
The CDEM Act requires lifeline utilities to be able to continue functioning to the fullest possible extent during and after an emergency, albeit this may be at a reduced level. It is essential lifeline utilities are resilient to emergencies and that their emergency planning is integrated with the wider community’s CDEM planning, so that both are effective. This can only be achieved by cooperative planning between utilities, local government and the emergency services to ensure that plans are effective, thereby minimising loss and hastening a return to business. The focus is on business continuity planning and planning to ensure essential services are continued or restored to key facilities and customers on a priority basis. Fortunately many New Zealand utilities practice sound risk, asset and emergency management and cooperate through arrangements such as Lifelines Groups.
Utilities participating in cooperative CDEM planning are realising a range of benefits such as:
- access to shared hazard and risk analysis data
- access to community leaders – the decision-makers in times of crisis
- an ability to coordinate mitigation programmes
- understanding how other utilities respond and using this information to integrate planning activity
Obligations to shareholders and customers to plan for, and ensure, continuity are reinforced by the Civil Defence Emergency Management (CDEM) Act 2002’s clear message – utility organisations are required to be capable of managing the impacts of disasters – it is not an option to be unprepared.
The CDEM Act 2002 does not impose new business requirements or alter responsibility for risk, asset and emergency management. The emphasis is on ensuring utilities provide continuity of operation, particularly where their service supports essential CDEM activity.
MCDEM has issued a 'Director's Guidelines' pursuant to section 8(2)e of the Act to clarify the expectations of lifeline utilities under the Act - namely DGL 3/02 Lifeline Utilities & Emergency Management (pdf 430kB).
What should individual lifeline utilities do?
Individual Lifeline Utilities should:
- Plan for and be able to implement procedures to ensure continuity of business and response to customers.
- Understand the full range of hazards that could impact on your operation.
- Consider external risks, including dependence on utilities from other sectors and outsourcing arrangements.
- Validate risk assessment by interaction with external agencies and exercising plans – not through assumption.
- Forecast a hierarchy of external demand in consideration of CDEM-critical activity. Agree disconnection and restoration priorities with CDEM Groups.
- the consequences of emergencies are understood along with responsibilities and roles within and across sectors
- the priority and scope of service demand during emergencies has been forecast and accounts for CDEM-critical activity
- plans for continuance of operation are in place and routinely exercised.
- Establish planning and operational relationships with CDEM Groups.
- Join, participate in, and benefit from regionally focused utility activities such as Lifelines Groups.
- Participate in cross-sector regionally based activity.
- reviewing the consequences of national or regional hazards
- clarifying responsibilities, roles and coordination of activity
What should your sector do?
Your sector should:
- Ensure utilities plan across the sector to optimise service during emergencies.
- Establish mutual aid mechanisms to address individual shortages in resources or personnel.
- Protect continuity of operations and supply. For some sectors this may involve purchasing options that protect hedge contracts.
- Develop sector based contracts that provide access to alternative supply.
- Have an ability to reconfigure operations or networks to cater for loss of assets.
- Ensure reconfiguring or load shedding mechanisms enable continuance of supply to CDEM critical facilities.
- Ensure that conditional supply arrangements take account of the necessity of CDEM prioritisation during emergencies.
- Provide essential cross-utility sector organisation in order to be seen as capable.
- Reach accord over common approaches to reduction, readiness and response activities thus protecting your marketplace.
- Share and apply examples of best practice that protect resources.
- Determine how the sector communicates/distributes information between utilities during an event, to authorities for emergency management and to the public.
- Seek accord or consensus on sustainable development of resources.
Are your staff and their families prepared?
Your staff are one of your most vital assets in an emergency. How prepared they and their families are will directly affect your businesses ability to respond to, and recover from, a civil defence emergency.
Encourage staff members to visit the Get Ready Get Thru website to find out how to get ready.
How to be prepared at work provides information on general business preparation for emergencies.
Get involved! National Exercise Programme
Lifeline Utility involvement in exercises is a crucial part of testing emergency plans and inter-agency communications. Exercises play a vital role in the process of developing local and national community resilience.
Learn more about CDEM Exercises
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