Articles

9 February 2012

“When I teach the Ready Your Business classes, I ask people to raise their hands if their business could function without their data,” says Murphy. “None of their hands go up. If you’ve lost your data, you’ve lost your business – it’s as simple as that as far as how important protecting your data is and having access to it.”

Data loss is just one of the problems Murphy addresses in the state’s 12-Point Business Continuity Development Series that she started in 2006 when then Commissioner Bob Flowers wanted a program to fill the community’s emergency information void.   Ready Your Business (RYB) resulted, a free, low-level training program provided to businesses to help them construct a business continuity plan because “its just part of a good business practice to have a back up plan,” Murphy says.

The innovative concept far exceeded the state’s expectations; Murphy gauged initial participation would be between 200 to 250 businesses, but more than 1,000 businesses participated in the first year, and she’s expecting the same involvement this year.  

The popularity of the program, originally placed under the charge of the Utah Commission of Volunteers, required moving it under the state’s Division of Homeland Security in 2007. The move led to a full-time staff, closer access to Utah’s Emergency Management Association and program sustainability. 

It also matched the program with the front lines. Emergency managers work for their local municipalities and are trained by local, state, federal and private organizations in areas such as public information and media relations to high-level incident command and tactical skills such as controlling an emergency scene. “The majority that work on the ground every single day in preparedness are our local emergency managers,” says Murphy. “When we have an emergency, it’s usually local and the city is the first that responds to it.” 

Utah’s emergency managers serve as a board for Ready Your Business, acting in advisory and supportive roles. “Renee often asks emergency managers to share their expertise and help teach portions of the RYB program,” says Dustin Lewis, president of the Utah Emergency Management Association. “This allows businesses to get to know their local emergency manager and begin building relationships with them in their respective communities.”     

Since the launch of the Ready Your Business program, new relationships between the public and private sector have emerged, propelling the program forward. 

“Businesses are not learning everything from me and my staff,” says Murphy. “The value of the workshop is that you’ve got all these mixed businesses that are sitting in a room saying ‘I’ve done pretty good on this, but not that, and here’s what I’ve done about this,’ and they’re sharing with one another.” The collaboration is materializing into unique interdependent projects designed to accomplish Utah’s emergency preparedness goals.

 

Businesses have also started approaching Murphy with resources they could offer the community in an emergency, wondering how they could get the word out in a crisis. The answer is coming from the Salt Lake Chamber of Commerce Homeland Security Committee, a major partner in Ready Your Business, formed last spring. Co-chaired by Zion’s National Bank and the Utah Disaster Kleenup, the committee is creating a voluntarily supported database in which businesses can post resources they could supply during an emergency. 

The database will work similar to eBay, with categories related to different types of resources, such as medical supplies, heavy equipment, electronics and manpower. When a city has a major emergency, the emergency manager can post an alert to the database, stating which resources the city requires, such as, “I need sandbaggers” or “I need debris movers.” Companies can also post a message on the Chamber’s alert system, allowing other businesses to receive the alert and respond if they can lend the requested resources.

            The Chamber is using the FEMA schedule of repayment model to develop an agreement that will enable businesses to designate what’s charitable and what’s provided at a cost, since some emergency resources will be needed long-term, Murphy says.

Being a part of the database won’t mean a business has committed their resources, nor is it an inventory database. Murphy considers the project “exciting,” as the private sector is becoming more involved in emergencies. “Traditional first responders are doctors, nurses, police and firefighters,” says Murphy. “But after Hurricane Katrina, first responders became utility workers and structural engineers. Then the whole definition changed from public sector people to private sector people becoming very critical as well.”

This also makes sense if you consider which business components are impacted the most during a disaster, particularly earthquakes. Bob Carey, earthquake program manager for the Utah Division of Homeland Security, has addressed Ready Your Business participants about the preparations they’ll need to make not just for “the big one,” but for the more probable little shakers. “Generally we have about 13 to 15 earthquakes a year above a 3.0, which are the ones people can feel,” he says. “But we’re overdue for a 5.0 or a 6.0 [earthquake], which we haven’t had since 1992.” Carey says that a 5.0 or 6.0 earthquake could happen in the desert and have no effect on businesses or residents, but if it hit a populated area it would cause “an economic stymy that will slow down the economy.”   

Carey uses HAZUS’ (hazards U.S.) risk assessment software program to quantify the effects of earthquakes. One thing learned from HAZUS is that even though structural damage from an earthquake will be what people see in the news, the non-structural business components are at the greatest risk for damage in a smaller earthquake. Non-structural components of buildings include heating, plumbing, ceiling, sprinkling and lighting systems. "For every $1 of structural damage, you’re going to have $6 in non-structural damages," he says. This considered, Murphy says it’s critical they continue identifying those that will need access to assist businesses after a disaster. 

 

Regardless of the various roles Utah’s security leaders have fulfilled towards ensuring Utah's emergency survival, they all agree that there’s one critical factor determining their agencies and local businesses’ success during a disaster: you. Each individual needs to be ready. And they're practicing what they preach with their own preparedness.

The Utah Department of Public Safety is developing an exercise this summer designed to identify their emergency response deficiencies so they can ensure they're "walking-the-walk,” says Keith Squires, deputy commissioner of Public Safety and Governor Huntsman's Homeland Security advisor . "If I need to recommend to the commissioner, for instance, that we need to send DPS employees from the Salt Lake City area to St. George for an emergency, those officers will have needed to plan that in advance, not only for themselves but with their families so that on a moment’s notice they can travel to wherever they're needed and feel confident that their families are being taken care of and that officers have enough [supplies] within their vehicles to sustain them for however long they’re needed.”

While individual preparedness is not a new buzzword in Utah, Murphy says they’re finding it’s the absolute critical component to securing Utah’s economic stability in a crisis. Utah Division of Homeland Security's Deputy Director Jeff Graviet agrees."Let me give you a common sense message that's not about Jeff Graviet the emergency manager, but about Jeff Graviet the person who's worried about his family," he says. "The most important thing in my life is my wife and boys. Making sure they're cared for is my priority. If they're not, I'm not coming to work. But this agency will need me in a crisis, so I have a stewardship to make sure things are good at home so I can be here." 

Murphy says that that's the bottom-line message she communicates in her workshops. "Utah relies on our businesses being prepared,” she says. “And if I tell businesses, 'make sure your families are prepared', then the other logistical things will happen."

The research and progress the Ready Your Business program has accomplished is now part of several preparedness campaigns that include schools and communities under the Be Ready Utah campaign (see www.BeReadyUtah.gov). This campaign has become a national model and mentor for other states’ emergency preparedness plans.  

Squires, who monitors all issues related to Utah's Homeland Security, says that the Be Ready Utah campaign has gained a positive reputation, nationwide. "One thing that became very apparent to me as I interacted with my counterparts in other states is that Renee Murphy is recognized as a leader, and Be Ready Utah and Ready Your Business are recognized at the national level," says Squires. "I can't tell you how many times I've been told what a resource we have here in Utah, and in conjunction with that, (other states) have asked Renee to visit their state and promote those programs."

 

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