Infrastructure Breakdown

That sounds scary, right? We're thinking cyberattack or alien laser beam. It can also be from just years of neglect or poor (to no) investment in updating it beyond temporary band-aids. But I want to talk about natural disasters...and how they cause intentional and inadvertent breakdowns of infrastructure.

Natural disasters are part of business continuity -- disasters you prepare for in order to stay continuous. Which is why emergency management is part of business continuity - both internally in your office space but also externally with how the local government is preparing and responding to them. You will need to work with what the local government is doing. Let's use the blizzard from last night to demonstrate my point about the intentional (strategic) breakdown of a key part of infrastructure: roads.

As the snow started falling early in the storm system, the road conditions deteriorated. It caused some states to ban road travel for anything other than an emergency, to include ticketing drivers for being out on the road. Then they closed entire highways for safety - both for the safety of the drivers and the first responders since the conditions are the same for them and just as dangerous. This is an example of intentional infrastructure breakdown. A breakdown doesn't necessarily mean it is broken, just that it's unavailable.

Back to those deteriorating road conditions. Drivers cause inadvertent infrastructure breakdowns. There were many car accidents that blocked travel on the roads as the blizzard was starting. An entire section of I-95 was choked to a standstill when a bus flipped over. The same road conditions caused other cars to spin out and crash into utility poles, knocking power out. The wind and heavy snow weighing on branches and powerlines will also knock power out...and block roads.

Ok, now we know of the issue - expected unavailability of roads for transportation - of goods as well as you and your employees. This will be in the short-term lead-up to the event as well as during the event. You won't be able to open your storefront if you aren't allowed to drive there. The last blog post was about the conditions of the roads after the event and how that will impact a return to normalcy (it won't be instant). We can plan for critical infrastructure being unavailable (know that you cannot impact critical infrastructure).

For something like a blizzard, that is really the best occasion. If it were an earthquake or flooding, roads get completely taken out and take months to years to repair. Think first about what infrastructure is (there are 16 sectors) and how each is related to any aspect of your business. Then make it unavailable knowing you cannot do anything to make it available (remember: it's out of your control). Short-term. Long-term. Now what?

That's a conversation you should have with me. :-)