Be Sure To Be Prepared For Disasters

September is National Preparedness Month (among a number of other deserving causes). TV stations across the country are recognizing this by airing PSAs and news stories to remind their viewers to be prepared for the variety of disasters that can, and sometimes do, interrupt their lives.

The national campaign from The U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and other national organizations should also serve as a reminder to ensure your location is prepared when the unexpected happens.

To assist you in that effort, MFM asked Timothy Ehrhart, VP and commercial entertainment and broadcasting segment manager for the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies, to provide an update on disaster preparedness for media companies.

In response, Ehrhart teamed up with colleague Jay Taylor, a Chubb VP and global client and business development specialist in loss control services, to share their insights on the types of damages industry businesses can experience during a disaster. They also provided suggestions for steps to take to ensure your company can continue to provide vital community information during catastrophic events.

I encourage you to check out their recommendations in an article entitled “Disasters on the Rise” appearing in the current issue of MFM’s TFM – The Financial Manager magazine. A complimentary electronic copy of the September-October edition will be available for a limited time on our website. Here is a sampling of the type of valuable information it contains:

DON’T LIMIT YOUR PLAN TO MAJOR DISASTERS

Hurricanes may have caused some of the biggest losses in U.S. history, but shifting weather patterns are leading to higher losses from heavy rain, hail, snow and floods. “While these storms may not cause the devastation of a Hurricane Katrina, the destruction can still be quite severe,” the authors warn.

Between 2003 and 2012, for instance, the Insurance Information Institute (III) says there were 775 severe thunderstorms and 114 winter storms compared with just 46 tropical cyclones. Average insured losses from thunderstorms have increased sevenfold since 1980, according to the III, and average annual winter storm losses have almost doubled since the early 1980s.

III reports indicate that in 2013, severe thunderstorms accounted for the bulk of insured catastrophe losses, with 69 events representing more than $16 billion of the year’s total losses (including uninsured damages) of nearly $22 billion caused by 128 events. Property damages would be two-to-three times that amount in a year when the country suffers a major catastrophe, such as Hurricane Katrina. That storm remains the worst on record, resulting in $47.6 billion (current dollar value) in damages and worse still, the loss of nearly two thousand lives.

BUSINESS CONTINUITY IS CRITICAL

Damages caused by severe thunderstorms, flooding and everyday storms are a greater concern for TV stations and other news media. “The losses can force media companies to close temporarily at a critical time when the public may be most dependent on them for information.”

This observation brings up the importance of ensuring business continuity. Time and again, TV and radio stations have demonstrated the value of providing critical warnings of impending danger and valuable community information in the hours, days and weeks following a disaster.

Disasters bring communities together; if a competing station remains on the air while your station is sidelined, you could experience a loss in viewers long after you are back in business.

For these reasons our Chubb experts write: “Broadcasters need to give special consideration to emergency preparedness and business continuity planning. These plans should take into consideration the maintenance and testing of broadcast equipment and other critical systems, strategies for keeping the power on and plans to accommodate employees who will be needed to keep the station on the air during the crisis.”

AREAS OF VULNERABILITY

Meeting the station’s business continuity objective will require being prepared to overcome the types of disruptions that can occur. When severe storms strike, they often bring heavy rains, flash floods, hail — and in colder weather, snow and ice. Water may leak through the roof or through windows, and it may seep into basements and other low-level floors, causing significant damage to buildings and equipment.

High winds, rain, ice and snow can cause the power to go out, sometimes for extended periods of time. In a winter storm, snow can pile up on roofs, causing them to collapse. Ice can build up on broadcast transmission lines, bringing them down and causing interruptions in service.

As our experts advise: “Keep in mind that business continuity plans need to be tested on a regular basis and contact information should be verified to be sure that it is still accurate and that key employees are still employed by the company.”

HOW TO PROTECT PROPERTY

To prevent water damage to property and equipment during a storm or flood, Ehrhart and Taylor recommend making the following steps part of your regular maintenance:

• Inspect the property to make sure that water does not accumulate in any areas where it does not belong. If so, consider bringing in a landscape or engineering firm to improve the drainage and to re-grade the property to encourage water to flow away from critical areas.
• Avoid placing critical equipment in basements or on ground level floors where it would be more vulnerable to water damage during a severe storm. Locate equipment on higher level floors whenever possible. If the only option is a basement or ground floor, consider installing a raised floor to protect the equipment from possible water intrusion.
• Consider installing a system to detect water intrusion; it is important to detect flooding immediately, contain the leak and clean it up to minimize damage.
• Test systems and equipment regularly; preventive maintenance should include testing sprinkler systems, HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) systems, drains and sump pumps. For sprinkler systems, conduct regularly required tests per NFPA 25 — the standard for inspection, testing and maintenance of water-based fire protection systems.
• Properly maintain HVAC systems; broadcast equipment often runs hot and HVAC systems are needed to keep equipment at the optimal temperature range. HVAC systems can also pull humidity out of the air, so condensate drain lines need to be clear and properly plumbed to avoid water accumulation around equipment.
• Transmission towers located remotely will require many of these same considerations. And as we have seen in the case of severe storms, TV towers can be totally destroyed. The business continuity plan will need to take into account how you can quickly restore your transmissions from an alternative site and, in the minutes or hours in-between, how to take advantage of other media, such as podcasts, as a means of remaining connected with your viewers.

CARING FOR STAFF

Preparedness should not stop with equipment. Companies must also be prepared to address the needs of on-air talent and production, master control and other staff who operate that equipment.

The disaster preparedness plan should outline who will need to be in place at the outset and throughout the duration of a disaster. This includes anticipating how to care for employees who are already at the office and may not be able to leave.

In addition, the plan must tackle the scheduling of employees who are slated to work over the days following the disaster. In some cases they may not be able to make it to the facility unless arrangements are made to transport them before or during the storm.

Additional things to consider include making sure food and water will be available and that the water is running and toilets are working. It will also be important to think about where people will sleep. As the experts suggest, “Some companies may want to set aside an area with some cots so that staff members can get some rest.”

DISASTER CLEANUP

“Keep in mind that after a destructive storm strikes, it may be days before a professional disaster recovery team can get to your facility to provide services,” say the Chubb experts. For this reason, they recommend investing in wet/dry vacuums for cleaning up water. They also suggest maintaining spill containment tools and sandbags for keeping water out of critical areas and our equipment safe.

As anyone who has experienced a disaster knows, these are just a few examples of elements that need to be addressed in a disaster recovery and business continuity pan. Your location will make you more vulnerable for experiencing certain types of disasters; resources like FEMA can help to identify the ones that are likeliest to occur.

The FCC’s Media Security and Reliability Council (MSRC) has worked with the broadcast community to develop more than 100 best practices that should be included in a comprehensive disaster recovery plan. Another resource is NAB, which has teamed up with Agility Recovery Solutions to provide custom-made disaster recovery and business interruption services assistance to its members.

I also encourage you to consult with your company’s casualty insurance provider. As the advice provided by Chubb’s Timothy Ehrhart and Jay Taylor illustrates, casualty insurance providers are very aware of the types of damages and business losses that can occur as a result of a disaster and how much it can cost to address or avoid them.

In fact, the firm’s extensive knowledge of the media business is one of the reasons that MFM has given its highest form of recommendation, our endorsement, to the Chubb Group of Insurance Companies as the preferred provider of property and casualty and professional and management liability insurance for our members. Chubb is “tuned in” to broadcast and cable companies needs with more than 20 years’ of experience in insuring our members’ most critical exposures.

Those of us who are old enough to remember the events of 9/11 — Sept. 11, 2001 — understand that hurricanes aren’t the only types of disasters that can occur in this particular month. However, it makes sense they are the reason FEMA has chosen September for its annual reminder to be prepared for a disaster.

The importance of FEMA’s campaign should resonate with television broadcasters, who serve as the most trusted source of news and information for their communities. It is at a time of crisis when our communities are the most in need of reliable and up-to-the-minute news coverage. Having the right plans in place to maintain operations during a disaster can make the difference between fulfilling that role or becoming an example of a local business that was ruined by one.

Mary M. Collins is president and CEO of the Media Financial Management Association and its BCCA subsidiary. She can be reached at [email protected]. Her column appears in TVNewsCheck every other week. You can read her earlier columns here.