CDE #34048 The Sustainable PSAP

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Comm centers can be flooded. They can be struck by lightning. They may be in the path of a hurricane.

40 PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS B , A march 2013 B , A www.APCOINTL.Org

CDE #34048

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uppose your communications center was built to be impenetrable. Those Ruskies would never be able to get to you. Neither could their H-bombs, let alone any tornado or flood. If the zom-bie apocalypse ever came to fruition or word were spreading of the great Corn Belt riots, thats the place to be. Honey, load the kids into the minivan, were going to my job! I mean, what could be safer than being underground, under the countys state-of-the-art jail?

Planning for Continuity of oPerationsby Steven J. Makky Sr.

www.APCOINTL.Org B , A march 2013 B , A PUBLIC SAFETY COMMUNICATIONS 41

The SuSTainable PSaPThis safety moment can go on indefi-

nitely, until one day, theres unrest upstairs. In a mass revolt against the new cook, the inmates shred their clothing and proceed to clog the drains with the tatters. As what may politely be described as effluence no longer flows down the drain, it seeks a new path through the unsealed penetra-tions in the floor. That floor is your ceiling. As the effluence cascades down the walls, it begins to flow into the consoles. You watch in horror as the displays flicker erratically, then, with a loud pop, the consoles go dark. Uh oh! The radios are out, the phones are out, and the place is just nasty now.

With very little literary license, this vignette actually happened to an unnamed entity, except this was the disaster recovery public safety answer-ing point (PSAP) in the emergency operations center (EOC), not at the primary communications center. The EOC was built to be impenetrable and was securely tucked away under the equally impenetrable jail. It was so secure, that its occupants survived the potential ravages of Y2K while watch-ing the world transition into a new mil-lennium on cable television. Within it was the usually unstaffed backup PSAP, which was intended to be a disaster recovery point in the event the regular PSAP failed.

The incident destroyed several radio consoles and the E9-1-1 answering position units within them, and cre-ated an environmental incident that required special cleanup consider-ations. On later investigation, driven to be on time and under budget, a contractor had neglected to plug pen-etrations from the jail to the network of pipes and conduits just above the EOC PSAPs dropped ceiling. The impen-etrable had been penetratedand in a rather nasty way.

The moral of the story: Things hap-pen. Not all of them are accidents, but every single one of them is something you should anticipate. Further, every single one is something that should not be dismissed as ridiculous or impos-sible. Enter the concept of continuity of operations planning. In other words, What would you do?

Plan for ItHave a plan. Plans dont need to be elaborate. Plans also dont need to be specific. The basis of a good plan is that it is portable across a number of dif-ferent situations. The basic statement applies: If dispatching operations here had to cease right now, for whatever reason, then (blank). Inside the blank go descriptive statements that fully sat-isfy these six fundamental questions: who, what, where, when, how, why.

Once the plan has been developed, it needs to get exercised. When was the last time you reverted from CAD to something else? Whats that, you say? Your center is too busy? It will be even busier in the panic that might ensue if theres a system failure and only vet-eran telecommunicators can vaguely remember what things were like before they became computer assisted. The military has a well-known slogan: Train like you fight; fight like you train. In


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New Orleans, La., in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina (2005:08:29 17:24:22), showing Interstate 10 at West End Boulevard, looking toward Lake Pontchartrain.

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ApcAwa_PSC_1303 1 2/13/13 9:30 AM


other words, training to deal with the unexpected in a controlled environ-ment will reduce the crisis factor when the unexpected becomes an actual emergency affecting your operations. How you train will be how you work.

Lets go down this list:

WhoWho? You, of course. Your units, your supervisor, your manager, your units supervisors, their chief officers, your board of governancewhether thats a specific group of commissioners or a municipal counciland, last, but not least, the reason you are there, the public.

Each of these individuals is affected by a potential mishap, and each is involved in continuity of operations planning, either actively by participat-ing in the planning and exercise activi-ties or passively through apportioning budgets and voting for (or against) taxes that affect your ability to operate and limit or facilitate the choices that can be made in terms of capabilities.

What?We dont exactly know what will hap-pen. In my opening vignette, there was no harbinger of doom for the day when the disaster recovery PSAP was graced from above. No one called, and said, Excuse me, youre going to want to leave in a few minutes. It just hap-pened. Other occurrences may be large or small. Its not uncommon to house equipment in storage spaces with over-head piping and drainage.

As a young technician, I recall our radio shop had been directed to install a central electronics bank for a console system in a utility closet by the custom-er. During the optimization, the on-call technician received a frantic call from the police chief about a pipe bursting in the police station. Sure enough, it was in the utility closet where the works of his new system was placedunder his direction. What could be salvaged was, and a large blue tarp hung over the rack of electronics until a less-susceptible location could be identified for reinstallation.

Sometimes catastrophe is unavoid-able. During Hurricane Sandy, Bellev-ue Hospital Center, the oldest contin-uously operated hospital in America,1 required mass evacuation as flooding poured into power switching and emer-gency generator rooms.2 Sometimes catastrophe is avoidable. While this pipe never burst, one Midwestern comm center was partially buried into the ground with an 18" water main underground, about 14 feet directly behind the wall. The main fed a 2 mil-lion gallon water tank that stood watch over the comm center, with the original intention being that the tank would also be used as the facilitys radio tower. Road construction and various needs to tap into the main had raised concern that a leak might not only seep through the soil and walls, but could also cause catastrophic failure. An evaluation of all identified hazards and risks is a must during site selection. Although it may not always be possible to choose a site thats not under a 2 million gallon water tank or within feet of a water main

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The SuSTainable PSaPthat may at some point inadvertently drain the water tanks contents, avoid-ing those situations before committing to construction may be beneficial.

Other things to consider are proxim-ity to pipelines, railroads, interstate highways and where hazardous materi-als may be transported. The question What? cannot always be answered, and, unless there is a uniquely identi-fied hazard, may not always be antici-pated. However, an all-hazards plan can help set the basis for how to respond in almost any situation.

Where?Until now, the focus has been on doom and gloom. Most people who go on to work in public safety know not to stop on railroad tracks. We tend to have a situational awareness that is somewhat more comprehensive than that of the lay public. Evaluating ones environ-ment before committing resources is driven home at the earliest level of training: scene safety. Most of us know what not to do, so lets look at posi-tive factors in site selection: the ability to receive power from two divergent sources, multiple sources of connectiv-ity, wireless access, a clear sky to deploy satellite communications systems or to hang a high frequency radio antenna from, access to multiple sources of fuel for emergency power generation (i.e., natural gas and propane). Each factors into the ability to sustain operations if a certain aspect were interrupted.

Lets play a game of what if? Ask a co-worker what the plan is for con-tinuing to take emergency calls, get the right resource to the right call and monitor responder safety if your comm center catches fire and after everyone gets out safely. Try not to panic him or her in doing so.

When?You wont necessarily know when, and its not the intent of this article to give you someone elses evacuation plan (Im here to help you think through your own risks and develop your own relevant plans), but the element of when? does need to be identified. For example, smoke in the comm cen-ter is a very good reason to evacu-

ate; however, a mouse on the loose may not be, regardless of how loudly the burliest of partners is shrieking. Then again, a bear making its way in past the propped-open smokers door is completely different. Defining the limits of when? in a guideline should help prompt a safe response from staff members.

Essentially, this is when this hap-pens, this is what well do. When CAD crashes, we will try the backup system. When that fails to come up, we will implement manual means.

If your When? results in a move to a safer environment, its important for any information expected to be used at that site to be current. For example, if your disaster recovery PSAP and radio systems are co-located at an emergency operations center (EOC) and there are maps, plans, response cards, etc. there, those should be updated every time the primary system is updated. Off-site equipment should also be inspected at periodic intervals. No one wants to be changing a flat tire only to notice the spare is flat, too. Likewise no one wants to discover the reserve CAD hasnt worked for three years and was never repaired.

hoW?So the backup server is supposed to come up. It didnt. Who do you call? What if that persons unavailable? Enter the escalation list. If the first individual on the list is not there or can-not help for whatever reason, the issue is escalated to the next individual and so forth. Typically, this list goes three-deep and should contain 24/7 contact information for key individuals who can make things happen within their respective organizations.

Another example of a How? con-sideration: The uninterruptable power supply (UPS) in your comm center has had a battery leak acid all over the equipment room. You have enacted the emergency protocols your agency has defined in the What? category, and now, the Incident Commander is advising that it is not safe to reenter the building without it being decon-taminated and declared safe. There is a geographically diverse facility at

the EOC some 28 miles east. By geo-graphic diversity, I mean that its far enough away that a localized incident at your location would not affect oper-ation there. A neighboring dispatch center has the capabilities of answer-ing your calls and communicating with your units. They are trying to juggle your calls along with theirs, but this will be a prolonged situation. How will you get your telecommunicators safely and quickly to the EOC to resume opera-tion? How will subsequent shifts know to report to the EOC rather than the comm center?

More How? questions that merit consideration would be: If system infrastructure fails, how would your units communicate? How would calls be forwarded to the most appropriate units, and how would you monitor their safety?

Why?The Why? may seem rather obvi-ous, but should not be underestimat-ed. It is ultimately the reason you and I are here, with me sharing and provoking thought, and you reading and applying your thoughts to your unique environment. Answers satisfy-ing Why? are also those used for fiscal justification of backup systems, redundant facilities, diverse routing and a host of other modalities available in hardening the system. You dont get those items without justification, and someone within the strata of account-ability will inevitably challengeand potentially destroyyour idea with a simple childlike question: Why? At that point, making a George Carlin face and answering, Because, will fail to make the case.

If the reasoning for Why? cannot be communicated cogently, the least common denominator always defaults to the bottom line: money. Why are there items included in the cost of doing business that exceed the bare minimum of compliance? The ultimate answer to Why? should not necessar-ily be measured in dollars, but rather in the ability to provide uninterrupted service to citizens at a predetermined acceptable level of service.

Even before the new-normal fiscal


ApcAFC_PSC_1303 1 2/7/13 5:19 PM

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reality, redundancy was a bad word in the eyes of some public policy and fis-cal wonks. Absent full redundancy at multiple levels, the concept of acceptable impairment is one where decision makers and stakeholders are involved in deter-mining exactly to what level they were willing to base emergency operations on. These may include going from five opera-tional radio channels to two, or from staffing five calltaker positions to three. Although it may not be fully-functional or even comfortable, the public is still able to access help when its needed.

Bottom lIneIn the end, continuity of operation is built on awareness, assessment of risk, assessment of capabilities, communica-tion and planning.

What if? Although volumes of elabo-rate plans may be written, and have been written in some places only to end up unread and unexercised, the basic framework always satisfies the elemen-tal questions who, what, where, when, how and why.

,PSC,

Steven J. Makky Sr. is staff engineer for APCO Internationals spectrum management services division, AFC. Contact him via e-mail at [email protected].

references1. HHC Bellevue (2013). Retrieved from http://

www.nyc.gov/html/hhc/bellevue/html/about/about.shtml.

2. Down many flights of stairs, National Guard evacuates patients from hospital (2012). Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2012/10/31/health/new-york-bellevue-evacuation/index.html.

The SuSTainable PSaP

Save More liveSd CDE ExAm #34048: THE SUSTAInAbLE PSAP

1. ________ like you fight; fight like you _______ is a philosophy for how one can be conditioned to respond during emergencies.

a. Drive b. Do laundry c. Eat d. Train

2. Six questions that can be applied to almost anything to develop a cogent plan: a. Are we there yet? What time is it? Do I have to? Why cant you do it?

Wheres the restroom? Who made this coffee? b. What does the mayor think? How much will it cost? What additional

revenue can it bring in? What are the associated recurring costs? Who do you think is going to pay for all that?

c. What color is it? Does it shoot lasers? Do those lights actually flash? Can I change the noise it makes? How do you pronounce it? Why isnt there any Tab in the soda machine?

d. Who? What? Where? When? How? Why?

3. A compromise between full functionality and the reality of a number of constraints, the concept of _________ is a carefully weighted decision that allows for some degree of recoverability.

a. Acceptable impairment b. Fiscal austerity c. Not thinking its needed d. Creative procurement

4. Diversity, in the context of continuity of operations, is the ability _________ a. For everyone to coexist in a harmonious and synergistic workplace. b. To back-feed an interrupted link within the microwave or fiber-optic

loop. c. To place receive microwave antennas at multiple heights to compensate

for variations in K factor. d. To have more than one way of doing things, so that the other ways are not

affected by the mishaps that may occur to the first.

5. It cant happen to us. a. True b. False

6. Examples of continuity of operations planning can include: a. Safety b. Transportation of personnel c. Notifying others that a backup has been placed into operation d. All of the above

7. An escalation list becomes important: a. In times when key individuals cannot be located. b. Because if I have to be up, youre going to be up, too! c. When filling out birthday cards and notes for special occasions. d. To see where these people live on website mapping programs.

8. Why? a. Because. b. What? c. Were here to serve the public by providing the most appropriate

resources for their needs and to keep our responders safe. d. Why not?

9. The purpose of this article is to: a. Provide a detailed and comprehensive continuity of operations plan

which can be co-opted into your organization merely by filling in your agencys name.

b. Make you think about possible issues your agency may face and provide a simple framework for addressing these issues so that operations may experience as minimal amount of interruption as possible.

c. Provide interesting anecdotes that make one grateful for not being in the same environment.

d. I dont know.

10. When using a plan from another agency a. One must make sure the names of the agency are changed in the word

processor before submitting the document. b. One must keep in mind that another agencys plan may work well for their

environment and circumstances, but may not work for yours. c. Make the proper citations and attributions to avoid being charged with

plagiarism. d. Post it on a listserv so that others who made the statement me too can

copy it.

Using the cDe articles for credit1. Study the CDE article in this issue.

2. Answer the test questions online or using this form. Photocopies are acceptable, but dont enlarge them.

3. Fill out the appropriate information section(s), and submit the form to:

APCO Institute 351 N. Williamson Blvd. Daytona Beach, FL 32114

Questions? Call us at 888/APCO-9-1-1.

you can now access the CDe exam online! Go to http://apco.remote-learner.net/login/index.php to create your username and password. Scroll down to CDE Magazine Article Exams and click on Public Safety Communications Magazine Article Exams; then click on The Sustainable PSAP (34048) to begin the test. Once the test is completed with a passing grade, a certificate is available by request for $15.

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CDE #34048 The Sustainable PSAP