Keeping Our Universities Safe - Lessons in Emergency Management and Business Continuity

We have had 2 major snowstorms in the past 5 days in Massachusetts and UMass Amherst, along with most schools and colleges, was closed last Thursday. This morning, the commute was a bit dicey but there was not even a scheduled delay on our campus.

Below is a photo of the accumulation of the snow from the two storms, so you have an idea.

This spring I am again teaching my course on Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare and I regularly blog about the guest speakers in the course. This term there has been some disruption management necessary since not only have two of my classes been cancelled, due to snow, but also, because of the Presidential Executive Order on immigration, my first guest speaker, Mr. Jeff Hescock, had to reschedule, but, speak he did, last Tuesday. Luckily, all went smoothly after the Patriots superbowl win so he did not have to postpone again. Never a dull moment at a university, I must say.

Mr. Hescock is the Director of Emergency Management and Business Continuity at UMass Amherst, and, coincidentally, he is part of the team that makes the decision of whether to close UMass Amherst due to weather. This, of course, was very interesting to the students and, also, rather timely.

Mr. Hescock shared with the class how the campus responds to emergencies and emphasized the importance of coordination with police and fire departments and the necessity of being more efficient.  He noted that the tragedy at Virginia Tech in 2007 was the game changer for emergency management at universities, signalling that an institution, such as a university, cannot have big delays  and "sign-offs" from multiple stakeholders before notification and action are taken.

Prior to Mr. Hescock's appointment at UMass Amherst in 2013, he had worked in the UMass President's office and also assisted in the evacuation of UMass Dartmouth post the Boston Marathon bombing on April 15, 2013, another date that is permanently cemented in my memory.

Mr. Hescock emphasized the importance of training and educating alternate persons who can take over in the event of a university emergency as happened last spring at UMass Amherst with an incident taking place during the public school vacation break, during which some of the emergency staff were away.

Hescock is a leader in securing grants for a variety of emergency preparedness initiatives and I have personally taken part in a big exercise for sheltering at the UMass Mullins Center. You can read my blogspot on this exercise, which also has a lot of photos, here.

The campus has a hazard mitigation plan and this past year the drought was a big issue. Luckily, UMass can notify students and staff to decrease their water usage and emphasize the importance of doing so.

I appreciated that he also brought up "enterprise risk management," since my research team does a lot of work on supply chains and viewing them holistically as systems and we also work on vulnerability analysis of networks.

In addition, the necessity of meeting with many different stakeholders in order to be prepared for emergencies is essential, and, in the case of a university, that would include the facilities group, the compliance group, among others, in order to assess risk. He also stated that the most dangerous spot on campus is a cross walk.

There exist templates already in the computer system to get a message out as soon as possible, which is reassuring, and I can speak to the fact that, with the incident last year, the notification system, in the form of loudspeakers, email, and text alerts was very effective. Now we can sign up for practice exercises in the case of a similar incident.

UMass Amherst has 13,000 students living on campus and has about the same number living off campus. It has one of the highest on campus number of student residents in the US. When need be, given the importance of communications, crisis communication experts are kept on a retainer.

UMass Amherst also has MOUs with the Five Colleges in our area, with the state police, Amherst police, and also MEMA (Massachusetts Emergency Management Association). I will be hosting a speaker from MEMA in the class next week.

Mr. Hescock has also worked for MEMA and has worked in the private sector, where he appreciated the funds. He brings a wealth of experience and practical know-how. He, for example, made sure that there were backup generators for the cold storage units for food at UMass Amherst. And told us that UMass generates 60% of its electric power. It was an oasis that my family and I benefited from when we had the freaky Halloween snowstown in October 2011 and lost power for about 5 days in our home in Amherst. Getting a hot cup of coffee was a challenge, not to mention a hot shower. We ate many delicious meals at the UMass dining halls (I felt guilty having lobster during the power outages but enjoyed it immensely).

It is a wonderful educational experience for students to hear from expert practitioners such as Mr. Jeff Hescock. He was a terrific Professor for a Day and we thank him!

When A Speaker Cancels Practice Disruption Management

There is a lot to be gained and learned from guest speakers, whether in a class or in a more open setting -- no wonder the popularity of TED talks, for example.

Another aspect of hosting a guest speaker, who is an expert on a topic, is the networking opportunities and, frankly, the creation of memories and even friendships.

I have a lot of experience hosting speakers, starting back in 2004, when we began our UMass Amherst INFORMS Student Chapter (which just launched its new website), along with its Speaker Series. Through that series alone, we have hosted over 100 speakers and the list is a Who's Who in Operations Research and the Management Sciences with also speakers who are intellectuals and visionaries but not necessarily academics or practitioners taking part - I would put Tom Vanderbilt in that category - the author of Traffic.

The students do a tremendous job helping me with the speakers. This is essential since a lot of work goes into organizing a Speaker Series and carrying out not only the marketing for the talks but also the logistics behind them. One of my most popular blogposts continues to be: Tips on Organizing a Successful Speaker Series.

The same holds for hosting speakers within a class which I do in my Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class, which I am now teaching at the Isenberg School of Management, and have taught in the spring term for the past several years.

However, despite the best laid out plans, things happen. Although in our public speaker series I just recall one cancellation, which is truly amazing and lucky, although there were times when I was waiting at the door for a speaker traveling from out of state with only 5 minutes to spare for the scheduled talk to begin and there was even a camera and news crew waiting -  anxiety-provoking, but so worth it when they deliver and the audience is so grateful and appreciative (and so am I).

Part of my Humanitarian Logistics class focuses on emergency preparedness and business continuity, which is rather fitting, since we get to practice disruption management.

Two years ago, in this course, we had some real life drama. I received the email message at 5:30AM that the speaker was cancelling for my 8:30AM class (always be prepared is my motto and I had a great lecture ready, in any case).  The week prior, the guest speaker, Mr. Brian Rust of Cooley Dickinson Hospital,  had to contend with multiple emergencies, beginning with a computer failure on Monday, which was fixed by a Cisco switch brought in from eastern MA, followed by  complete communication failure on Wednesday (supposedly not related to the Monday one)  with no Internet or phone lines available. Hence, medical records could not be accessed, and CAT scans and X-rays could not be read. Back to documentation on paper, which he said the older healthcare providers were comfortable with since they had used such basic approaches earlier in their careers, in contrast to the more recently trained healthcare workers, which are so dependent on computers. Appointments had to be cancelled. This major disruption was fixed on Wednesday but then Wednesday afternoon a sprinkler pipe burst and flooded the back of the Emergency Room with thousands of gallons of water pouting in. The water pouring in was dark and the texture of oil, he said.  There is a new cancer facility being constructed above the Emergency Room area and it seems that the pipe was not properly insulated and it was one of the coldest winters on record in Massachusetts. With facility experts on hand (luckily, he said, not everything had been outsourced), in a few hours the area was cleaned up and disinfected. During that period, however, ambulances had to be diverted to other hospitals, which can be "expensive" in terms of additional time needed for delivering the patient and in that Cooley Dickinson loses any financial compensation since it did not serve those patients. He noted that 4 ambulances were diverted.

The students and I were disappointed, although quite understanding,  that he could not speak on that Thursday but when he did give his guest talk at the next class, it was gripping, to say the least.

And, last Thursday, the guest speaker in my class was to have been Mr. Jeff Hescock, who is the Director of Emergency Management and Business Continuity at UMass Amherst. He has done extraordinary things at UMass and is a fabulous speaker. He notified me late last Wednesday that he would have to postpone his talk because of issues surrounding the Executive Order (EO) that President Trump had signed regarding immigration and refugees. Yes, the EO had affected some UMass students and even faculty who could not return back to the US and an emergency meeting was called in Boston for Thursday!


I was disappointed that he cancelled last Thursday, as were the students, but we hope to host him tomorrow and are looking forward to it. The students have prepared some fascinating questions for him.

Plus, my very first Humanitarian Logistics class was cancelled this semester because of inclement weather (Mr. Hescock is part of the group that makes such decision), so I predict no snow tomorrow. 

Water Pipe Bursts at the Isenberg School - Not a Super Sunday Morning

Early this morning, after a nice breakfast out, I stopped by with my husband, as I usually do, at the Isenberg School of Management, where I teach, to drop off some lecture notes and to pick up a book. It was about 7:40AM.

As we were about to enter the school through the entrance closest to the parking lots we saw three young adults (not UMass students - I asked)  exiting (2 males and 1 female). They were quite upset and said that while they were in the atrium they heard a sounds like water rippling and then the noise got louder and parts of the ceiling above the other entrance door collapsed. My husband quickly called 911 and asked to be connected to UMass Police and he shared the news about the water pipe break, most likely due to a sprinkler system. The fire alarm was blaring throughout the building and the fire alarm lights were flashing. When we entered with water around our ankles there was an unpleasant odor such as a mix of rubber.

We walked around the school to the other entrance, which is closest to the Whitmore Administration Building and faces a patio. We were greeted by a waterfall over the door with water that was now flowing out both doors and moving past the atrium. One could see part of the ceiling over that door dangling.

First to arrive was EH&S, followed by two fire trucks from the Amherst Fire Department, and then UMass police, which we spoke to. They were all on-site by 8AM.

Needless to say we also notified several of our Isenberg School administrators and sent over photos, which I have posted below.

This event was very disconcerting because directly below the space that was flooded - and the patio outside was turning into an ice rink -  are computer labs, a lot of high technology equipment,  and computer servers.

We received a message from TSS that many of the servers are down and, indeed, I can't get on the Supernetwork Center site that we update regularly. At around 8:30AM or so we were very happy to see Susan Boyer who heads TSS, who had to drive in a ways to campus this morning. She was very concerned about the servers and an email message was sent out to the school.

Coincidentally, I am now teaching my Humanitarian Logistics & Healthcare class in which we take alot about emergency preparedness and, yes, even about the winter storm Juno of last week and the importance of accurate weather forecasting, along with business continuity.

Speaking with physical plant folks, about the status of the flood at the Isenberg School,  they are assessing the situation and the area is closed off. This is a very special place and school for many of us so I hope that operations are restored soon.

We have the first guest speaker coming this Wednesday to speak in my Humanitarian Logistics class. I checked my Supernetworks Lab and since it is on the opposite side of the basement in the Isenberg School in a slightly elevated part, it looked untouched by the water.

At 9AM physical plant was cleaning up and drying out the first floor part.

And, besides it being Super Bowl night tonight another major snowstorm is in the forecast.

Times like these, we learn to be resilient and to practice disruption management!

Many thanks to the town of Amherst and UMass first responders for arriving on the scene so quickly. Let's hope that our computer servers will also be restored to full functionality soon, as well.

Hosting Amazing Speakers in Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare

Today is the first class meeting for my course, Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare, a course that I taught last year at the Isenberg School. I have also taught an intense version of this course at the Vienna University of Economics and Business in Austria and have been invited to offer it there again.

Logistics is one of my passions and Humanitarian Logistics is a subject that is not only extremely timely but also very challenging from multiple perspectives. Hence, it is a topic that is interdisciplinary and is continuing to evolve.

An important, and much appreciated part of the course, by both students (and me), is the experts that I bring in to speak to the class. We all come prepared with many questions and benefit greatly from the speakers' expertise on the front lines.

This year, in the month of February alone, we will be hosting:

• Ms. Deborah Wilson, a registered nurse, who worked on the
  frontlines of the Ebola crisis in Liberia with Doctors Without Borders.
• Mr. Jeff Hescock, Director of University Emergency Management
  and Business Continuity at UMass Amherst.
• Mr. Brian Rust, Manager of Security Services and Emergency
  Preparedness Coordinator at Cooley Dickinson Hospital.
• Ms. Kim Goulette, Executive Director of the Pioneer Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross.

We are so grateful and appreciative to all the above experts for the time that they take out of their very busy schedules to come to the Isenberg School to share their experiences and lessons learnes with us!

I am looking forward to a very exciting class and a great semester!

Emergency Management and Business Continuity at Universities - An Amazing Lecture

When is the last time that you sat at the edge of your seat listening to a guest lecture?!

This morning, I had the privilege and honor of hosting Mr. Jeff Hescock, the Director for Emergency Management and Business Continuity at UMass Amherst. This is just one of his titles since he also continues in his role at the President's Office (the UMass President, that is, Dr. Robert Caret, who oversees our 5 campuses).

Mr. Hescock was a guest lecturer in my Humanitarian Logistics and Healthcare class at the Isenberg School and today he spoke on Emergency Management.

 His lecture was so fascinating that I asked him for permission to post his slides, which he gave, and which you can download and view here.

Mr. Hescock spoke on the various phases of emergency management and then discussed his experiences after the Boston marathon bombings on April 15, 2013, when it became known that one of the suspects was a UMass Dartmouth student. He spoke on the evacuation of that campus and also on the ultimate capture and arrest in Watertown and how Boston and surrounding areas were, literally, on lockdown. I will never forget this terrorist attack and blogged about it since I knew two runners at the marathon and also Dr. Pierre Rouzier, a UMass Amherst doctor, who has assisted in multiple Boston marathons, was at that one, too, and saved lives. He will be speaking to my students in my class later this month.

Mr. Hescock spoke about how important it is to protect the academics, research, and reputation of a university and the roles that emergency management plays in these. We learned so much from him and how he acts as a coordinator with student services, housing, food services, UMass police, etc., in the case of an emergency. He spoke about "table-top" planning and scenario exercises and also real-life simulations.. There will be a shelter simulation at the Mullins Center in April and we hope to be able to attend and experience that.

Interestingly, he also spoke about grant-writing in order to cover costs of various training exercises, which are so important. I also found it fascinating to hear him speak about cybersecurity -- clearly critical for business conitnuity in a university.


If you have a chance, do look at his presentation.


The photos below were taken this morning during and post his lecture.

 

 
 Many, many thanks to Mr. Hescock for sharing with us today his incredible expertise and practical know-how in keeping universities safe and secure.