It has been an interesting couple of\ndays in the US, in the world, with regards to the COVID-19 virus. I actually\nhave two or three posts sitting idle, all still in the edit phase, all of which\nare likely to never see the web as this constantly changing situation with the virus\nevolves. I stand by much of what has already been stated; use common sense, keep\ndistance from people, don\u2019t touch your face, and wash your hands a lot with\nsoap and water. And if you do become ill, isolate yourself until you understand\nwhich virus is afflicting you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have never been in politics \u2013 never run\na town, city, or state. I don\u2019t know what they spend their time doing, but I am\npretty sure it is (or should be) spent understanding the current condition of\nthe infrastructure and how to repair or upgrade it, along with understanding the\nneeds of the citizens. So I never ran a town, but I was responsible for an\nindustrial complex of 5,000 people. Responsible for the electrical distribution\nsystem, heat, air conditioning, energy use, overhead budget, gasses and\ncompressed air as well as the buildings themselves. Underground, overhead,\ninside, or outside it was all my responsibility to ensure the people working\ntheir had a safe and functional place to work, that the place fully supported\nthe work, and that the investment of the company into our facility was fiercely\nprotected by my team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In every situation at work (and there\nwere plenty of them!) I have always been one to not panic; gather the facts,\nunderstand the scope, assess the options, and decide on a direction of action.\nBut I was also one to spend time, a lot of time, an inordinate amount of time\nsome might say, assessing risk. Where could the next catastrophic failure\noccur? And what could my team do to prevent it? And I know for a fact that we\nwere extremely successful at recognizing, identifying, understanding, and mitigating\npotential or even probable, future catastrophes. Repairing or replacing whatever\nit might have been before it failed, installing sensors to monitor system\nconditions to alarm upon a deviation from nominal, or installing backup\ncomponents. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But there were two kinds of events\nthat while you could prepare for, you could not predict: hurricanes and\nblizzards. I spent hundreds of hours developing a detailed storm plan, one that\ncovered both summer and winter. It began with major tasks and drilled down into\nthe seemingly trivial; it divided the entire facility into manageable zones and\nthen provided a specific name for each zone \u2013 a primary and a backup \u2013 with work,\ncell, and home phone numbers. It was phased by current and forecasted wind\nspeeds. It detailed who needed to leave the facility, and when, as well as who\nneeded to stay. It was a work that spanned years of constant effort. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And that storm plan got a lot of use \u2013\nNew England gets more than its fair share of storms year \u2018round. And\ninvariably, as the forecast grew grim and it was clear that it was an inescapable\nfact that we were going to get hit, the management team would convene in the\nmain conference room and look at me and ask, \u201cso what do we need to do?\u201d Every\ntime. Most never read the plan; those who did more or less skimmed it and didn\u2019t\nreally get much out of it. Every time. But there is some logic behind that, interestingly\nenough. Every storm is different; winds come from varying directions, storms\narrive with high tide or low tide, snow can be wet and heavy or light and fluffy,\nand a myriad of other variables including timing \u2013 day or night, weekday or\nweekend. So every storm was different and the plan did not, could not, get down\nto that level \u2013 ultimately you had to wait and see what unique combination of\nweather we would get. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But they all knew the basics of the drill;\nfrom repetition they knew all the steps they had to do regardless of the specifics\nof the storm: bring material indoors, inspect their buildings for open or\nbroken windows or doors, secure equipment, etc. So the blank looks in the storm\nmeeting were actually somewhat misleading \u2013 most of them had already completed\nmost all of the required steps \u2013 plan or no plan, they knew what to do. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But the catastrophe was not always a storm.\nI recall one event in particular. I was at my desk and my cell phone rang \u2013 it was\none of my supervisors from another area of the plant; he was breathless and\npanting heavily as the words erratically burst from his mouth on alternate\ngasps: \u201cExplosion\u2026.fire\u2026.so much smoke\u2026Bay 1\u2026.power center 1\u2026can\u2019t see\u2026..\u201d I\nhad a remote control for one of the unmanned gates near my office; policy\ndictated that users of an unmanned gate had to wait for the gate to fully open before\nproceeding through it and then wait for it to fully close before driving away and\nleaving the gate. On this day, I was through the gate and half way down the\nroad to the other building before the gate was even half open. I think I set a\nland speed record getting from one part of the facility to the other (over public\nroads). The whole time I was driving I could see thick black smoke pouring out\nof the building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Seconds later when I arrived at the\nhuge doors leading into the cavernous building, there were hundreds of people\nrunning out of the building. The fire alarm was going off, fire and rescue vehicles\nfrom our company were arriving (town fire and rescue were still ten minutes or\nso away), and my supervisor was frantically waving to me from the door. He gave\nme a ten second rundown: a 2500-amp high voltage transformer and switchgear \u2013\none of seven serving the building \u2013 had shorted out and was decidedly on fire.\nI asked him if the power was still on; the building is fed at 12kV in series\nbetween the seven load centers from a single HV switch outside. He indicated\nthat it was still energized so my first task was to run to the switch, unlock\nit, and open it to kill all power to the building. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I then ran inside over to the fire to\ntry to understand if it was salvageable, and within 10 seconds it was clear to\nme that it was a total loss. I met up with our fire chief, and the town fire commander,\nand informed them that the power was indeed of and they were safe. I also advised\nthem that we should shut off the bulk flammable gas distribution to the\nbuilding as well and received a request to go make that happen, which I did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Within a short amount of time the fire\nwas extinguished. Senior management had convened a makeshift war-room in an\nadjacent building and I was requested to report on current conditions; we had\nclose to a thousand people standing around outside and needed to quickly decide\nwhat to do with them as well as with second shift. By this point, I had been\nable to take a fairly close look at the still smoldering remains and had a good\nidea of what was damaged and what was not. The transformer and high voltage switch\nhad not been affected by the fire \u2013 only the 480V switchgear had been\ndamaged\/destroyed. And most importantly the HV cabling that ran from power\ncenter to power center was clearly intact. And that meant it was likely we\ncould restore power to the building and still leave the destroyed power center\nisolated. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After a lot of explanation and\ndiscussion, I was asked to develop a plan to safely re-energize the building. I\nhuddled up with my team and we put together the plan of who, when, what, and\nwhere, and once I made certain that everyone on my team was in agreement, went\nback and presented it to the VP who was overseeing the event. The plan was\napproved and we went off and executed it was drawn up. It included a lot of\ntesting and validation throughout the system that it was safe to re-energize which\ntook a fair amount of time to complete, but finally we were ready \u2013 I held my\nbreath (just a little) and threw the switch. That provided 12kV power to each\nof the seven power centers but nothing else as the HV switch at each one of\nthem was open. My electrician and I then went from center to center, closing\nthe HV main which energized the transformer, and then the low voltage main to\nprovide restoration of power. Slowly the lights came back up, motors began\nrunning, and the building came back to life, with the exception of half of the\nfirst bay that was formerly powered by the now destroyed and dead power center.\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That action allowed second shift to report\nto work as scheduled. While the power center was still smoldering, I had called\none of my engineers and requested him to beg, borrow, or steal a 1mW rental trailered\ngenerator. He came through like the exceptional professional he was and within\nthree hours of the initial call reporting the explosion, a tractor trailer with\na massive 1mW generator, complete with load circuit breakers and miles of\ncabling. And by 9PM that evening we had every distribution panel in the\naffected area wired back to the generator and energized. The building was 100%\nfunctional once again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Later that week I was summoned to our\nGroton home plant to meet with the president and explain exactly what had\nfailed as well as why it had failed, followed by my recommendation on what to\ndo to ensure it would not happen again. I gave him my plan and he gave me his\nverbal assurance that once officially presented through the proper channels\nwith the required approvals, he would endorse it (which he ultimately did at\njust over a million-dollar price tag and a nearly one year period of execution).\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My point is, despite the hundreds of\nhours pondering, assessing, considering, planning, and preparing for \u2013 there was\nno way to see this coming nor anyway to prevent it, and certainly no way to develop\na recovery plan. There was just no way to know the extent of a failure and thus,\nhow to recover from it without a major impact on production. In this case, it\nwas literally formulated in minutes, once we knew the scope and extent of the\ndamage. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have never found looking back and\ncriticizing helpful during an extreme event; save that for the post-event hotwash.\nDuring the event I need facts, data, and the best possible information to use for\nmaking a decision on how to react and what to do, as I just laid out in the\nfire story. Not a single person asked if it could have been prevented while we\nwere working through the emergency. It is a responsible question but asking in\nthe midst of it would be an irresponsible time to do so. Of course as I mentioned,\nthe question was asked by the president, but after the event. And if you are\nwondering dear reader, here is the cause in all its technological detail. A 240\/120V\npanel fed from a 600A breaker in this power\ncenter developed a fault \u2013 a short if you will \u2013 that was due to corrosion;\ncorrosion commensurate with our proximity to the salt water, the time in service\nand exposure to that sea mist, and the years of accumulation of extremely fine metallic\ngrit from the 24\/7 operation of welding and grinding. That electrical fault traveled\nback to the power center where the breaker tripped, but upon doing so failed\ncatastrophically due to an arc flash. The arc flash spilled over into the adjacent\ncabling which propagated the fault throughout the switchgear resulting in its total\ncatastrophic failure. Age was the primary culprit, coupled with hard service. I\nhad requested funding for replacement power centers in that building for the\nprevious four or five years, but the project was never funded. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So what\u2019s my point and how does this\nrelate to the current viral outbreak? While it has not been handled well by our\ngovernment \u2013 the director of the CDC, the Secretary of Health and Human\nServices, and the president \u2013 now is not the time to point fingers and criticize.\nBut politics and partisanship is doing exactly that; there is an extraordinary amount\nof effort by many to try and fix blame and criticize. If the intent is purely\nacademic, it is best done when the issue has passed and all possible data and\nfactual information is available. Doing so in mid-event is counterproductive and\na waste of valuable resources much needed elsewhere, resources forced to\nexplain and defend their actions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I firmly believe in the competence,\nskill, ability, and professionalism of the overwhelming majority of the people\nemployed in this country; from dump truck drivers and backhoe operators, to plumbers\nand electricians, to accountants and bankers, and so on. And doubly so in the\npeople who provide their life services through the use of science. The work of\nscientists is extremely disciplined and bound by the integrity of empirical\nstudy. I find it nearly impossible to believe or accept the concept that our\nentire US medical community has \u201cdone nothing to prepare\u201d or has been blindsided\nby this pandemic which has been slowly rolling across the globe; they\u2019ve all\nseen it coming and I just don\u2019t envision an entire community of scientists and\nmedical experts just ho-humming and ignoring it. I am sure they have been\nworking furiously for weeks, months even, trying to develop our plan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But just like my storm plan, the vagaries\nand idiosyncrasies of this new virus are unknowns and the plan will likely not\nbe adequate. And just like all the folks where I used to work, all the team\nmembers should already know what to do, at least the basics; we\u2019ll get the\nspecifics as the details become known. And no one criticized the me or the plan\nat that point. But afterwards, once the full fury had been felt and the full extent\nof damage was known, we\u2019d sit down and everyone would present their views on\nwhat went right and what went wrong and how we needed to fortify our plan and\nfuture response actions. Call me into a roomful of people in the midst of a\nhurricane, whose sole agenda is to criticize that I didn\u2019t line up enough dump\ntrucks; call me in during an electrical fire to complain that I didn\u2019t replace\nthe switchgear before it happened? That only serves to distract me from my\nprimary focus of containment and recovery. It\u2019s too late to complain about inadequate\nprevention now \u2013 it\u2019s already here. Don\u2019t take me away from accomplishing what\nneeds to be done to answer question and address complaints. Yet this is exactly\nwhat I see going on with our government; accusation, criticism, and complaint. Not\nthe time, not the place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We, the combined countries of the\nworld, will get through this. Of that I have no doubt. People will die, sadly.\nBut of course, to date this year there have been an estimated 52,000 deaths\nfrom the Type A and B influenza that have gone \u2013 mostly \u2013 unnoticed. This virus\nwill add to that total, but its deaths will carry greater weight, greater\nsignificance, due to the publicity and politics of it all. In my humble\nopinion, politics, and agenda for the same, have no place in the midst of a\ncrisis; it is time to put away partisanship and come together in a concerted,\njoint effort to get out factual, real, solid information to people, and to stop\ninciting panic and chaos with political bias and hidden motives. There\u2019ll be\nplenty of time for that once we get through it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
So dear reader, avoid crowds and wash your hands and I pray my next post finds you all still well and healthy. Remember: plan and prepare, but don\u2019t panic!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
It has been an interesting couple of days in the US, in the world, with regards to the COVID-19 virus. I actually have two or three posts sitting idle, all still in the edit phase, all of which are likely to never see the web as this constantly changing situation with the virus evolves. I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2183,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"ocean_front_end_style_editor":"no","ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"0","ocean_second_sidebar":"0","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"0","ocean_custom_header_template":"0","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"0","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"0","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"off","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2179","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-life","entry","has-media"],"yoast_head":"\n