When Things Go Bump in the Night

The Challenge of Training the Next Generation to Manage Emergencies

A recent article in Pipeline & Gas Journal indicated that up to 25% of pipeline construction personnel are over the age of 55.  The knowledge gap between those entering the utility industry and the folks that are retiring from it, is growing at a breakneck pace. Utility managers have been responding to this pending tidal wave of information and experience exodus for quite some time.  The focus of institutional knowledge sharing has been primarily on operations and engineering. Seemingly little thought is given to providing experience and knowledge transfer related to emergency management.

Unfortunately, there seems to be an assumption that if a utility employee is trained to perform routine operations and maintenance tasks, they will be proficient at responding to and managing emergencies. While there are some tasks associated with operations and maintenance that are performed during emergency response (i.e. leak detection/monitoring, operation of valves, line locating) there are still others that are unique and critical for a safe and successful outcome. Coordination with public sector responders, effective scene size-up, thoughtful risk management, and appropriate crisis communications are all skills that are unique to effective emergency management and response.

It's often said that experience is the best teacher.  That can be true for a wide range of tasks, but it is risky for response to utility emergencies.  Employees new to a utility with operational responsibility should undergo structured training specific to emergency management.  This includes orientation on the organization’s emergency plan and procedures, the Incident Command System, identification of scene hazards (size-up) and processes for handling media inquiries.  Formal training should then be followed by participation in system specific tabletop and full-scale emergency response exercises.  This should all be a part of a comprehensive emergency management program that includes all employees and facets of the organization’s operations.

Emergency management training is too critical to be relegated to OJT (On-the-Job Training) or war stories from seasoned employees.  The fact is that at some point, all utility operations employees will face an emergency situation. How will yours react?

Kevin Shea, a retired FDNY firefighter, put it best:

“People don’t rise to the occasion. They fall to their level of training”.