In light of the COVID-19 outbreak, NERC, FERC, the Department of Energy and the North American Transmission Forum (NATF) have created a resource to help entities develop response plans for pandemics and epidemics.
The Epidemic/Pandemic Response Plan Resource, released this week, is intended to “help utilities create, update or formalize” plans for response and recovery from future disease outbreaks, which are recommended as a complement to an organization’s overall business continuity plan. Objectives of pandemic response plans should include:
- Health and safety — maintaining a healthy work environment for employees while protecting their safety and that of their families;
- Security — maintaining cyber and physical security, with “special considerations to the distractions and challenges imposed by an epidemic/pandemic”;
- Communications — providing clear direction on plan details and execution, while ensuring effective communication to personnel, staff and the wider community; and
- Recovery — resuming normal operations as permitted by conditions and the available workforce.
Specific recommendations include designating specific members of entities’ senior management to emergency response teams and describing actions to be taken by such teams, including tracking progress of a pandemic; coordinating the tracking and status reporting of infections and absenteeism in the workforce; and ensuring employees are informed of the development of the situation. The document also advises on specific preparatory measures such as planning for widespread health screening; identification of essential positions and determining their work schedules and compensation; and planning for quarantining and sequestering employees.
In a press release, NERC noted that the progress of pandemics can be hard to prevent and emphasized the importance of “flexible and scalable management strategies and preventative measures taken in advance” of such events. The organization said that while the resource was developed for the electric industry, other critical infrastructure operators may be able to benefit from its information.
“Preplanning for events such as the current pandemic ensures staff is healthy and safe, while still sustaining their effectiveness,” said Mark Lauby, NERC senior vice president and chief engineer. “This resource can provide a road map for organizations to create or supplement their existing plans.”
The pandemic response resource is the latest in a series of actions by NERC and FERC to assist utilities with their response to the coronavirus crisis. NERC’s response began in earnest with the issue of a Level 2 alert in March, and the organization last month expressed confidence that the industry is “taking aggressive steps to confront” the pandemic. (See Industry Pandemic Prep Encouraging, NERC Says.)
NERC itself has activated its business continuity plan and shifted to a “full remote work posture,” which is expected to continue through July 4. CEO Jim Robb said last month that the organization had confirmed three cases of the virus among its staff, with “no evidence of any community spread” to other ERO participants. (See “Robb Delivers COVID-19 Update,” Align Tool Set for 2021 Rollout.) External meetings through June have been canceled or converted to conference calls.
NERC and FERC have also taken steps to relax compliance burdens for utilities via the use of regulatory discretion. The actions announced in March include postponing on-site activities such as audits and certifications, as well as lenience toward delays in maintaining personnel certification and failing to perform required periodic actions. (See FERC, NERC Relax Compliance in Light of COVID-19.)
