Prepare for an Emergency

What is an Emergency? An emergency is in the eye of the beholder. Homeowners, board members and residents often feel that whatever affects them is the emergency. That can be anything from a past due account to a violation letter to property and safety issues. Managers focus on the day-to-day issues of accounts and violations as a part of their routine. Recently, with Katrina, the blizzards in Colorado, flooding in Illinois and Ohio and fires in California, Georgia and Florida, the task of dealing with these types of disasters is once again in the forefront.

Most communities do not have a disaster/emergency plan for their members. The purpose of this article is to urge community associations and management companies to spend the time to plan ahead, using the following steps to create a unique plan specifically for their association.

First let’s define an emergency/disaster. It can be relatively common such as household fire, household flooding or other water intrusion, medical issues, frozen or broken pipes, structural failure and boiler/furnace explosions. It can also be the intermittent weather conditions or events such as wild fires, earthquakes, snow, river flooding, drought, tornados, hurricanes or wind and hail. Lastly, emergencies can be caused by exterior threats such as military, nuclear, biohazards and toxic chemicals and gases.

The relatively common emergencies are those risks that we deal with daily to protect persons and property and enhance the value of the community. Community association managers are skilled at mitigating damages, making temporary repairs and planning for the permanent repairs caused by water, fire and the like. It’s the other emergencies that need more attention.

To create a comprehensive disaster response plan,

Consider what emergencies will affect your community. It’s unlikely that there will be a blizzard in Ft. Myers or a hurricane in Denver.
Create a plan for those events that will adversely affect your day to day life.
Prepare for the event.
Create a plan to reduce damage and disruption.
Respond to the event.
Implement reconstruction and repairs.
Finally, have an evaluation protocol in place to follow up on the response and the event.

Consider what emergencies will affect your community -
Where is the community located – metropolitan, suburban, desert, mountains, beach, farmland? What type of community is it – highrise, garden-style condominium, single family planned community? What type of buildings, landscaping, amenities or mechanical equipment? What are the demographics of the community in terms of age, families, economic status? What will be the media response? All of these questions must be taken into consideration in establishing an action plan for response.

Plan for those events –
Establish a planning committee to create your emergency/disaster activation plan. Have a budget for the plan. Review your budget as it affects daily operations and long term planning. Make sure that insurance coverages are reviewed annually and reflect the disaster preparedness plan. Based on the review by the committee and the establishment of a plan, give specific responsibilities, duties and staffing assignments to the management team, the board, homeowners and vendors. Lastly, make sure the plan covers communication, communication and more communication.

Be prepared for the event –
“The Book” should be a part of the action plan and be accessible to those responding. This can be available in hard copy or online format as long as it is accessible (and remember that if power is out, online access may be a moot point). “The Book” should include but not be limited to: Emergency phone numbers for the manager, police, fire, board members, contractors, insurance agent, medical assistance, attorney, utilities, mechanicals, city engineers/structural, restoration services, departments of transportation and wild life, etc. In addition it should also have maps, physical plant information, shut-off locations for water, gas and electric. Based on location of the community, such things as emergency supplies and emergency kits should be considered as well. Costs of these items can be included in the preparedness budget.

Create a Plan to Reduce Damage and Disruption –
Conduct a review of the community with an expert such as a general contractor or engineer to make sure you have accurate information regarding potential failures of building and grounds components. Develop and conduct with your owners preparedness drills for fire, flood, chemical spills, airborn diseases and weather conditions. This is especially necessary where there are elevators and stacked homes with stairwells or when the community is located near major highway evacuation routes. Reduce your damages by insulating pipes, attics, crawlspaces as well as installing sump pumps and warning systems. Lastly, publish the safety and evacuation plans routinely and post them on websites, in newsletters and in mail kiosks or other community spaces.

Managers and boards should routinely schedule inspections of any item covered in the emergency plan. Any safety equipment such as fire extinguishers, smoke alarms or detectors and interior sprinkler systems should be upgraded (per budget planning) and have preventative maintenance programs in place. When a manager and/or the board becomes aware of impending, potentially disastrous events, he, she or they should confirm with the insurance agent, contractors and others participating in the emergency plan that they are prepared to respond to the community’s needs. Optimally, the contractors have pledged to prioritize the community over others for whom they provide repair services.

Event Response --
Immediately following the event, first and foremost, stay calm and refer to your disaster/emergency plan. As detailed in your plan, 1) secure areas that have potential for safety issues and property loss, 2) make every effort to ensure no loss to the association or the owners, 3) provide medical assistance until assistance can arrive, and 4) follow directions from federal, state and local authorities. For the media and other interested parties, have a designated “spokesperson” for the association. That can be the manager, a board member or other media “savvy” person. Impressions by the media are made in the first minute of contact. Be prepared!

After the disaster or emergency, assess the damage. Then secure and protect the remaining property. Implement the emergency plan. Contact your insurance agent immediately! Work as a team and continually communicate with owners. Communication – or lack thereof -- is the area in which most managers and boards receive the most criticism. Part of the emergency plan should be how to communicate with those living on site and absentee owners. Create new ways to communicate outside of websites, newsletters and posting notices. If the phones are working, use a “telephone tree” in which certain owners are assigned a list of other owners to call upon receipt of an initiating call from a board member or manager.

Reconstruction –
Work with disaster assistance agencies, insurance adjusters, architects, engineers and contractors to develop new construction plans and/or repairs to existing construction. Have arrangements for displaced residents. Don’t skimp on construction supervision or insurance claim consultants, if necessary. And again, continually communicate with owners and renters.

Evaluation of the Response –
Review pre- and post-event preparedness, response times, actions taken and team effectiveness. Review contractors’ and other professionals’ performances. Always ask for owner and board member input as well.

All of the discussion on planning, being prepared, reducing damage, following up and evaluating a response, should be reviewed by not only the board members and the manager, but also by all others included in the plan. This ensures that the association will continue to operate at some level, whether or not the management company is functioning and available. Remember – the management company’s office and employees may also be impacted by the disaster/emergency, so the community may be on its own for a period of time until management is back up and running.

We all hope that our homes, community, co-workers and friends never have the need to implement a disaster/emergency plan. However, it makes more sense to be completely prepared for the possibility, rather than try to figure out what to do in the middle of confusion and fear.

References -
CAI – GAP Report 14
West Metro Fire Rescue
www.ready.gov
Jefferson County Emergency Response

Dee Tyler, PCAM®, CMCA®
CEO
Colorado Association Services
Lakewood, CO