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Research facilities prepare for disaster

by Mary Helen Yarborough
Public Relations
A natural or manmade disaster could have a debilitating effect on a research facility if it has not been fortified and its contents protected.
 
MUSC’s $200-plus million worth of research grants depend on the institution’s ability to secure research samples, results, documents and the various materials used in groundbreaking discovery.
 
To assure that MUSC’s research stakeholders are up-to-speed on how to best prepare for a disaster, associate provost for research, Stephen M. Lanier, Ph.D., held a faculty/senate town hall meeting June 28 that focused on hurricane preparedness and lessons learned.
 
“As far as I can see, MUSC and the MUSC hospital are exceptionally prepared,” Lanier said. “We’ve got our team together.”
 
Lanier came to MUSC last year from Louisiana State University in New Orleans where he experienced firsthand the nation’s worst-case hurricane/flood scenario that destroyed priceless amounts of academic and medical research.
 
MUSC, meanwhile, is among the better-prepared institutions its size, Lanier told an assembly of several dozen faculty and staff members. MUSC has assembled a team approach to protecting MUSC’s facilities and contents. That preparation is due, in large part, to its experience with another major hurricane, Hugo. Many people who endured that storm in 1989 are still at MUSC, including Mike Swindle, DVM, chairman of MUSC’s Department of Comparative Medicine.
 
Swindle recalls Hugo with relative pride. “We lost air handling, but we didn’t lose a single animal,” he said, explaining the challenges in caring for them.
 
Wayne Brannan, risk management director, warned students and researchers that during a mandatory evacuation all of the doors will be locked. A guard would have to enable re-entry to only those who hold a special placard (to obtain one, call 792-3055) that allows them to be on campus during an evacuation.
 
“Believe me, we really don’t want anybody here during an evacuation,” Brannan said. “But if you do have to come, don’t bring your family.”
 
John Malmrose, chief facilities officer, said that all of the research facilities also have emergency power generators, but they only provide power to the red outlets. “It seems that in an emergency, there are never enough red plugs, though, so make sure you have identified what you need so we can address them before the storm. And remember that our generators have a limited capacity,” Malmrose said.
 
The library has all of its 13,000 journals and other information online, and everything else backed up in locations far away. “Nearly 100 percent of what we have here has been stored offsite,” said Tom Basler, Ph.D., director of Libraries and Learning Resource Centers.
 
Bill Rust, manager of technical services, said that MUSC has established short- and long-term plans for data-banking and power generation. “We’re in good shape with our data center,” he said, because the generators that keep them running all are above the second floors in affected buildings, except in the Basic Science Building, which is getting rectified. Rust also said that MUSC is looking to establish a remote server in the Upstate.
 
Hazards during a storm are various and unanticipated by the average person. But for the research scientist that works with hazardous chemicals and precious specimens, risk takes on a whole new realm. If chemicals are not secured, they can spill, causing a potentially toxic cloud. Windows get knocked out, so materials either need to be secured and battened down or removed.
 
In fact, individuals may be away from their laboratory for several days in the event of mandatory evacuation, Lanier said, which adds weight to advance preparation.
 
The official MUSC emergency information and policies can be found on the Web at http://www.musc.edu/emergency.shtml and severe weather plan at http://www.musc.edu/fanda/risk/severeweather.shtml. As well, the Office of the Associate Provost for Research is developing a Web based tool to communicate to the research community on the status of buildings, etc., after a disaster/evacuation event has occurred. This will be linked to the MUSC emergency notification (“red button”) link off the MUSC homepage.



Continuity assurance
MUSC’s Office of the Associate Provost for Research (APR) has reviewed various campus units for preparedness in terms of continuity of the research programs in situations involving major disasters. Emergency plans reviewed include:
  • Offices of Research Facilities Administration (Leslie Kendall, director),
  • Research Sponsored Programs (Dillard Marshall, director),
  • Research Development (Peggy Schachte, director),
  • Research Integrity (Vicki McGillivray, interim director),
  • Contracts and Grant Accounting (Velma Stamp, director),
  • Division of Laboratory Animal Resources (Michael Swindle, DVM),
  • Foundation for Research Development (William C. Hood, JD., executive director),
  • Chief Financial Officer (Patrick Wamsley),
  • Engineering and Facilities (John Malmrose, chief facilities officer), and
  • Libraries and Learning Resource Centers (Thomas Basler, Ph.D.).
In addition, the APR, along with Wayne Brannan, director of Risk Management, and John Malmrose, facilities chief, meet regularly to consider effectiveness of communication and disaster preparedness. Knowledge of established lines of communication is crucial to ensure some degree of continuity of research operations following major disasters.
 
The emergency preparedness policy developed by the University of California Berkeley for research continuity offers a broader perspective of the issues faced and actions to be taken in the context of disaster management (http://research.chance.berkeley.edu/DOCS/ResearchFNLApr14.041.pdf).
 
Only key personnel with numbered emergency badges approved through the Office of Risk Management (ORM) will be allowed to remain on campus in the event of a mandatory evacuation. The ORM will request this list in anticipation of a hit to the Charleston area. Typically non-designated personnel would be required to leave their labs when the governor mandates closure of all state agencies in an impacted area and senior leadership orders the closure of MUSC. The order from the governor would be expected 36 hours or more in advance of tropical storm-force winds. Brannan said that it could take about 96 hours to completely evacuate the Charleston area.
   
It is critical that each person have a personal preparedness and evacuation plan in the event of an approaching hurricane. The public transit system will be unavailable in a mandated evacuation; therefore, individuals need to have alternative plans. Students and post-docs without such options should contact the Office of Student Programs in early spring to arrange transportation to a secure location in the event of severe weather.

Communication Plan
  • Each principal investigator should create a contact list for laboratory personnel. Maintain hard copies at work and home, as well as on file with departmental/divisional administration.
  • Make sure each member of your laboratory has a plan for evacuation of family and pets. Remind lab personnel that weathering a storm or hurricane at MUSC is not allowed.
  • Each clinical trial group should provide enrolled patients with remote contact information if evacuation is required.
  • Be sure there are no specially-keyed rooms in your laboratory area as in the event of a disaster, designated personnel must be able to access all rooms in the building.
  • Clearly list all special equipment safety precautions in the event personnel not familiar with equipment must access area. Include cell phone number of knowledgeable individuals.
  • It may be advisable to identify designated personnel on each floor who can access and assist other laboratories in the event those personnel are not able to return for immediate recovery operations.
  • Individual laboratories may set up a remote Web site (e.g. Yahoo) to facilitate communication post event.
  • Update essential vendor phone numbers/Web sites bookmarks
  • Update information on funding organization/program officer contact info for funded research programs.
 
Each departmental unit, division, and office must have an emergency preparedness plan that is reviewed annually and discussed among members of the unit. 
 
A complete listing of suggested laboratory emergency preparation guidelines will soon be available at http://research.musc.edu/.







   

Friday, July 20, 2007
Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Island Publications at 849-1778, ext. 201.