As companies are slowly coming back to their offices a year after the pandemic, there are various concerns that business owners need to consider such as potential power outages. Globally, there is an energy crisis that forces various areas all over the world to have power outages, which is why solar energy is being explored by many innovators.
During the height of the pandemic, companies transitioned their workforce into a work-from-home (WFH) setup and they managed to take their operations and processes remotely, mitigating its impact, and staying afloat amid the crisis.
And in recent months, companies and their employees are going back to their offices. By doing so, there’s also a concern for power outages, considering many areas across the world experience power outages.
Power outages are announced or not, but it will be more than a nuisance if you’re not prepared when it happens. Not only will your business lose time and money, but you also suffer long-term effects of power outages, especially when your company is dealing with a lot of electronic devices such as office computers, networks, servers, and other sensitive technology. With this, you also need to address employee-safety issues as well.
If you’re gearing your business to prepare for these power outages, here are some helpful ways to prepare your office.
Plan ahead
Every successful operation comes with an effective plan. You need to make sure you’re ready with the power outages with a plan designed for backups and company guidelines. Don’t be a business owner that only thinks of dealing with power outages once it happens.
Take time to plan out what your company will do. cover all the bases starting from securing the safety of your employees to securing your office equipment and vital business processes. In case of power outages, you can get a generator for your building (in case it is not available yet) or have your own power generator in your office that automatically kicks in once power fails.
Power back ups will likely be the best countermeasure for brownouts, however, they can offer power for a limited amount of time, depending on its capacity and the power consumption of your equipment. Generators help you avoid disruptions and it keeps your personnel and equipment safe.
Also read: Wired vs Wireless Connectivity – Which is Better for Your Business
Secure company data and equipment
Whether you’re a technology company or not, it’s imperative to protect your data and equipment. The computers and other devices should have their own safe keeping protocols, preventing damage brought by abrupt power outages and electric surges.
As much as possible, you wouldn’t want your equipment to wear out and get severely damaged because of a sudden energy influx. Surge protectors prevent the damage that can result from sudden voltage shifts when both power is lost and restored. Turn off and disconnect any equipment and appliance you have as soon as the outage occurs.
If you have your own networks and servers in the company that should never be turned off, you need to have a separate power supply in case the outage happens. Storing your data in the cloud can also help in this scenario since you can access the data you need remotely instead of having all the data stored in one place. The worst thing that could happen is to have your data servers severely damaged by the outage and you end up losing all your data.
Prepare your employees
Your backup plan is only as good as the people executing it. Ensure that your employees are prepared and knowledgeable in the protocols in the event of a power outage. Engaging training plans and dynamic drills and including these guidelines on the onboarding process are helpful as well.
The training should include the following:
- Accessing emergency exits to ensure employee safety
- Emergency access to equipment (especially for your IT network and security)
- Securing company-issued devices
- Manually operating secured doors, etc.
Designating point-of-contact employees who can lead for this scenario will prevent chaos and panic among the employees and can evacuate them safely. Having emergency kits is also imperative in any office. Just in case people are prohibited to leave right away, having emergency kits with medical supplies, flashlights, radio, bottled water, and non-perishable food definitely helps.
Conclusion
Companies are slowly going back to offices after a long time and power outages is just one of the concerns business owners have in mind. Prevent the critical hit of the power outages to your organization through having an efficient plan, securing your company data and equipment, and prepping your employees with the right mindset.
Leave a comment