“Continuity of operations is critical for any business, particularly if you provide a critical infrastructure service like broadband or phone service.” That’s what Verizon’s Director of Business Continuity and Event Management Mark Paff told Telecompetitor when he spoke with us this week about Verizon’s emergency plans.
Paff detailed how Verizon responds to emergencies, both expected and unexpected, sharing details that apply to providers of any size.
He said Verizon takes advantage of the programs offered by Disaster Recovery Institute International and recommended all providers do so. Their training courses in business continuity and other topics are available in person and online.
Verizon’s Emergency Plans
Closer to home, Paff shared the details of Verizon’s own contingency plans. Verizon monitors for global threats constantly — including both natural disasters and human-created events, like civil unrest — and implements their emergency plans as needed.
In areas where they have assets, like cellular towers, fiber lines, retail and commercial facilities, and “our most important asset, people,” Verizon monitors for local threats like hurricanes and earthquakes.
In the case of a disaster that can be monitored, like a hurricane, Verizon has emergency plans for before, during, and after the incident:
- The pre-incident checklist includes items like checking the fuel levels of generators, reaffirming contracts with fuel vendors, making sure fuel trucks are ready if they are needed, contacting utility providers, and staging of mobile assets (like generators, and portable communications systems that Paff described as “cell towers on wheels”). They also make sure their crisis management team is prepared and everyone knows what their role will be.
- The incident checklist includes assessing damages, working with local and state emergency operations centers (EOCs), getting permits for utility work, and working on customer outreach with the corporate communications team. The Verizon crisis management team meets twice per day as the emergency event takes place.
- The post-incident checklist includes recovery and response efforts, assessing the impact after an event, keeping generators fueled, and deploying teams and assets where needed.
Verizon’s emergency plans also include reaching out to local communities that have faced a disaster and, often, partnering with the American Red Cross. Verizon has an 18-wheeler they call “Big Red,” which has a satellite dish for connectivity, Wi-Fi capability, and workstations with Chromebooks so community members can contact loved ones, charge their phones, fill out insurance forms online, and so on.
According to Paff, Verizon always completes an after-action report following an emergency event to track what went well, what lessons were learned, and how their team can strengthen their processes and increase their resilience.
Plans for Every Scenario
While emergency plans can be created for disasters that can be tracked in advance — like hurricanes — Paff says Verizon has more than 1,300 contingency plans for, essentially, every possible scenario they can imagine.
“Our crisis management response is built on a foundation of business continuity planning,” Paff said. “What if we were to lose our accounting function? Or major portions of our network? This extends all the way to tactical plans — what does one of our retail stores do in a tornado?” These emergency plans — which Verizon refers to as “all hazards” — are based on the consequences of an event, not the cause.
One way Verizon prepares for the unknown is through redundancy. “All of our technical locations have, at a minimum, two power sources. In some cases, three — commercial power, battery power, and a generator.” Paff also said that most of their fiber-connected facilities have dual fiber entrances, so if one cable is damaged the other remains connected.
Verizon also maintains a team of former EMTs, state troopers, and firefighters who understand the demands of first responders. This team embeds themselves among a community’s first responders to help maintain the continuity of communications services.
“We run to a disaster, not from it, and that’s exemplified by my team and the broader team,” said Paff.
