- Introduction
- The Real Deal
- Recovery Underway
- Lessons Learned
The Real Deal
At approximately 11 a.m., one of the members of the asset management group was on the phone with a customer. When he noticed water seeping from a janitorial closet, he politely ended the call and notified his manager. The manager in turn contacted a member of the staff of the IT business-continuity team, and also had his assistant notify the IT help desk. Simultaneously, another asset-management employee, who happens to be a member of the company's Emergency Safety Response Team (ESRT), called the facilities department. As more water flowed out, employees realized that it was a flooding situation. Within minutes, a representative from the facilities department arrived, determined clogged toilets to be the source of the problem, and worked to shut off the water as IT business-continuity members assisted with the orderly evacuation of the building.
The evacuated employees were relocated temporarily to a training room in another building and later sent to lunch, as managers and team leaders assessed the situation. Due to the extent of the water and sewage damage, covering several hundred square feet, many associates believed it would be days before they could resume their normal business operations. The investors on site may have had similar opinions.