Loss of Utilities & Services  

Utility failures are a major concern for health care and may cause substantial harm to patients, staff, and facilities. Threats include infrastructure damage due to natural disasters and other incidents, planned outages to relieve stress on services or prevent other hazards, and malicious acts such as physical and cyber sabotage. It is also important to note the cascading effects a failure of one utility may have on others; more than one utility may fail simultaneously or sequentially.  

Due to the mechanical nature of health care systems, as well as the equipment and environments necessary to provide patient care, the risk of utility failure is always a concern. However, facility managers and emergency planners can mitigate the threat of utility failure by assessing and evaluating potential risks with a multidisciplinary team and validating numerous redundancies exist.  

Health care facility managers and emergency planners can consider the following actions when preparing for utility failures: 

• Hazard identification and assessment 

• Business continuity planning

• Facility planning, training, and exercises

• Coordination with community partners 

• Coordination with utility providers 

• Response activities 

• Adjustments in operations 

• Health care facility and community resilience 

To assist in preparing for a utility failure, ASPR TRACIE has created a suite of tip sheets along with an entire topic collection (see links below). These resources and others will help health care facility managers and emergency planners identify issues to consider when planning for and responding to various types of utility failures.  

Helpful Resources for Utility Failures: 

• ASPR TRACIE Topic Collection: Utility Failures 
• ASPR Utility Failure Tip Sheets for: Electricity, Fuel, Oxygen, Telecommunications and IT, and Water 
• California Emergency Medical Services Authority: Hospital Incident Command System Incident Planning Guide and Incident Response Guide for Utility Failure 

• On Nov. 29th, the R7DHRE held a Preparedness Webinar titled " Earthquakes in the New Madrid Seismic Zone- When The Mississippi River Ran Backward!". On December 16, 1811, a magnitude 7.5 earthquake so powerful that it caused the Mississippi to flow backward struck residents in and around the New Madrid Seismic Zone in Southwest Missouri. Today, the New Madrid Seismic Zone is the largest active seismic zone in the U.S. east of the Rocky Mountains. In this webinar, participants learned the history and impacts of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, discussed how to prepare for the possibility of an earthquake within the New Madrid Seismic Zone, and learned what to do when the shaking starts. 

• R7 Regional Special Pathogen Treatment Center and R7DHRE Biological Team lead Jackson Gruber presented at the National Healthcare Coalition Preparedness Conference in partnership with Missouri Hospital Association leader Keri Barclay. The presentation discussed the importance of community partnerships when developing and implementing a training and education program for rural healthcare facilities and EMS organizations.

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