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October 20, 2020
Last year the Lab was faced with several Public Safety Power Shutoffs (PSPS) which provided unique challenges to a large scientific community such as the Lab. A diverse group of experts from across the Lab community came together to form the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) and ensure the Lab could successfully manage PSPS events.
Keileigh Bennett is Facilities and Operations Department Head. She is new to the Lab, arriving last fall right after the Lab’s last PSPS of the year. Her role in Facilities is critical to all aspects of a PSPS since her work encompasses Facility Area Managers, planned power outages, and scheduled maintenance.
You just missed the PSPS last year. Tell us how you are gearing up to play a pivotal role this year?
I asked the Facilities team to share everything they did last year, and what methodology and tools they used. We found that relying on Google Sheets didn’t provide the flexibility we needed to manage our workload. This year we’ve created routes in our online management system (Maximo) that allow the Facilities team to more efficiently track what’s being turned on and off. We can also add items in the moment right there in the field.
How is it possible for a group such as Facilities which oversees all the nuts and bolts of a shutdown, able to account for and plan for every electrical outlet at the Lab to make sure those things that need to stay powered are powered when the public utility switches off power?
We partner closely with the Science community. Partnership with our Lab community is key to building tools like the Mission Essential Equipment List, which lets the facilities team know all the critical power needs when utility power is lost. Building a resource like the Mission Essential Equipment List is a shared responsibility between Facilities and our Science partners.
What key learning are you carrying over from last year into planning for this year?
The number one thing I learned is that there were a lot of lists and a lot of list owners. We needed to simplify and centralize that information. That’s why this year we’ve moved that information into Maximo, which gives Facilities more control and allows the team to create follow-up work orders when issues are found after power is restored or even while it’s down. We’re using one system for all the information.
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