Introduction Without power healthcare facilities are extremely vulnerable, especially if it is for an extended period of time. Every healthcare facility needs to have a plan in place and be prepared since there is rarely a warning before loss of power except in cases where a slow-moving hurricane or similar natural disaster is approaching.

The purpose of this paper is to offer recommendations and examples of effective power failure planning concepts, including gap analyses, emergency power risk assessments, commentary and recommendations on power failure vulnerability analyses, and other tools to improve readiness for power failures.

This paper also offers several dozen emergency management tracer-type questions on power failures to enable a healthcare organization to test its own readiness. These sample tracer-type questions address the issues discussed in this paper and in the following statement.

“Reliability and facility infrastructure health are not guaranteed simply by investing in and installing new equipment. Unexpected failures can compromise even the most robust facility infrastructure if appropriate testing, maintenance and due diligence techniques are not employed.”

Download