Don’t Leave Disaster Recovery to Chance

The right restoration services contractor plays an important role in business continuity planning

By Jim Mandeville

The restoration industry in Canada is one of the most diverse in the world, with contractors ranging in scope, scale and training from single person owner/operator to complex multi billion-dollar global firms. The most important factors in selecting a contractor in the healthcare sector should be experience, training, specialized equipment and scope/scale.

EXPERIENCE AND TRAINING

To protect the most vulnerable, adherence to policies and procedures in a healthcare facility is critical. What would normally be a simple lapse in adherence to policy could have dire consequences. Because of this, it is essential to become familiar with the hospital’s vendors and partners.

It should be a requirement that the facility’s contractor is intimately familiar with all relevant government regulations, specifically CSA Z317, Infection Control during Construction, Renovation and Maintenance of Healthcare Facilities, as well as industry standards from the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating and AirConditioning Engineers, National Air Duct Cleaners Association, Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, and Restoration Industry Association. The

contractor should also be able to complete a detailed infection control risk assessment for all portions of the work.

In addition to being versed in these standards, the contractor should consider key project personnel.

Does the project management team and key field supervisors have appropriate training and experience in healthcare-related restorations? Do individual workers have this training? Are these people comfortable participating in a multi-disciplinary infection prevention and control team to complete the work?

The best time to get familiar with these key personnel is now, not while in the midst of trying to respond to a major issue in the facility.

SPECIALIZED, DEDICATED EQUIPMENT

Restoration in healthcare facilities also requires specialized, dedicated equipment. It is critical to understand the vendor’s procedures around equipment and material handling.

For instance, is equipment coming to the facility cleaned, inspected and verified prior to shipment?

In the restoration industry, equipment required for mitigation in healthcare facilities could also be used on a wide variety of other projects. These projects commonly include hazardous material abatements and fire damage restorations. Failure to properly decontaminate equipment in-between projects can present a major risk if it is placed into a healthcare facility inadvertently. It is preferable that the vendor maintain a separate stock of equipment that is dedicated to this sector to minimize or eliminate these cross-contamination threats.

Additionally, it is important to understand whether the equipment is owned and maintained by the vendor or provided by a third party. And whether that third party adheres to the vendor’s quality assurance/ control policies around material and equipment handling. Again, this equipment could come directly from ‘normal’ construction projects in what is considered a ‘clean’ condition, which, of course, is not even close to that required within a healthcare setting.

Then there is material handling itself, which is often overlooked. Where and how material is stored and transported are critical factors. Porous materials like drywall and plywood that have been stored outside under a tarp may be acceptable for some types of construction projects but should never be considered for installation within a healthcare facility. Once this material is verified, check to see if there is a procedure or plan in place to move that often large and bulky material around the facility without interrupting normal operations. For instance, separate exterior access like through a window with a crane or lift would be ideal.

It is essential to understand what assurances the vendor can provide on availability of critical equipment during area-wide events and catastrophic situations.

Is the healthcare facility first on the list? What other clients are key priorities?

Healthcare facilities are absolutely crucial to the safe operation of communities, so the same level of attention and dedication needs to be placed on this philosophy by all vendors.

SCOPE AND SCALE

Once this data gathering has been completed, the facility is better positioned to move forward with the vendor (or not) and come up with a series of formal response plans. While seemingly simple and obvious, these plans can allow for a much more seamless response to critical incidences like water escapes or small fires. From basic things like all parties understanding how and where workers will enter and exit the facility, to more complex topics like traffic management for main corridors and the finer points of the infection control risk assessment’s requirements will greatly speed response, reduce downtime and help provide an overall feeling of reassurance to the entire facility in the event of a disaster.

Questions to ask include: Is the facility’s vendor the right size? And can the firm offer sufficient scale of personnel and equipment to get the facility back in operation as quickly and safely as possible?

Professional restorers can have the most dedicated and skilled team behind them in the world. Yet, if that team consists of a dozen people, there is physically only so much they can do. Operators with large facilities should not only consider the scale of firm required for their day-to-day small water and environmental losses, but also potentially catastrophic events like fires that impact numerous units on multiple floors or wings, or even the entire facility. After all, contractors are normally not judged by the everyday small challenges. Instead, it is what they do when responding to the ‘once in a career’ major issue.

BETTER PARTNERSHIPS

Having a trusted partner that is experienced, trained and has the right resources is a critical part of any business continuity plan within a healthcare facility. Developing a familiarity with the vendor and working with them as a true, trusted partner should be a priority for healthcare operators. Otherwise, operators are just gambling the success of a response/ restoration on assumptions and expectations. Know the vendor and find security in their capabilities and quality control practices. Failure to develop these partnerships on such a level can almost always result in seemingly small floods, fires or environmental issues drastically impacting immediate and longterm healthy operation of the facility and its community.

Jim Mandeville is the senior project manager, large loss, North America, for First Onsite Restoration. Jim has 18 years of experience in the restoration industry and holds three master restorer designations from the Institute of Inspection, Cleaning and Restoration Certification, as well as a wide variety of safety-related certifications. Specializing in the management of very large and complex healthcare, manufacturing, retail, industrial and mining losses, he has been involved in every major Canadian catastrophe since 2003.