Water Outage Scenario
For this assignment, students are required to answer questions about the scenario below.
You are the president of a university with an enrollment of 10,000 students. On Tuesday at 8:15 am, facility management has informed you that a major water main break has occurred outside of your main campus building near the site of a newly constructed research building. Law enforcement is also on scene as this situation is suspected to be an eco-terror attack. Found spray painted on the wall was the following message: “Experiment on yourselves. This is your last warning.” As a result of this water main break, the following situations have developed:
There is no water on the main campus and in the five large dormitories that house 2,000 students.
The water main break impacts the HVAC cooling system and the data center for the campus.
All building services, such as toilets, drinking water, water suppression systems, and dining facilities, are out of water.
The damage is extensive, and it is going to take 36 hours for the water company to fix the damage.
Due to the lack of water, the buildings must be closed per the health department’s health codes.
Security and facilities management personnel will need to stay onsite to perform fire watch for the buildings and to escort the utility workers in and out of the facilities.
Security will also be assisting law enforcement in their investigation at the crime scene.
The data center will not be staffed.
No other students and staff can stay in the facilities.
The students living in dormitories will require some type of temporary housing.
The students on meal cards will require meals.
The university will have to determine makeup policies for missed classes.
Review what you have learned about the purpose of the Planning “P” incident action plan (IAP), and Incident Command System (ICS) forms. Then, based on the scenario above, determine how you would address the following issues by answering the following question:
Assess the situation.
Would this situation require an activation of the university’s ICS? Why?
Would this situation require an IAP? Why?
Develop initial strategies.
What are the incident priorities?
Create three SMART (specific, measureable, achievable, realistic, time-phased) objectives.
Assign resources to the SMART objectives.
Are there resource restraints that the university may have for this incident?
Determine the next operational period.
What is the operational period: 8 hours, 10 hours, or 12 hours?
When should the next operational period begin, and why?
Determine which ICS forms should be used to complete the IAP for the university.
What ICS forms should be used to complete the IAP for the university?
Why did you choose these forms?
Your paper should consist of no less than two pages, not counting the title page and reference page. All citations and references used should be formatted using APA style. Additionally, students can use first person and opinions to answer these questions; however, please remember to support opinions with factual information.
