Heathrow Airport was closed for 18 hours on Friday (21 March) after a power station fire compromised its power supply. The airport’s emergency back-up power supplies only kept landing equipment and runway lights operating, which meant that the closure affected flights, and halted the supply of goods that travel through the airport.
But in remarks to the Financial Times yesterday (24 March), the National Grid’s chief executive, John Pettigrew, suggested that the closure was preventable, as the airport had enough power from other substations to keep the airport open and running.
Heathrow Airport’s chief executive has stated that the shutdown was not due to a lack of power but the time it took to move from one substation power source to another.
Business leaders should always collaborate and test their contingency plans in case of emergencies, according to Ruth Cornish, founder of HR consultancy, Amelore.
Read more: Organisations aren’t prepared for high-risk crises
Cornish advised HR to develop training in the form of business continuity exercises, so that key leads can rehearse what to do in times of crisis.
Speaking to HR magazine, she added: “When the time [of crisis] comes, ensure that all staff are aware of their responsibilities when the business contingency plan is activated.
“Planning should have three clear levels: gold – strategic control and command during a major incident; silver – handling tactical coordination, and bronze – focussing on operational execution. The gold team need a senior HR lead to enable the organisation to deploy full resources in situations that threaten integrity, reputation and viability like this one."
Pettigrew told the Financial Times: “Losing a substation is a unique event but there were two others available. That is a level of resilience. There was no lack of capacity from the substations. Each substation individually can provide enough power to Heathrow."
Clear communication is essential when disruptions arise, Cornish continued. She said: “Staff need to know how their roles differ in peace time versus a major incident. Effective clear communication is an extremely important tool to ensure effectiveness."
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Though contingency and disaster planning is wider than just an HR's responsibility, HR leaders still play a key role, explained Simon Jones, director of HR consultancy Ariadne Associates.
He told HR magazine: "HR does need to play a key part, whether this is in planning, training staff on their roles in such a situation, ensuring that there is cover (e.g. who takes responsibility if a senior manager is on holiday?) and making sure that affected staff are able to continue working even if they cannot attend their place of work.
"While the Heathrow situation may have been highly unusual, it is a business which could be classed as high risk in terms of incidents. Considering their impact, more planning for such scenarios might have been expected."
