Public Power - November/December 2007 - (Page 48)

SAFETY FEMA Moves to Credential Public Works Employees by William Atkinson Recent efforts Management by the Federal Emergency Agency to credential certain types of workers may impact public power utilities and their employees, according to Mike Hyland, vice president, engineering services, for the American Public Power Association. “APPA has been somewhat active in discussions surrounding credentialing of electric workers, but this has all occurred under the auspices of the Department of Homeland Security itself, through its Restoration of Lifelines group,” said Hyland. APPA has been working with the Edison Electric Institute, the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, and the Department of Energy to try to limit the application of credentialing into the lineworker work force. “For example, ID cards would only cause disruption or delays in restoring services after a mutual aid call,” he said. “There are also costs involved.” The U.S. Department of Homeland Security has also talked about background checks and drug testing. They also like the idea of metrics to indicate things such as: “X number of customers out of power means that Y number of crews are needed,” “X number of customers should be restored after Y number of hours, etc.” Such formulas are unrealistic, Hyland said. “For one thing, they are being approached more from the military angle of command and control,” he said. They do not 48 NOVEMBER-DECEMBER 2007 understand the difference between a transmission line being out (and 10,000 customers without power) compared to scattered distribution outages (with 10,000 customers without power). “They think that all outages after storms are the same, and they want to create metrics to prove it.There is also a concern that they will attempt to prioritize which customers are restored first,” he said. NIMS involvement—The National Incident Management System (NIMS) Integration Center, which is part of DHS and FEMA, has introduced “Criteria for Credentialing Public Works Personnel.” NIMS was created by FEMA so responders from different jurisdictions and disciplines could work together to respond to natural disasters and emergencies, including acts of terrorism. NIMS focuses on a unified approach to incident management, standard command and management structures, and an emphasis on preparedness and mutual aid. The NIMS Integration Center was established by the secretary of Homeland Security to provide strategic direction for, and oversight of, NIMS, supporting both routine maintenance and the continuous refinement of the system and its components over the long term. It provides guidance and support to jurisdictions and incident management and responder organizations as they adopt the system. The center is a multidisciplinary entity made up of federal stakeholders. Over time, it will also include representatives of state, local and tribal incident management and responder organizations. FEMA has assembled a panel of experts to address the need for a national credentialing system for public works personnel. The group identified 19 positions that are most commonly requested during an interstate mutual aid response. These are: assistant public works director (logistics); assistant public works director (operations), civil/field engineer, debris collection supervisor, debris removal manager, debris site manager, engineering branch manager, engineering division manager, equipment operator, public works director, quality assurance personnel, structural engineer, utility systems reconstruction manager, wastewater collection manager, wastewater system manager, wastewater treatment manager, water distribution manager, water system manager, and water treatment manager. For each job title, the Public Works Working Group identified “requisite” and “recommended” baseline criteria for education, training, experience, physical/medical fitness, certification, and licensing. These criteria are intended to complement and support existing credentialing systems. Where national standards do not exist under “requisite” criteria, “recommended” criteria are listed for current or future consideration. Credentialing coursework— The proposed NIMS guidelines call for equipment operators to complete prescribed training regimens for the “Incident Command System.” The course describes the history, features, principles and organization of the Incident Command System and explains the relationship between ICS and the NIMS. Other recommended training addresses single resources and initial action incidents. It is designed to tell supervisory personnel how to operate efficiently during a homeland security incident. A third training course (NIMS-700: National Incident Management System Introduction) explains the purpose, principles, key components and benefits of NIMS. It also explains when it is appropriate to institute an area command, when it is appropriate to institute a multi-agency coordination system, the benefits of using a joint information system for public information, how NIMS resources are managed, and advantages of common communication and information management systems. Public power concerns— “As FEMA pushes the NIMS program on to state, local and tribal governments, topics such as credentialing of workers will be an issue,” said Hyland. “Sooner or later, public power utility employees will be affected. Of specific concern to APPA members is that they fall under the NIMS set-up, while IOUs and co-ops do not.” The guidelines were issued in final form last May, but may be revised and expanded, said Al Fluman, acting director of the NIMS Integration Center at FEMA. “These guidelines are intended to establish voluntary agreement on minimum or baseline qualifications and they do not represent statutory or regulatory requirements,” he PUBLIC POWER

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Public Power - November/December 2007 Contents Washington Focus 10 Questions Connecting with the Customer Through Automation AMR or AMI? The High Court’s Antitrust Thunderbolts California’s Push for Demand-Response Plug-In Partners Get Plugged In Wiring Up for Double-Digit Growth For Engineers Safety Community Broadband For Governing Boards DEED Customer Service Hometown Connections Index to Advertisers Parting shot

Public Power - November/December 2007

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