Risk assessment and contingency planning in Canada...

http://www.canoe.com/TechNews9907/06_y2k.html

"Fast action needed in event of Y2K Crisis"

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 07, 1999

Answers

[Fair Use: For Educational/Research Purposes Only]

Tuesday, July 6, 1999

Fast action needed in event of Y2K crisis

By JENNIFER DITCHBURN -- The Canadian Press

OTTAWA (CP) -- Canadian communities could be plunged into crisis within 24 hours if services like sewage treatment or water purification failed because of year 2000-related computer problems, says a federal report.

Electricity outages would have an instant impact on Canadian life, and disruptions in health-care services would cause the blood supply to reach dangerously low levels within a few days.

But government officials are less concerned about the immediate impact of a failure in the food supply chain, where the ability to cope with problems is greater.

A study undertaken by the National Contingency Planning Group, updated last week, looked at dozens of sectors to rate how critical they are to the health and safety of Canadians and of the economy.

In the event of a breakdown in sewage services, says the report, "within 24 hours it would be a serious problem and reach crisis levels before the week was out.

"All institutions, schools, factories and public buildings large enough to have toilets would have to close within a day. Residential occupants would have to find alternate means within a day."

Officials also considered how failures in various fields would affect the government's image.

In the electricity sector, for example, "it is reasonable to expect that confidence in government could be impacted within a week, as most large electrical utilities are Crown corporations and the government would be expected to solve the crisis."

Widespread electricity failures would have the greatest negative effect on Canadians since so many other sectors are dependent on power, including water treatment, banking and health care.

Although radio broadcasts wouldn't seem vital to keeping people alive and well, the report says the effect would be severe if the service didn't work during a crisis.

"In an emergency situation, radio is Canadians' information choice -- especially if electrical power is unavailable."

The study did not predict a breakdown in any of these areas. It simply took a close look at each sector to understand how it operates and what the impact of a failure would be.

Paul Thibault, director of the contingency planning group, said preparing for the worst means knowing exactly what the worst could be.

"To be able to determine how to allocate resources to deal with problems you've got to know the dimension of the problem, and you've got to determine what's the most important problem," Thibault said.

"You've also got to determine, if there's a problem in the area, what other impacts it's going to have."

Many areas studied by federal planners were not viewed with any great alarm.

Consumers would start to see a shortage of fresh meat, poultry, dairy products and produce after a week if there were disruptions in the food chain, but other foods wouldn't start to be affected for weeks.

The average supply-chain inventory in the retail grocery business is 81 days.

The marine transport sector is also regarded as relatively hardy, since the industry is used to dealing with delays. Back-up emergency systems can be operated manually on ships to overcome year 2000 failures.

Gathering detailed information about the risks and interdependencies involved in every part of Canada's infrastructure is one of the federal government's biggest Y2K-related tasks. A national risk assessment, due out later this summer, will identify areas where potential problems can occur.

The Department of National Defence is studying the situation closely so it can be ready to deal with crisis situations on and around Jan. 1.

Preliminary studies have suggested the health-care, food and courier industries were behind schedule in getting their computers and equipment tested and ready by the federally sanctioned deadline of June 30.

Airports, ferries, ports and building systems were also lagging.

---------------------------------------------------------------------

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 07, 1999.

Another version of this article is at:

http://www.edmontonjournal.com/technology/stories/990707/2578967.html

"What would happen if toilets didn't flush? - Y2K study zeroes in on essential services"

-- Linkmeister (link@librarian.edu), July 07, 1999.

I have friends who live in Edmonton,Alberta province. The one thing they are thankful for is it does seem that the Canadian government and press is doing a much better job of communicating the real dangers when it comes to Y2K. There seems to be at least an attempt on the part of the press and government to try to be truthful. If only Clinton and Co. would do the same - fat chance! There are extensive efforts, as I understand it, by Canadians to prepare for disruptions. Americans, it seems, just want to hide their heads in the sand, and hope it will go away.

-- luann (flataufm@hutchtel.net), July 07, 1999.

Linkdude (dudess?:o)

Thanks for the Canadian heads up! I will be checking up on this situation.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), July 07, 1999.

At least the Canadians have realized that sewage interruption is a very serious possibility and problem.

-- Ashton & Leska in Cascadia (allaha@earthlink.net), July 07, 1999.

As I understand it (I can't find the document) it is only worst case senerio they are talking about and not an Identified failure. Mind you there is not alot of information on Water - Waste Water in Canada. Much like the states.

-- Brian (imager@home.com), July 08, 1999.