Facility Damage Evaluation Following Major Disasters

Identification of Facilities

Identify the buildings, equipment, and other facilities that are to be covered in the Facility Inspection Manual. For large complexes and/or where available resources are limited, it may be practical to only include critical facilities in the post-disaster evaluation manual.

Develop Emergency Contact List

Assemble detailed contact lists with primary and secondary contact information for all parties who will participate in a post-disaster facility evaluation. Given that individuals on the contact list may not be accessible after an event, it is important to have primary, secondary, and possibly tertiary contacts for each major task.

Initial Data Collection

Collect and organize architectural and structural drawings for each building included in the post-disaster inspection plan. To provide redundancy, these documents should be stored in multiple locations in both hard copy and electronic media formats.

Preliminary Facility Surveys

Perform preliminary surveys of each of the selected buildings and facilities to be included in the Post-Disaster Facility Inspection Manual. This effort should allow the designated qualified personnel to become familiar with the facilities, understand the critical functional aspects of the buildings through discussions with facility and business continuity managers, preliminarily identify any obvious vulnerabilities, and request available selected design documents of the building structures for use during the post-disaster surveys. This initial survey data can be used in preparing the necessary documentation prior to the disaster for use during the post-disaster inspections and evaluations.

Involve Local Contacts

Contact local jurisdiction building departments, code enforcement, emergency management agencies (county and state), local utilities, etc., to notify them that a Post-Disaster Facility Inspection plan is in place for the selected facilities. Pre-disaster involvement of the local emergency contacts and building officials will provide a more effective and efficient post-disaster response.

Develop Post-Disaster Facility Inspection Manual

Post-Disaster Activation of Facility Inspection

Following the procedures specified in the Post-Disaster Inspection Manual and/or a comprehensive emergency response plan, activate the facility inspection plan through a primary and secondary means of notification.

Post-Disaster Facility Inspection and Surveys

Each selected facility should be visually walked down by qualified personnel with the aid of the pre-prepared facility data contained in the Post-Disaster Facility Inspection Manual. As soon as possible after the triggering event, visual inspections should be made of the perimeter of the buildings and immediately accessible areas. Recommendations may include a more in-depth engineering assessment at a later date, emergency shoring or means for repair, posting certain areas as unsafe, etc. Appropriate building tagging is applied to the building structure to document the results of the inspection and to provide appropriate occupancy restrictions.

Survey notes, sketches, and digital photographs should be used to document any observed damage, and will form the basis for any further recommended actions.

Facility Inspection Reports Documentation and Local Jurisdiction Filing

A brief preliminary summary report should be prepared for each facility that is surveyed. Adequate documentation is critical not only to satisfy requirements of local jurisdictions, but will also be valuable in terms of monitoring any progression of damage if there are subsequent follow-on events. These reports may need to be filed with the local jurisdiction depending on the municipality requirements.