Preventive shutdown

If a power supply comes into contact with water, this can result in short circuits and damage to electrical components and associated systems. You can prevent this by shutting down the power supply.

• Applicable to utilities, factories and installations;
• Crisis management;
• Temporary measure;
• Substantial investment;
• Prevents economic and environmental damage;
• Applicable at all flood depths.

Shutting down the power supply preventively means that a plan is needed during a flood for a controlled shutdown procedure that takes business processes into account. What should be the sequence in this respect and which considerations play a role? For example, you may opt to bring certain business processes to a controlled halt as quickly as possible while, in other places, you may want to maintain the power supply for as long as possible for the purposes of evacuation.

Draw up a good plan for preventive shutdown and check with the utility company about the shutdown and restart procedure. Electricity is often needed for as long as possible in order to execute a controlled preventive shutdown and as soon as possible to resume activities after a flood.

There are often dependencies between different companies in terms of the power supply. In these cases, it pays to develop a plan for each area or cluster of companies, setting out agreements about preventive shutdown and a controlled restart.