Restoration Management
Understanding Restoration Management
What is Restoration Management?
Restoration management is a discipline that deals with restoring a facility to its appropriate function following a disaster. It is a type of disaster management services. Restoration management takes the form of an insurance restoration service, which typically includes water damage clean up and restoration services, fire damage clean up and restoration services property damage clean up, and other special services such as crime scene cleanup or hoarding property cleaning.
Restoration services deal with any kind of destruction to your property such as theft, vandalism, flooding, wind storms, hurricanes, fires, etc.
Reconstructing (or rebuilding) after a major event like a fire can often require decisions and planning in advance to ensure that all parties involved know and understand the necessary procedures and protocols before an event actually happens.
Phases
The main objective of restoration management is to recover the natural and cultural resources at a damaged area.
Restoration management includes different phases, which can be divided into three major steps:
- Phase 1- Protection
- Phase 2 – Rehabilitation
- Phase 3 – Enhancement
Civil Engineering has had an enormous impact on human society throughout history by changing lives through environmental engineering projects like dams etc..
The input was about restoring land after it suffers damage but using civil engineering as well for bigger scale projects that change peoples’ whole way of life
Major Components
Restoration Management consists of three major components:
- Restoration Leadership – who will be in charge of overseeing restoration activities?
- Restoration Operations – what to do when a disaster occurs?
- Restoration Planning – how to prepare for future events so they don’t affect you again.
These objective phases include: damage assessment; property stabilization; environmental health safety; debris removal; mitigation, preparation.
Major Components
Restoration Management is typically divided into four main categories:
- Damage Assessment
- Property Stabilization
- Environmental Health & Safety
- Debris Management.
Restoration Leadership
Who will be in charge of overseeing restoration activities?
Restoration leadership involves appointing someone to oversee restoration efforts, usually senior management or someone within your organization with significant influence over business decisions.
The Restoration Leadership team must also be in agreement on whether all members will remain onsite throughout the entire process (including clean up) or if they will return to their day-to-day responsibilities at the company.
The Restoration Leadership team should consist of
- Restoration Planners,
- Restoration Coordinators,
- Restoration Specialists.
Restoration Leaders set the tone for all Restoration efforts by establishing goals and requirements necessary to restore a facility or area after a disaster or emergency has occurred. Restoration leaders should address one key issue when planning for Restoration activities – communications.
Restoration Leaders should also periodically take inventory of Restoration materials and equipment – this includes Restoration Supplies needed for Restoration Work, Restoration Tools used by Restoration Workers to complete Restoration Tasks, and Restoration Vehicles required to transport both materials and workers.
Restoration Planners
Restoration Planners are high-level managers with significant influence over business decisions at their company. Restoration Planners set goals and requirements for Restoration Management based on organizational priorities established by senior management. They also establish policies and procedures for restoration workers before any actual work begins on site.
Restoration Coordinators
Restoration Coordinators support Restoration Planners by helping determine specific tasks that need to be completed in order to meet restoration goals and requirements. They also provide guidance to Restoration Workers during activities performed onsite. Depending upon a company’s size, Restoration Coordinators may oversee Restoration Supervisors, Restoration Specialists, and Restoration Workers. Restoration Supervisors are individuals empowered to make on-the-spot decisions regarding the prioritization of restoration efforts. They also give specific instructions to Restoration Workers who are assigned tasks by Restoration Leaders during Restoration Operations.
Restoration Specialists
Restoration Specialists have a deep understanding of company policies and procedures related to disaster response and recovery. This includes knowledge of various restoration systems, processes, and tasks required for meeting Restoration Goals and Requirements.
Restoration Workers
Finally, Restoration workers perform a wide range of activities involved in the restoration process including equipment inspection, cleaning up water damage, removing soot from fire damage, repairing or replacing building materials, etc.
Restoration Operations
What to do when there’s a disaster?
Restoration operations cover the objective phases of restoring an individual facility or area after a disaster has occurred.
These objective phases include:
- damage assessment
- property stabilization
- environmental health safety
- debris removal
- mitigation
- preparation
- recovery and
- rebuilding
Restoration Planning
How to prepare for future events so they don’t affect you again.
Restoration Planning is an important step in Restoration Management because it sets the stage for Restoration Leadership to communicate Restoration Procedures and Requirements (both before and after disasters occur) as well as provide Restoration Workers with clear instructions of Restoration Tasks that must be completed.
Restoration Planners are primarily concerned with the objective Restoration Phases – the Restoration Planning team should be made up of individuals within different areas of your company that has specialized knowledge related to business operations, including Restoration Supervisors and Restoration Specialists.
Restoration Procedures
How will you deal with a business after disaster strikes?
The restoration procedures chosen can make or break a business after it has been affected by a disaster.
The recovery plan should be multi-faceted and address all aspects of the organization, including technology, facilities management services (CMS), regulatory compliance initiatives such as HIPAA data privacy requirements (for medical records storage/transport throughout your supply chain network), finance & accounting support (from trusted financial partners), human resources outsourcing options (to help with recruitment and retention if needed in an emergency situation where client service is critical during this time), and operational processes that ensure continuity through supplier diversity programs.
When a business is struck with disaster, recovery procedures are crucial. In order to ensure that the company’s productivity will be as efficient as possible after restoration, there must exist an effective procedure for managing and executing these operations.
The following details several of the most important steps involved in recovering from a significant event:
- Contacting insurance providers so they can begin filing claims and take advantage of any available funds they may have available
- Reaching out to all employees who were affected by this incident so their roles can quickly return back to normalcy once restored services or products become accessible again
- Ensure relevant departments such as IT, HR etc., know how long it’ll likely last before full functionality returns—this way everyone is prepared for the transition
- Create a Restoration Team that includes Restoration Supervisors and Restoration Specialists to manage restoration procedures (if necessary) while Restoration Coordinators oversee all activities.
- Prepare the business’s physical structure for Restoration Operations by cleaning up any messes, removing damaged materials, or working with Restoration Workers to fix what can be fixed.
Disaster Response Plans (DRP) in Restoration Management
The policies and procedures that Restoration Planners establish for Restoration Coordinators, Restoration Supervisors, and Restoration Specialists should be written down in a comprehensive document called a Disaster Response Plan. A well-designed Disaster Response Plan addresses how workers will proceed through the different phases of restoration (damage assessment; property stabilization; environmental health safety; debris removal; mitigation, preparation, recovery, and rebuilding).
A Disaster Response Plan (DRP) is an important document when planning for Restoration Operations. It helps Restoration Planners organize the many tasks that must be conducted during disaster response efforts.
The Disaster Response Plan should clearly identify all individuals expected to play a part in Restoration. A Restoration Team may consist of several Restoration Teams or multiple levels that work together as part of the Restoration Management hierarchy.
Some organizations choose to divide their Planners into teams based on skills and responsibilities (e.g., one Restoration Planning team may be responsible for determining building damage while another Restoration Planning team may be responsible for developing a plan to repair building damage). Regardless, having more than one Restoration Team ensures that all Restoration tasks are covered and Restoration responsibilities are clearly defined.
Restoration Plans vs. Disaster Response Plans
A Restoration Plan is typically longer term than a DRP and typically covers how you will manage not only damage assessment and Restoration but also business and administrative issues during and after a Restoration effort.
The Restoration Plan includes:
- A Restoration Team made up of individuals with specialized knowledge related to Restoration Management.
- An Emergency Response Team which would be the Restoration Management Team for immediate Restoration needs.
- Processes and methods for assessing damage to your building(s) – such as pre-disaster inspections, architectural plans, drawings, records of materials used in construction, etc. This is most useful when there is no physical inspection possible or practical.
- Methods to assess the types and amounts of hazardous materials that may have been released into the environment (e.g., chemicals spilled on-site).
- Preliminary strategies for containing and controlling any hazardous materials that may have been released, including methods to protect Restoration Team members.
- Methods to determine the extent of damage – such as pre-disaster inspections, architectural plans, drawings, records of materials used in construction. This is most useful when there is no physical inspection possible or practical; and Restoration site inspections.
- Alterations made to buildings (e.g., installation of new equipment) since the last Restoration effort following a disaster event will affect Restoration Plans and procedures for Restoration activities. If any changes are made (e.g., installing new countertops), then they should be evaluated before Restoration begins. These changes might include security improvements after 9/11, for example.
- A work plan that identifies tasks needed for Restoration.
- Restoration Supervision procedures that define how Restoration Management will be managed and Division of Labor between Restoration Management Team members, including the overall Restoration Manager.
- Activities to make a building habitable following a disaster event. This may involve temporary electrical power sources, lighting, heat, etc., while Restoration is underway.
- Methods to control insects, rodents, or other vermin from entering your property or facility and methods for removing trash and debris either during Restoration or after Restoration has been completed.
- Methods for removing damaged materials and debris – what equipment is needed?
- Restoration Procedures which outline specific instructions detailing how Restoration activities will be conducted at affected locations.
The DRP should include:
- A list of Restoration Management Team members and emergency contact information.
- Actions to be taken by Restoration Management Team members at the site or in the area affected by a disaster event.
Documentation should include:
- What Restoration activities were performed (e.g., Shelter In Place, Site Cleanup)
- When Restoration activities began and ended.
- The number of hours Restoration lasted (if applicable)
- Tasks performed during Restoration (e.g., Pumping Operations, Leak Control, Debris Removal)
The DRP should document:
- Training received by Restoration/Emergency Response Team Members and Supervisors in their specific areas of responsibility. Note that FEMA Form 491 could be used for this purpose.
- Insurance policies that Restoration/Emergency Response Team Members and Supervisors have in place.
- Restoration experience of Restoration Management Team members.
- Restoration experience of the Emergency Response team members.
- Skills Restoration/Emergency Response Team Members and Supervisors may need to perform specific tasks during Restoration (e.g., driving a 3,500lb forklift, working from scaffolding 40 feet above ground level)
- Skills Restoration/Emergency Response Team Members and Supervisors may need to acquire or develop during Restoration activities (e.g., using welding equipment, entering confined spaces)
Disaster Restoration Strategies
The restoration strategies are categorized into three depending on how they approach Restoration. Restoration can be planned with natural resources in mind; restoration with man-made resources in mind; or with both natural and man-made resources in mind.
At first, Restoration is usually planned using only existing sources of natural resources without considering the capacity to manage the used resources after their depletion during Restoration activities.
A good example includes restoring buildings back to their original condition by manually removing debris left behind by disasters such as flooding or earthquake through manual labor (World Restoration Management Association, n.d.).
Restoration using only existing man-made resources is another type of Restoration strategy where the Restoration activities are planned with capital-intensive restoration techniques in mind (e.g., covering damages by fabricating temporary housing units).
Lastly, Restoration could be planned to use both existing man-made and natural resources during the Restoration processes. This includes mapping Restoration efforts with environmental management strategies during the Disaster Prevention stages (ibid.).
References
FEMA Program Overview – https://www.fema.gov/assistance/public/program-overview
Public Assistance Fact Sheet – https://www.fema.gov/sites/default/files/2020-07/fema_public-assistance-fact-sheet_10-2019_0.pdf
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