Power Protection FEATURED ARTICLE

What would you do if you lost power for four days? Several years ago, those who live in Northwest Missouri were able to easily answer that question. A rainy night turned very cold, covering everything for miles with a sheet of ice at quarter of an inch thick. Waking to the sound of the alarm clock indicated we still had power – at least for a few minutes.

The weight of the ice on the surrounding trees gave way shortly after dawn, downing power lines and damaging transformers. Everything in our house went silent at 7:30 that morning and did not come back to life for days. The list of areas that needed attention from the power company was endless and the weather wasn’t helping.

For some, this experience was an adventure. For others, it was a lesson in power protection. The local schools lost all food in the coolers and freezers; local businesses couldn’t turn on their servers; and local public services were minimal at best. The region had not planned for the impact of the storm and it left a lasting impression.

In Mississauga, a similar situation occurred, but without the ice. Trillium Health Partners’ Mississauga Hospital postponed 100 surgeries and 119 endoscopies when a power outage hit and left the facility without power for four days recently. The cause of the outage was water from a broken sprinkler head seeping into the facility’s utility area. The hospital did have power protection in place, but not to the capacity needed, as the backup required replacement.

Due to the failure, the hospital re-directed ambulances to ensure proper patient care. The execution of its disaster plan was necessary as employees sought to resolve the power issue and return to full operations. As the power also ran to the phones, friends and family members were scrambling to try to reach patients. When connections couldn’t be made, havoc inside the hospital resulted.

Such reactions are to be expected, but also completely preventable with the right power protection in place. While one could point to the original sprinkler problem as the thing needing the most attention, the reality is that there are always going to be circumstances that challenge proper power operation. Without Minuteman’s UPS products, it can be difficult to keep all processes online when power is needed.

The point is – power outages are going to happen. What you do to protect your assets and operations in the wake of such events will determine your ability to continue to operate. You don’t have to leave it up to chance as uninterruptible power supply (UPS) products like those from Minuteman can make all the difference.