Emergency response: Oscar Marchesi’s story

Welcome on Energia Efficiente! Tell us about yourself and your job.
My name is Oscar Marchesi and I manage the supply of heating, cooling and power equipment under critical conditions. I deal with the entire process and my goal is our customer’s satisfaction. I also write up Contingency Plans for our most forward-looking customers, who do not wish to leave the success of their projects to chance. I work for a multinational company, a world leader of rentable power supply. My role is to provide the right equipment for big events, such as exhibitions and concerts.

What happens in a company when there is a power outage for over 24 hours?
That depends on the field of activity of the company. A prolonged heating or power failure would bring about serious damage not only to companies operating in sensitive fields such as pharmaceutics and food production, but also in other sectors, as it would cause damage to customer service and data centres. In addition to production loss and shipment delays, serious damage to the machineries could happen in that lapse of time. The longer the time required to restore the system to running order, the greater the damage.

Which are the companies most at risk?
All companies are exposed to this risk. I don’t just refer to companies that utilize outdated equipment that may stop working suddenly, but also to those companies that have invested money on brand-new efficient equipment, which may be made faulty by unpredictable climatic events such as floods or even just extreme summer temperatures.

What is a Contingency Plan and what is it for?
A Contingency Plan is a risk management tool, an actual technical study carried out inside the company by an expert, who follows standardized processes aimed at identifying energy needs and emergency power recovery modes. The purpose is to supply the customer with all the necessary information needed to have their system up and running promptly, when a sudden outage occurs.
When I perform a technical survey, I need to look for specific information. If we want the recovery mode to kick in promptly, everything must be planned in detail, including the instructions regarding the coming and going of external personnel, their names and tasks. At the same time, I supply the customer with a comprehensive list of all the processes that will occur during an emergency: the company must know who to get in touch with and how to get ready for our coming. For instance, sometimes our customers’ machineries are not compatible with our generators, therefore it is important to suggest the correct disposition of their equipment while carrying out the initial survey. By doing this, we can guarantee a swift and efficient solution to the emergency, once we reach the plant.
As the old saying states, time is money. This is particularly true when you can’t prevent an emergency from occurring, but you can provide an effective response to limit the damages.
It would be impossible to cover this vast topic in only a few lines, therefore I would be happy to answer questions and comments from the readers.

Get in touch with the author: redazione@progettoenergiaefficiente.it