At around 3 a.m. during the passage of Storm Ciarán, a power cut occurred at a soap and detergent production plant. The guard informed the plant’s personnel on standby duty. The UPS system took over during 2 hours for the information systems network and batteries for the fire detection system. When operations resumed at 5.30 a.m., the electricity had not been restored. The decision was taken to keep at least 2 employees to perform surveillance of the plant until the situation returned to normal. In the morning, the technical team assessed the damage due to the passage of the storm: 3 smoke vents had been opened due to the wind, a few empty containers had tipped over in the yard, part of the fence was damaged, and trees had been felled (although without any impact on the plant’s security and safety). Repairs and pruning operations were performed. The sprinkler system operated under no load (without water) for 1 hour during the power cut. The plant’s maintenance department checked it in the afternoon. Electricity was restored at around 6.15 p.m. The utilities were put back into operation and the equipment was inspected with the maintenance team until 2 p.m. the next day. An expert checked and validated the satisfactory operation of the sprinkler system motor the next morning. Two days later, filling of the firefighting water reserve began. Operations restarted normally 4 days after the start of the event.

During the event, the guard faced problems of communication outside the plant due to widespread problems on the telephone networks. He was unable to stop the sprinkler system because the weather conditions did not enable him to obtain access to the room. The managers had not been informed by the remote surveillance company (because communications were cut off) and they encountered traffic problems on the access roads to the plant. The lack of electricity and of the secondary power supply system caused problems for recharging mobile phones and torches.

Following the event, the operator:

• examined the possibility of setting up a generator set for the guard’s sentry box and the fire room and a technical solution to be able to stop the sprinkler system despite bad weather conditions;
• examined the establishment of a telephone system with a satellite network for one telephone on site and two standby duty telephones;
• published and communicated to all the personnel the procedure to follow in the event of an electric power outage on site and in the absence of managers;
• updated every six months the list of phone numbers and personal email addresses of all the employees to disseminate information in the event of an unplanned plant stoppage.

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