Does cold weather affect business continuity?
Severe Cold Weather and Business Continuity
Although Oklahoma has had a mild winter in 2023, for 2024 that is about to change…this severely cold weather (<10 degF) does potentially change the risk to your on-premise data:
Flooding - Extremely cold weather for more than 8-12 hours can result in frozen and burst pipes - so verify your office PC’s, battery backups, and any electrical cords are elevated at least 2 inches above the floor using a PC stand or other plastic/metal stand and proper cable management to keep power cables off the floor.
Flooding - identify sinks and bathrooms which have an outside wall…ensure that these sinks are set to drip, and leave the cabinet door to plumbing open overnight and during extremely cold days…this allows the plumbing to benefit from your office heat to stay unfrozen.
Heat damage and fire - Your users are far more likely to use space heaters (and to forget to turn them off) - space heaters near PC’s will elevate their component temperatures, possibly to the point of heat damage. And unattended space heaters left turned on are a leading cause of accidental fires.
Over weekends with anticipated severe cold, it is probably better to NOT bump down the thermostat!
Business life is challenging enough without the hassle of burst pipes, so make these simple precautions part of your business continuity plan!
