Recovery Team Responsibilities

Ideally, a disaster recovery team should consist of at least four members, including a team leader. Each team member should have an alternate. Responsibilities of team members are as follows:
  • Team Leader: Acts as point of contact for local emergency service agencies; performs overall management of the team's disaster recovery and records salvage procedures; coordinates with other offices; authorizes expenditures for wages, supplies, transportation, and services; and is liaison with TxDOT customers and/or the public.
  • Recovery and Salvage Supervisor: Assembles, trains, and directs work crews for recovery and salvage procedures. Controls the flow of work and materials.
  • District/Division Executive Assistant: Coordinates with the District or Division to gather supplies and equipment and may arrange such things as food for work crews.
  • Records Administrators/Coordinators: Inventories damaged records. Assesses damage and salvage processes required to restore records. Performs or supervises recovery and salvage procedures.
Disaster Recovery and Records Salvage Procedures
Each District and Division is responsible for developing emergency procedures to follow in a disaster and making sure employees are familiar with them.
Include these essential procedures in any Disaster Recovery Plan:
  1. Establish Security and Safety -
    For security and safety, restrict access to damaged area(s), allowing only essential personnel to enter. This minimizes opportunities for further damage to records and injuries to personnel. Use security guards, sign-in/out registers, and/or identification badges to restrict access.
    Basic safety precautions include the following:
    • Inspect disaster areas for hidden hazards, such as shorted motors or broken electrical wires.
    • Avoid standing water and wet carpets, which make it dangerous to use electrical equipment.
    • Install and use temporary wiring properly.
    • Handle fire or water-damaged files carefully. Wet records are heavy and fragile. Use care lifting record boxes or opening file cabinets.
    • Use face masks and protective gloves. Wash or clean clothing as soon as possible to reduce health hazards from fungi and bacteria.
  2. Activate Recovery Team -
    Once the building has been declared safe to enter, the team leader should contact the team and brief them on procedures and priorities to be met. The recovery team should then:
    • Assign specific responsibilities to members.
    • Set up a communications center and obtain services, supplies, and equipment.
    • Plan to take care of physical needs (food, water, hygiene) of personnel involved in the recovery.
  3. Assess Damage
    - Inspect damaged areas as quickly as possible. Avoid handling records, if possible. Take photos to document record damage. Keep the following questions in mind:
    • How much damage has occurred?
    • What type of damage has occurred (fire, smoke, soot, clean or dirty water, heat, humidity)?
    • Is it confined to one area or is the entire building damaged?
    • How much of the records holdings are affected?
    • What type(s) of records media have been damaged (paper, microforms, photographs, magnetic tapes, diskettes)?
    • Are the damaged records easily replaced? (Are backup copies stored off-site? Are the damaged records convenience copies? Can they be replaced with copies from other offices?)
    • If the damaged records are irreplaceable, what is their retention/value? (How valuable/important are these records to the business of TxDOT?)
    • What is the order of priority to recover damaged vital/essential records?
    • Can the in-house recovery team salvage records or is outside help needed?
      Take steps to stabilize the environment while assessing the damage (see below).
  4. Stabilize Environment
    - Take steps to stabilize the environment while the damage assessment is taking place. Mold can appear on records in 48 hours and is encouraged by high humidity and temperatures. Quickly reducing the humidity and temperature can reduce the risk of mold and buy time for recovery.
    The following procedures will help stabilize the environment:
    • Keep the air constantly circulating.
    • Arrange fans to expel humid air outside.
    • Use dehumidifiers if they are helpful. (Dehumidifiers may help in small, enclosed areas. Operating them may raise the temperature, however, and they tend to freeze up in colder temperatures.)
    Immediately pump standing water from the area. Use caution -- standing water can conceal hazards. Remove wet debris and carpeting. The following equipment should be readily accessible:
    • Portable generators, in case of power failure.
    • Shop vacuums capable of handling water (pumps may be needed to remove large quantities of standing water).
    • Fans to circulate the air.
    • Thermometers, hygrometers, or other tools to measure temperature and humidity.
  5. Treat Water-Damaged Records
    - Water-damaged records are the records most likely to be salvaged. Methods of treating water-damaged records are listed in the “Salvaging Water-Damaged Records” below.
  6. Perform Post-Disaster Assessment
    - Assessing the Disaster Recovery Plan is essential. Share the results with Districts and Divisions and revise the plan if needed. Assess the following:
    • Effectiveness of recovery procedures
    • Areas for improvement
    • Sources and supplies
    • Any off-site facilities or vendors used