|
|
|
|
|
|
|
The Year 2000 Team
At its first public appearance, the Stanley brothers’ horseless carriage dazzled crowds. The "Stanley Steamer" made its debut at the Charles River Park bicycle track – site of the present-day MIT campus. Within a week, there were 100 orders for Stanley vehicles. Within a year, their steam-powered "Locomobile" became the first car to climb Mt. Washington.
Few working models of these turn-of-the-century cars remain, so it was a puzzle recently when the number of Certificates of Title for "horseless carriages" in Maine dramatically increased. The culprit: a computer that interpreted the "00" for 2000 model year automobiles as 1900, and categorized the new cars as antiques.
Y2K-related computer errors have been surfacing all year, some more serious than others. When this column was initiated a year ago, there was already a fair amount of hype related to Y2K, as well as serious concerns at MIT. That hasn’t changed.
The presence of hype is not the same as absence of risk. Because there is a subjective element to the perception of risk, the task of communicating Y2K concerns has been complicated. Researchers, for example, tackle laboratory failures as a matter of course – so any potential challenge related to Y2K is often viewed as "business as usual."
How might Y2K differ? Two aspects focus our concerns. The most serious is the reduced availability of emergency services during the New Year’s weekend. An estimated 3 million people are expected to attend festivities in the Boston/Cambridge area on New Year’s Eve. This is a crowd roughly 6 times larger than that at any recent fourth of July event. The second impact is likelihood of multiple Y2K-related failures, further straining available resources.
Y2K represents potential risks that must be taken seriously. Risks affect not only computers, but also laboratory and building systems. Many people throughout MIT have been and continue to work on achieving and testing compliance. About 300 enterprise computer systems have been evaluated and updated for Y2K-readiness. In addition to issues related to computers, there are concerns about embedded systems. These non-programmable microchips control a huge variety of devices in facilities and laboratories on campus, and may fail in a variety of ways.
In spite of the extensive efforts already made at MIT, you could still experience unanticipated problems if local Y2K-readiness has not received adequate attention.
The 4-day Weekend
The Institute will observe a 4-day holiday weekend, and will be closed on Friday, December 31 through Tuesday morning, January 4. MIT’s Business Continuity Management Team (BCMT) has been appointed to address potential issues during that period.
Preparations to Make Now
Begin preparing for the Y2K weekend now. Emergency prepared-ness makes good sense anytime. The information below is a partial list of the recommendations being made by the Year 2000 Team, the BCMT Transition Team, the MIT Safety Office, and the Procurement Office.
Contingency Planning
• Update contingency planning to protect your experiments and research, and to prevent potential problems. In your plans, assume reduced emer-gency response services. Review and verify that the Emergency Action Plan for your department, lab or center (DLC) is up-to-date. Here are some suggestions:
Consider the impact of a loss of:
- power (how long?)- heat (how long?)
- A/C (how long?)
- refrigeration/freezers
- waste treatment or removal
- ventilation/hood exhaust
- chemical reactors and/or processors
• Evaluate any and all continuous processes for their potential to fail.
• Review TAVA reports. Over 6000 pieces of equipment with embedded chips were tagged by MIT’s consultant TAVA Technologies. If your area has TAVA-tagged equipment, your administrative officer has a TAVA report on its Y2K-readiness. Evaluate the impact of this information on the operation of your laboratory.
• Consult with your Chemical Hygiene Officer, Safety Coordinator, or Emergency Action Plan Coordinator and plan a walk-through of all key areas before the close of business on Thursday, December 30th.
• It may be safest to curtail the more hazardous experiments during the transition weekend when safety systems and emergency response resource capabilities may be stressed.
• Determine what level of staffing is necessary, and who the personnel will be. Determine if the personnel will actually be "on duty" or "on call."
• Ensure that MIT’s "green cards" are up-to-date with the appropriate contact names and phone numbers, and that they are properly displayed on the doors of your laboratory. The green card emergency contact list for laboratories has been up-dated to reflect the transition into the year 2000. The "new" card has a neon green color. It is extremely important that labs review the contact names listed on the existing cards, and transfer – or update – the information onto the "new" card and send a copy to the Safety Office, room E17-207. For further information, contact the Safety Office at x3-4736.
• Plan resumption of normal activities when the Institute reopens on January 4: what systems or processes will need to be checked? who will perform the checks?
Services and Supplies
Without resorting to "stockpiling," make sensible precautions and order goods and services now, especially long lead time purchases, or those scheduled for December delivery. Remember that the last week of the year is a popular time for vacations, and normal deliveries and services could be delayed.
• Conduct an inventory of supplies and reagents, and order reasonable amounts (110% recommended) for critical operations.• Order supplies for printers, copiers and other "show-stoppers."
• Don’t stockpile hazardous materials (gases and chemicals).
• Consider whether your lab needs to acquire dry ice. If you suspect storage issues related to hazardous materials or potentially infectious materials, order dry ice now for December delivery.
• Call for hazardous waste pick-up ahead of time.
• Check the supplies and materials in your spill kits.
[For a checklist of recommended Y2K preparation activities for desktop computers and for actions to take on December 30th, see MIT Numbers.]
For further information:
• MIT Y2K Team
http://web.mit.edu/mity2k/
y2k-help@mit.edu; 253-2000• BCMT Y2K Transition Team
http://web.mit.edu/bcmt/
y2ktt@mit.edu• MIT Safety Office
http://web.mit.edu/safety
safety@mit.edu; 253-4736
|
|
|
|
|
|
|