Friday, May 20, 2011

Reminder … Building Emergency Procedures

With concerns of the rising Mississippi River, this notice shall serve as a reminder of the Building’s Emergency Policies and Procedures.  JLL Building Management is taking a proactive stance in the event the City of New Orleans takes on flood waters.  While we do not anticipate this happening, it is always better to be prepared in advance. All Tenants should have their current emergency plans in place and should be familiar with the Building Emergency Procedures, which can be found on our website at http://www.1515poydras.com/ and http://www.1555poydras.com/. 

Listed below are several key facts and/or considerations:

·      Our number one priority is the safety and security of our Tenants, their employees and the employees of our Management Team. 
·      Revisit your company’s emergency procedures. Make sure your company’s emergency procedures coincide with the Building’s Emergency Procedures.
·      It is equally important to have a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) as part of your company’s emergency plan. This contingency plan should include the evacuation of all essential data and files necessary to conduct your business offsite.  It should also include how your employees are going to contact your firm during an emergency and where they are to meet and/or offsite office location. 
·      In the case of an emergency causing an extended period of time out of the building, you should be prepared to conduct your business from an area outside of these office buildings.
·      Send any and all emergency contact information updates/revisions to the Building Management Office to the attention of Brandy (brandy.miller@am.jll.com). It is essential that this information be maintained and updated when there is a change so that our JLL Team has the most current contacts in the event your firm needs to be contacted during an emergency.

As always the safety and security of our Tenants and the personnel who work for our Buildings are our number one priority.  With your safety in mind, in the event of an emergency occurrence, all Tenants will be requested to follow the direction of the City of New Orleans officials.  It is possible due to an emergency event that your businesses may be interrupted and the Buildings might have to be closed and secured.  The Buildings and the Buildings’ Parking Garages cannot and will not be used as shelter.  Any and all directives will be followed according to  the guidelines and direction as set forth by the City of New Orleans.

Always remember that in the event of a business interruption, the Buildings will be returned to normal services as soon as safe conditions exist. 

A few key items to remember:
·        1515 Poydras and 1555 Poydras Buildings are not to be used as a shelter or place of refuge.
·        Jones Lang LaSalle will monitor the City of New Orleans updates.
·        Jones Lang LaSalle will give as much advance notice as possible regarding changes in Building operations and Building access. 
·        Be sure to check the building’s web site (http://www.1515poydras.com/ or http://www.1555poydras.com/) and Blog (http://15151555poydras.blogspot.com/) prior to, during and after any emergency event. 
·        Notifications will come out as often and timely as possible. There will be various avenues of communication through Ringclear, the 1515 and 1555 Websites, the Building Blog and the 1-800 number (1-800-574-0609).
·         In the event of an emergency (flooding, hurricane, bomb threat, building closing due to power outages, etc) we have contracted with RingClear to automatically send voice messages to our tenants.  Two (2) members of your organization (local and/or national offices) should be appointed to receive such notification. 
·         Check the message on our 800 number for alerts, notifications and other pertinent information.  That number is 1-800-574-0609.

For Tenants who are part of the local, regional or national infrastructure support system that are required to be onsite throughout emergency events, your firm will be required, as in the past, to review and sign the proper release forms in advance.  For more information regarding this release and the process required to remain onsite, please contact the Management Office for details and the proper legal release forms, if you have not already done so.  It is important at this time to be sure your Tenant Certificate of Insurance is up to date and on file in the Management Office to expedite the approval process for acquiring a release form.

Again, please remember that the Parking Garage is not a safe haven for vehicles and should not be utilized for this purpose.  Access to the Garages will be limited and access to the Parking Garage will not be a priority before, during or immediately after any emergency.

Building Management will keep all of our Tenants abreast with updates via tenant advisories and hand outs if needed.  Your support and cooperation is greatly appreciated in helping to insure the safety of all Tenants of the Buildings.  Should you have any questions or concerns, or believe you are a part of the “infrastructure support,” please contact your Tenant Services Rep, Brandy Miller and/or the VP-General Manager, Sue Tucker in the Management Office at 585-2670.