BOMA hears lessons from 9/11.

Two months after the dust has settled at Ground Zero, former Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik and Port Authority's Alan L. Reiss, RPA, talked about what they've learned from the events of Sept. 11. Speaking before at BOMA/NY's November luncheon, these professionals shared their experiences on what worked, what didn't, and what they would advise when it comes to disaster recovery.

Reiss, former director of the World Trade Center, spoke about evacuation procedures that saved so many lives.

"The tenants took drills very seriously and they knew where the exits and the stairs were located," he said. "The fire safety teams were also well-trained and of major assistance, including assisting the handicapped. Congestion did build up in the lower floors, and so we would recommend that code authorities consider widening or increasing stairway size like a tree trunk in extremely tall buildings."

Reiss also spoke about built-in building features that proved helpful for evacuation. "The stairwells had up to four electrical sources, including two normal feeds, a generator, and a back-up from the PATH system," he noted. "They were also equipped with photo luminescent paint on handrails and stair treads, and a center line guided evacuees -- even after Two World Trade Center had collapsed. Plus, every other stairwell fixture had battery back-up."

The ability to save information data is also important in emergency situations.

"Our security data is backed up once a week and retained by the vendor in California," Reiss said. "I also backed up my office PC system and sent it to my home system; others did so on departmental servers. Off-site storage worked -- we were able to meet payroll on Sept. 14 and the police were able to get a copy of the database of every ID card and photo."

Reiss advised the audience to take terrorism preparedness classes to make sure they know how to act should another attack happen.

"The PA regularly trains and drills its executives -- from seminars on weapons of mass destruction to containing contamination. If your company does not provide these, take advantage of the web-based classed offered by the National Defense Preparedness Office and Department of Justice at www.teex.com."

Kerik, for his part, spoke about his experience in the last days of his job. At first, the City's administration believed that the plane crash was an accident and that the situation could be handled, but by 9:15 a.m., "our crisis management was put to its fullest test."

Kerik spoke about visiting Ground Zero at midnight on Sept. 11 and realizing that "there was no wood, no concrete, no plaster, no computers, and no offices -- nothing but dust."

"We used to talk about burglary and robbery, and now with our new mindset, we are focusing on securing the HVAC against deadly diseases and treating suspicious packages," he said.