IT was that bad

IT breakdowns which hit the States last year due to a number of control failures were heightened by government reliance on beyond-end-of-life and unsupported facilities infrastructure.

Failures identified by a PwC crisis and resilience report, published today, included fragile air conditioning, ineffective monitoring and alerting of equipment.

Shortly before 9.30pm on an evening in November last year, storage system logs in Sir Charles Frossard House shut down when reaching a temperature of 43C.

The temperature alarm trigger point is at 26C.

Between that time and 6am the following morning, 62 alerts were generated to relevant staff.

But these alerts were sent by email to gov.gg addresses that previously belonged to staff who had transferred to contractors Agilisys.

Someone from the States was only made aware of the incident when it was detected by a third party operating the temperature alerting system.

They made contact just before 7am, but two other identified contacts could not be reached as information was significantly out of date.

Attempts to cool the room were made by opening doors and windows and bringing in fans as temperatures climbed to 48C.

Four years earlier, in November 2018, a condition report found that the Frossard House air conditioning units had a 90% likelihood of failing, with their condition reported as being four out of 10. A specific finding of a Crankcase heater failing and needing replacing was identified through periodic maintenance, but was not addressed.

‘On reflection, there should have been a tidying up at the edges, because there were things that fell between the cracks but nobody anticipated that three-and-a-half years ago,’ said Policy & Resources Committee president Peter Ferbrache.

‘It’s a top priority, and resources will be devoted to it in buying equipment, employing people and engaging in contracts.

‘We will spend whatever is appropriate in the circumstance.’