Risers & Reroutes: Preventing Single-Pathway Failures in Modern Buildings

Many building failures start not with bad software but with a single physical pathway: a riser, conduit, or chase that carries power, data, and low‑voltage systems. In this episode Alex Morgan interviews commercial property veteran Michael Harrington to unpack why shared vertical and horizontal pathways become systemic single points of failure, how common design and operational choices create hidden dependencies, and what practical, low‑cost actions facilities and IT teams can take to reduce risk. We’ll walk through planning tradeoffs, handover and documentation pitfalls, incident response when a pathway is compromised, and straightforward testing, labeling, and segregation practices that make a real operational difference. Listeners will leave with an actionable audit checklist, coordination points for tendering and renovations, and governance steps to keep risers from turning into building‑wide outages — practical guidance for owners, facilities leaders, and technical ops teams.