Emergency Notification

2-way SMS: The Next Step for Campus ENS

2009-12-21T19:57:00.000-08:00

Scenario 1:
A prank or an accident releases concentrated acid in a chemistry lab. You're in charge of campus safety, so you notify people on campus to avoid the chemistry building. Job done, right?

Maybe. But maybe not.

Worried parents call, frantically asking for the whereabouts of their child!

If you had sent the notification alert as a 2-way message, asking if the recipients were safe, you could just look at the report from the alert and find the child's status.

This, of course, is a very mild scenario.

Scenario 2:
There are reports of gunfire at a lecture hall. You have the ability to send a text message to the entire student body, but merely sending a message out does not help you address the attack. What if you could receive information from all the students, faculty & staff? What if instead of just texting "Shots fired in Hanes Hall. Keep clear," you could text "Shots fired in Hanes Hall. Reply if you have additional info. Give your location!"

If you needed logistical information from someone who was in trouble, you would be able to do that as well.

This is why Hyper-Reach (http://hyper-reach.com) has introduced the first 2-way SMS messaging solution for emergency notification. One-way communication was adequate in the last century, but why limit the most valuable sources of information you have - the eyes and ears on the ground?

How an H1N1 Hot-Line Helps in Multiple Ways

2009-12-02T21:06:00.000-08:00

The prospect of 9-1-1 centers and health departments being short-staffed at a time when they have the highest volume of incoming calls is the very real and likely effect of an H1N1 outbreak. Staff members are just as likely to get the virus as anyone else.

See how Wayne County, NY is using an H1N1 hot line to reduce this problem dramatically. They also get an added benefit of being able to track outbreaks and the demographics of the affected population.

"The amount of calls to the WCPH department has decreased significantly,” said Diane M. Devlin, RN, Director of Public Health for Wayne County.

H1N1 and the Role of a Notification System

2009-11-09T17:29:00.000-08:00

Recent articles (here and here, for example) indicate the critical nature of communication during a public health emergency, as is the case with any other kind of emergency.
However, I would urge my few but valued and influential readers to be careful when using an emergency notification system in order to make people aware of your health department's actions in progress. You may create an emergency where there was none.
Case in point, I learned today that a municipal 9-1-1 center is using their notification service to call thousands of people to let them know about a flu clinic. I fear a disaster approaching. Some percentage of the thousands of recipients will think of this as a grave warning and will likely be concerned, agitated, or panic stricken. Some number of people will not receive the message (for any number of reasons, no system is perfect) and some number of those will be worried, agitated, or panic stricken. And those people will call and call and call the 9-1-1 center and the health department.
Rather than use their ENS, they should really use traditional broadcast media - radio, local TV news, and the local newspaper - to advertise the presence of the clinic and availability of vaccines.
So, when should they use the ENS? Well, I don't think the current swine flu will get to this point, but if it should reach epidemic proportions, we want to isolate large parts of the population, and we choose to do that with large isolation camps, then we should actively notify the public. Shy of that, though, we should inform the population as much as they want to hear.
And if we want to offload the burden on our 9-1-1 call centers and government health departments, we should do that with a well advertised H1N1 Hotline.

NOAA Weather Alerts Integrated with Hyper-Reach ENS

2009-10-28T13:59:00.000-07:00

AsherGroup announced today that its Hyper-Reach® emergency notification service is integrated with NOAA weather alerts for approaching storms and storm paths.

Rochester, NY (PRWEB) October 22, 2009 -- AsherGroup announced today that its Hyper-Reach® emergency notification service is integrated with NOAA weather alerts for approaching storms and storm paths. NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, tracks storms such as hurricanes and tornados and predicts their paths.

AsherGroup felt that releasing this product now, before the Spring hurricane and tornado seasons begin, would allow municipalities ample time to set up their systems and introduce them to their communities. Hyper-Reach® can be found at http://www.hyper-reach.com

Hyper-Reach system automatically receives information from NOAA of a storm plume along with its predicted path and areas that will likely be affected. Hyper-Reach can be set to automatically call all the phone numbers in that predicted area with a warning. Alternatively, Hyper-Reach can automatically call a designated emergency coordinator first, for authorization to place the warning calls.

"This is not the kind of product you want to introduce in the middle of the Hurricane season when people need to focus on immediate safety issues. In the coming severe weather seasons, counties can be well prepared to notify their citizens in advance of storms," said Sam Asher, president of AsherGroup.

Asher explains how the system works, "Hyper-Reach system automatically receives information from NOAA of a storm plume along with its predicted path and areas that will likely be affected. Hyper-Reach can be set to automatically call all the phone numbers in that predicted area with a warning. Alternatively, Hyper-Reach can automatically call a designated emergency coordinator first, for authorization to place the warning calls."

For a demonstration video, visit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SJ9V1u2-prM

AsherGroup launched Hyper-Reach® in 2000 as a hosted Emergency Notification Service, with the first comprehensive web based mass notification system, the first Google™ Maps based map targeting, the first automated confidential and anonymous reporting hotline, and now, the first fully integrated targeted storm warning system. Hyper-Reach has served municipalities, universities, hospitals, faith based organizations, schools, and sports teams.

Notifying a Geographic Area during a Hostage Crisis

2009-10-20T03:49:00.000-07:00

Apropos to my previous blog, I just created a YouTube video to demonstrate how easily an emergency notification campaign can be launched during a hostage crisis.

Please feel free to comment with your suggestions or your own experiences.

Emergency Notification during a Hostage Crisis

2009-10-01T20:58:00.000-07:00

My first topic for this post was to cover ENS needs for governmental agencies. I found it daunting. Government agencies come in so many sizes and colors: neighborhood associations, towns, villages, parishes, cities, counties, states, and federal; law enforcement, fire, health & safety, prisons, military, bureaucracies; and on and on. Schools are yet an entirely different topic.

Because this field is so vast, I'm going to focus on specific situations that require the use of an ENS.

To do this, we first need to understand some of the regular issues that arise which would be mitigated or alleviated by a notification system and believe it or not, one of the more common disturbances police need to deal with is a hostage crisis.

During a hostage crisis, especially where the hostage holder has a firearm, police want people living or visiting in the vicinity to get the heck out of the way! This is known in the biz as a shelter in place messaging.

One of my experiences was during a night time hostage taking. Neighbors were exceptionally curious to see what was happening. Many turned on their porch lights and driveway lights. The police were very nervous about this, since all that light made them easy targets for the shooter!

These two needs: shelter in place and turn off your lights became the basis for the first message police sent to residents.

The next important item about the message is the target - that is, to whom should the message be delivered? For this situation, a map based targeting mechanism is probably the easiest way to designate the target.

In map based targeting, the person sending out the message does so via a computer program which displays a map of the area around the center point, the center point being the location of the hostage. How much or how little of the area needs to be notified is situationally dependent. Typically, the map based targeting mechanism allows the notification dispatcher to designate the area visually, either by drawing a polygon or setting some boundaries.

Once the area is set, one further item needs to be examined: Should the mass notification message intended for residents in the vicinity of a hostage crisis be sent also to the house where the hostage is being held? This can go either way, again depending on the situation, but it must be addressed, nonetheless. A good ENS will allow the dispatcher to create an exclusion list locations that are not to be notified.

When the message has been created and the target is defined, the only thing left is to send it. This sending process may or may not require additional authorization, e.g. a go-ahead from a situation commander. That is a procedural matter that a good ENS should allow for, though few do.

Two further items about the target: there will likely be both stationary phones as well as mobile devices in the target area. Targeting mobile devices will be another topic for this blog.

After a message has been sent to everyone in the target area, you need to understand that a bunch of the people receiving a call or text message about a threatening neighbor with a gun are going to be really scared! It is absolutely critical that once you have notified these people of the situation, you keep them informed with updates and most importantly, an all-clear message when the situation is under control.

From the ENS features perspective, it is extremely important that you are able to re-notify the same target that you selected initially. If you end up needing to recreate the target, it is highly likely that you will miss somebody, causing them unnecessary anxiety and yourself unwanted rebuke.

The problem is different if the hostage is in a high-rise apartment building, but we will defer that for now.

My goal was to explain how an ENS would be using during a hostage crisis, and by doing so, provide you with an understanding of how specific features of an ENS support that goal. If you have any questions, please feel free to comment.

Next Topics for this Blog

2009-10-01T12:15:00.000-07:00

With input from some people in the industry, I'm putting together an index of topics that I or other respected people will cover in the next few posts. Yes, I know you may be questioning the claim that I am a respected or even respectable, but please bear with me on that count!!!

Topics:
Emergency Notification for different industries
In here, we will explore the features that any ENS needs, and the features that are specific to particular kinds of customers. For example, a SWAT or HazMat team some particular features that would be irrelevant to a K-12 school district. The kinds of customers we will explore are: Municipal emergency communications, Higher Education, K-12, Business Continuity/Disaster Recovery.

CAP - The Common Alerting Protocol: What is it? Should you care?
The Common Alerting Protocol is a communication protocol that was developed over the last 6 years which is designed to enable many, many different forms of alerting systems to inter-operate. For example, a television station could have a CAP listener that displays an alert message along the bottom of the screen. A telephone notification system could also be triggered by the same CAP message. Thus, the theory is that a single CAP enabled system can cause alerts to be sent to phones, sirens, TV, radio, etc. Life differs in practice.

RFP - Request for Proposal - what you should ask, what you should beware of
Most large organizations (public or private) that purchase an ENS go through an RFP process, in which someone or some group is tasked with the job of creating an RFP, several vendors are solicited to respond, and a selection is eventually made. The problems that arise from this process are too numerous to list. We will discuss, based on your industry, what you should be looking for, what you should avoid, and what can cause you great loss.

The Myths of Capacity
Many EN systems boast about their capacity for to make huge numbers of outbound calls. But this can be self-defeating. We will discuss the issues around capacity, how to measure it, and how to determine what you are really getting for your ENS dollar.

In the meantime, if you have any topics you would like discussed, please comment on this Post and I will respond as soon as possible.

Samuel Asher
President, Asher Group
http://ashergroup.com
http://hyper-reach.com
http://campus-reach.com

Introduction

2009-09-30T19:33:00.000-07:00

The Emergency Notification industry has grown from a few providers to a long and ever-growing list of players.
As yet, the issues, features, infrastructure, underlying costs, problems, and other aspects of ENS have been addressed only sporadically and haphazardly.
This blog will address Emergency Notification comprehensively and continuously with researched and empirical facts so that when you purchase a system, you can be armed with knowledge. I have a bit to say about this topic. I have been building such systems for over 10 years and was a major contributor to the NENA standard on EN systems.

Difference Between Telemarketing Dialer & True ENS

2009-09-30T19:05:00.000-07:00

Are you on the National Do-Not-Call Registry?

Just hold on to that question for a moment and you will see how relevant it is to the title of this post.

A couple of definitions to start:

An "auto-dialer" is a device that can be attached to one or more telephone line and programmed to call a range or a list of numbers. If something (e.g. an answering machine) or someone answers the call, the auto-dialer plays a pre-recorded message.

A "predictive dialer" is a similar but much more sophisticated kind of device. It is used in call centers to squeeze more efficiency out of the telemarketers. It can call many people simultaneously. If an answering machine answers, it leaves a message. If a person answers, the PD connects the call to a free telemarketing agent. It is called a predictive dialer because it uses a mathematical formula to predict how calls it needs to make so that the agents are as busy as possible, given that only 10% to 30% of the calls will actually be answered by a person.

There used to be hundreds of thousands of telecommunication channels operated by hundreds of telemarketing companies using "auto dialers" and "predictive dialers" to make massive numbers of phone calls to massive numbers of people. With the advent of the DNC Registry and strict limitations on who can make unsolicited calls, many of these systems' owners have lost their revenue base and need to find other industries where their systems can be used. (BTW, you may be shocked to learn that politicians exempted themselves from any of these restrictions.)

Come on to the scene a lifesaving new industry: Emergency Mass Notification - same thing, just make lots of outbound calls? Right?

Wrong!

The key problem here is the word "emergency". Telemarketing dialers are not designed to be failure resistant. They are not designed for extreme ease of use. And if they miss some people, who cares, as long as they can dial a quota of total calls. And they are not designed to be integrated with other services, like SMS text messaging and alert message boards.

Conversely, what differentiates an ENS from a telemarketing dialing system is all the infrastructure necessary to make the ENS work even if some of its components fail or when its capacity is compromised. For example, most telemarketing systems are operated from a single location. If that facility fails for whatever reason, be it weather, equipment breakage, or software bug, the whole system is compromised.

A true ENS should operate from at least two locations simultaneously, ideally more than 50 miles apart. That way, if one site fails, the other can continue making emergency calls.

Of course, to operate an ENS that has a footprint in two locations costs twice as much as operating a telemarketing system found in one location. That is why a true ENS typically costs more than a service based on an auto-dialer. Basically, It's Worth It!!!

So, if you are evaluating an ENS, make sure to ask the probative questions necessary to ferret out the true pedigree of the system you purchase. If you're getting a really great deal, don't be surprised if, the next time you have an emergency, some mysterious problem prevents your ENS from making the calls it should be making. And know that one of the side-effects of restricting telemarketing calls is the unbridled growth of companies offering ENS.

Samuel Asher
President, Asher Group
http://ashergroup.com
http://hyper-reach.com
http://campus-reach.com