Emergency Management Plans Must Be Actionable in Moment of Need, Says In Case of Crisis
Herndon, VA and Reno (PRWEB) October 29, 2013 -- Addressing the needs of today’s emergency management professionals, In Case of Crisis, a mobile emergency response and business continuity solution, today advises educational institutions and businesses to ensure their emergency response plans are actionable and universally available. Participating in the International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) annual conference in Reno, In Case of Crisis offers the following best practices for proactively arming students, employees, and others with the most critical and helpful emergency information in the moment of need.
• Focus on Most Common Emergencies – It can be overwhelming for students or employees to process every possible emergency scenario and supporting documentation in the midst of an emergency situation. Focus on proactively communicating about the types of emergencies that are most likely to affect your particular organization so the critical steps and resources are clearly articulated.
• Make Plans Actionable and Contextual – Overall emergency response plans tend to be bulky and all encompassing. Help students and employees quickly understand the most important steps for their particular setting by synthesizing the most critical and relevant elements in a format with actionable steps, diagrams and pictures. This helps avoid confusion and mistakes during an actual emergency when time is of the essence.
• Prepare for Communication Disconnect – Emergency situations are often unpredictable, with cell service and power frequently unavailable. Gaining entry into specific buildings where emergency manuals are housed may also be limited. Mitigate these accessibility limitations by avoiding reliance on paper-based flipbooks and connectivity to websites and SMS texts. Installing emergency response plans locally on constituents’ mobile devices alleviates these communication and connectivity risks.
• Go Beyond Emergency Alert Systems – Mobile emergency notification systems are essential for alerting large audiences to a particular situation, but their function stops there. As a next step, users need immediate access to current emergency response plans to understand the right steps for navigating a reliable and proven path to safety.
“As the vast majority of high school and college students as well as the U.S. workforce now get their news and information via a mobile device, many organizations are mobilizing their emergency response plans so they are available in a moment’s notice for use during an actual emergency,” said Christopher Britton, General Manager, In Case of Crisis. “The key is to provide an actionable and concise set of instructions and resources for emergency situations that are most likely to occur in specific organizations or on a campus.”
The In Case of Crisis mobile solution allows organizations and institutions convenient and secure access to emergency information with features such as easy-to-read instructional and building diagrams, one-tap key contact calling, and push notifications for updates/alerts and maps. The app includes access to a library of 85 possible emergency event scenarios with templates and images. A dedicated client success team provides hands-on coaching and best practice tips for publishing emergency plans to mobile devices. Additionally, the In Case of Crisis mobile solution emergency and business continuity plans can be tailored to support the needs of each audience within an organization.
About In Case of Crisis
In Case of Crisis is a purpose-built mobile emergency response and business continuity solution designed to allow organizations to publish their specific emergency procedures and instructions via an online portal to employees’, students’ and constituents’ Apple and Android mobile devices. With four editions including education, corporate, government and hospitality, the In Case of Crisis app promotes organization and business continuity by offering mobile users current, actionable emergency guidance when and how they need it, regardless of connectivity. In Case of Crisis is an Irving Burton Associates (IBA) service headquartered in Herndon, Va. For more information visit http://www.incaseofcrisis.com/.
# # #
Jennifer MacLeid Qotb, Young & Associates, on behalf of In Case of Crisis, http://www.incaseofcrisis.com, +1 513-281-2772, [email protected]
Share this article