Incident Warning and Mass Notification Continue Growth
From schools to refineries, the emphasis is getting the word out fast and effectively when an incident occurs. The April issue of Security Magazine covered the topic. Here are some additional solutions from Incident Alert Systems (IAS) and MIR3.
The Yakima School District of Yakima County,
Fast Alert is a computer-enabled, incident warning and management system designed by IAS for direct and immediate communication between teachers, staff and first responders during emergency situations, providing warning of imminent or in-progress life threatening events via a secure computer network throughout any number of remote, related sites. This systems’ mobile, all platform, management capability empowers those charged with managing an emergency to quickly and accurately sound the appropriate alert in one or more languages as needed. The bi-lingual feature of Fast Alert is especially important to Yakima District Schools as they are the largest Latino-majority district in the state.
MIR3 is dedicated to providing industry-leading intelligent notification solutions for IT and enterprise communications. MIR3’s technology approach enables two-way, interactive communication across any device—cell phone, land line, e-mail, fax, text message, TTY, desktop, and more—to ensure messages are delivered at any time, to any where. Message distributors can program a variety of response options for recipients’ choosing, such as instant call bridging, first responder communication, verification of safety and message receipt, recorded response features, and more. Additionally, messages can be delivered in a recipient’s language and local dialect for full international communication capabilities.
In order to provide technology that addresses both back-end IT issues and enterprise-facing emergencies, MIR3’s offerings comprise two main platforms—inEnterprise and TelAlert—which enable 360-degree, cross-functional enterprise communication. Messages can be sent simultaneously hundreds of many recipients or just a few, and feature detailed reporting and metrics to ensure information is being received and acted upon in the most appropriate manner. Additionally, both inEnterprise and TelAlert easily integrate into legacy enterprise applications.
When Air Liquide invested $200 million last October to expand its Gulf Coast hydrogen system—a system that minimizes sulfur content in automotive fuels to reduce pollutants and process heavy crude into useable fuels— the demand was driven from strict environmental regulations on refineries, which were being progressively introduced around the world.
• Problem: Today, the 9-million-barrel-a-day Gulf Coast refining market is not only hard-pressed to become green, but is facing the reality of $4-per-gallon gas at the pump - a price that could only sky rocket if bad weather hits the Gulf Coast and the refineries are unprepared. Air Liquide and its affiliates' need for a mass notification system was two-fold: 1) A way to alert all 4,000 employees of emergency situations, ensure their safety, and inform them of potential work changes; and 2) a system that could accommodate ongoing, daily communication to 200 oil refinery customers throughout the pipeline, for basic business continuity and enterprise purposes.
• Solution: Air Liquide called upon MIR3 to enable a mass, two-way, "intelligent notification" tool that would work in seconds, via text messaging, e-mail, voicemail, pager, fax, landline, and TTY (for the hearing impaired). Understanding Air Liquide's critical communications needs, MIR3 presented a solution to support both its human resource and client notification objectives. From a corporate perspective, inEnterprise® was put in place and enabled Air Liquide to stay in continuous contact with its 4,000 employees during inclement weather conditions and business disruptions—regardless of their geographic location. With the new system, Air Liquide IT managers could not only notify employees, but gather their responses in real time to determine who needed what, and where. Additionally, the process of communicating with Air Liquide's oil refinery client base was drastically improved. The company now has the ability to contact clients more quickly and efficiently, while also having the additional capability to sort and prioritize which clients need to be reached first in a matter of seconds. Moreover, recipient delivery is now reported, verified and authenticated. With MIR3's system now in place, Air Liquide stays in constant communication with refineries and employees on weather conditions and daily operations. This allows more time for an emergency plan to be implemented, preventing damage to platforms and disruptions in oil collection when a storm. In addition, all 4,000 of Air Liquide's employees can instantly communicate with their 200 refinery customers across a variety of channels, ensuring overall business continuity remains steady - in skies both cloudy and clear.
