Page 32 - Campus Security & Life Safety, January/February 2019

Creating Efficient Emergency
Communication on Campus
EDedicated Emergency phones improve response time
By John Hepokoski
mergency preparedness is a topic with emergency responders.
that should not be taken lightly. An example of the unreliability of mobile Whether the facility you manage is a phones in an emergency can be found in the school, manufacturing plant, recent drowning case of two young women church, or entertainment venue; when their vehicle careened into a pond in
having an up-to-date detailed action plan Chaska, Minnesota. Bushra Abdi and Zey-
Streamlining Communication
Using mobile phones in a vehicle emergency may be the only option; but in an actual brick and mortar facility, the missing com- ponent is the availability of reliable emer- gency communication. With education funding often being the first part of the bud- get to see the chopping block, school dis- tricts simply haven’t had the resources or the manpower to examine communications gear designed for specifically reporting life- threatening emergencies. The security com- munications industry currently offers numerous products that are available and suited perfectly for school settings.
Emergency phones are accessible in most public settings; from parking ramps to walk- ing paths, why are a large portion of schools and facilities being neglected? Odds are there are many reasons for these security shortfalls.
Simple questions can lead us to simple answers. Would installing a basic phone be just as good as having a dedicated emergency phone? The simple answer to this is no. Your ordinary corded phone has many shortfalls and is not ADA-compliant. The guidelines of the American’s with Disabilities Act (ADA) states that any communications device installed in a building for use during an emergency must be accessible to all people. This requirement affords the right of acces- sibility to those with vision and hearing dis- abilities. ADA-compliant emergency phones are often easy “one button press” devices, accompanied by Braille lettering, and mounted on the wall at a level where they can be reached from a wheelchair.
Mass Notification
Emergency phones are a good start to mak- ing schools and facilities safer but can easily be even more effective when combined with a Mass Notification Announcer (MNA). Mass Notification Announcers allow admin- istrators and emergency responders to pro- vide critical up-to-the-second emergency instructions to students, faculty, and staff during chaotic events where evacuation may not always be the best strategy. At the basic level, every school building needs to be
and effective equipment in place is the key to limiting damage and saving lives.
In a time when it seems like every person has internet access in their pocket, most would assume simply having a mobile phone will be enough to notify authorities when emergency situations and security threats rear their ugly heads. This thought process makes sense in a perfect world, but when taking into consideration the variance of mobile phone signal strength within differ- ent areas and unique building layouts, one can easily see why this is an unreliable com- munication strategy. Pinpointing exact loca- tions of emergency calls placed by mobile phones is not foolproof and requires some guesswork. This quick fix mode of communi- cation also conflicts with most school’s mobile phone policies, adding even more chaos to the learning environment.
Administrators' dependency on private mobile phones to solve numerous problems has become common for many reasons. Bud- get cuts, lack of preparedness and minimal training has made our world even more vul- nerable to threats. This dilemma has created a need for out-of-the-box thinking to keep daily routines safe, while simultaneously holding (or ideally improving) the bottom line.
Mobile Phone Failures
Past school shooting incidents like Colum- bine prove that excessive student, faculty, and parental mobile phone use during a school emergency can cause mobile phone networks to overload and shut down. This is a critical issue when many school emergen- cy plans require mobile phone communica- tion as a backup to school phone systems and as a primary means of communication between on-site school administrators. Those administrators are often on the move to coordinate lockdown and evacuation efforts and must be able to communicate
nab “Hafsa” Abdalla were simply on their way to pick up food after their work shift
emergency communications
Stephen Orsillo/Shutterstock.com
32 campuslifesecurity.com | JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2019
when tragedy struck. Somehow their vehicle left the roadway and was headed for a pond. Upon hitting the water, a 911 call was placed to dispatchers who could hear screams for “Help,” followed by “Help, we are drowning!” After a brief choppy conversation between the women and dispatcher the call went silent. Police were on the apparent scene within three minutes; unfortunately, the location of the mobile phone ping was later deemed to be inaccurate and the police were in the wrong place and unable to save Abdi and Abdalla’s lives.