Best Practices for Emergency Alert Testing

Arranging your Emergency Alert Testing Plan

When an emergency strikes, people need to be informed of what actions they need to take to stay safe, when they need to take action, and who is in charge when an emergency takes place. In order to successfully handle emergency situations, it is very important to have an emergency alert test plan in place. Notification software can help organizations apply their emergency alert test plans to ensure the right people are prepared and informed for any emergency scenario.

Defining your emergency alert plan before you begin configuring Revolution helps you identify what technology components need to be configured such as speakers, beacons, phones, mobile devices, panic buttons, etc.

In this blog, we will outline some recommendations on what your organization’s emergency alert testing plan should look like.

Clearly Define Tasks and Responsibilities

An emergency plan typically involves stakeholders beyond those who manage your Revolution system. It is likely that a form of emergency protocol is already documented for your organization. There may be local, state, or federal emergency protocols enforced. For example, a school may require having a specific emergency protocol in place. It is important to obtain a copy of any existing protocols and figure out who created the protocols because you will want to include these people in your emergency alert notification system discussions. This reason is so all stakeholders are on the same page and it also removes any confusion in an actual emergency. Scenarios that constitute an emergency include a fire alert, chemical spill alert, lockdown alert, panic button alert, and more.

For each emergency alert, define who needs to receive it. Ask yourself, are there people with special needs? Does a security guard or police officer need to be notified as part of the alert?

Next, identify the kind of environment people are likely to be in when they receive the alert. For example, are you notifying warehouse workers who might be working in a loud environment? Maybe you’re notifying people who may not be at their desk; can they receive the alert on their cellphone?

You need to identify whether the emergency alert needs to go to speakers, phones, mobile devices, people’s email and text messages, etc. This, in turn, helps you identify what you need to configure in Revolution. People receiving notifications to their personal contact methods (smartphone, email, text, etc.) will need to be set up as contacts in Revolution. You should identify your emergency response teams and their specific roles and tasks and how they will send the emergency alerts. The alerts can be activated from a desk phone, desktop, mobile device, panic button, and many more.

Revolution provides the ability to include response options with notifications so in an emergency, people can quickly check in to identify if they are safe or need assistance. When response options are included, you should find who in your organization is in charge or monitoring the responses and what actions they should take in reporting the responses and sending assistance if required.

Make Sure to Document

As you are defining your emergency plan, make sure you are documenting it.

Where should the document live so that it’s easily accessible to those in charge of various tasks and implementing the plan?

Who is in charge of maintaining and updating the plan?

While it’s important to document your plan, a common issue is writing a lengthy, overly detailed plan that those responsible for executing it don’t read. Your plan should be clear and concise, but not overwhelming.

Regularly Test Your Emergency Alert Plans

In all likelihood, you’ll need to initially test your plan more than once and make adjustments as you go. After a test run, ask your team:

Did the key players tasked with sending emergency alerts know what to do? Do roles and tasks need to be more clearly defined?

Were key players able to send the emergency alert notifications easily? Does anything additional need to be documented?

Did everyone who’s supposed to get the alert receive it? Are speakers loud enough? Are text and images displaying correctly on phones?

Can the audio be heard over any alarms that might be going off? Is the message itself clear?

Having the proper emergency alert test plans and the resources required to carry out your plans are critical components to keeping people safe and informed during an emergency. For more information on how to perfect your plan with Revolution, contact us at sales@syn-apps.com or by phone at 1-866-664-6071.