In the wake of last spring’s tragic Virginia Tech shootings when 32 students and faculty members lost their lives, LifeSafety reached out for the latest thinking about mass notification system (MNS) improvements.
The media have given a great deal of attention to the use of mass notification systems for violent situations, such as the Virginia Tech crisis. Although MNS design is still an emerging technology, it has proven worthwhile in other emergencies.
Jerry Derloshon, a spokesperson for Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., says that the university has deployed a campus wide MNS. Fortunately for Pepperdine, its deployment was extremely timely. In October 2007, soon after installing the system, the California wildfires broke out in the Malibu area.
University administrators needed to quickly and efficiently warn students, faculty, and staff members about the rapidly approaching wildfires headed toward the campus. Pepperdine’s MNS instantly contacted people through whatever communication contact information they had registered with the university, including mobile phones and e-mail.
Pepperdine administration found this contact information to be an invaluable way to disseminate critical, life safety messages.
Colleges and universities have been exploring ways to do a better job of getting the word out during emergencies. How they spread the word varies from campus to campus.
Lisa Bazley, Denison University’s director of information technology services, Grandville, Ohio, says,”When there is an emergency,multiple vehicles are better than one. Cell phones are a great way to communicate. A large percentage of students bring cell phones to campus.”
Garret Moore, Denison’s chief of campus security and safety,was on a task force that advised Ohio Governor Ted Strickland on ways to make state campuses as safe as possible in light of Virginia Tech. One key outcome was signing on to Connect-ED, an MNS that takes advantage of cell phone technology. Anyone on campus can sign up to receive a mobile telephone voice message, text message, personal e-mail, and/or campus e-mail message should an emergency occur. The university may add another communication layer, an FM radio system called Via Radio.
Expect mass notification to take a more integrated and widespread approach in the future.
Art Botterell, community warning system manager for Contra Costa County, Calif., currently uses a unique integrated community warning system based on an international standard called Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) that links multiple warning technologies. CAP can trigger all available fire alarms,warning signals, and emergency broadcasts simultaneously with a consistent message that can be targeted to a precise area. CAP is a glimpse into the future of integrated, all-hazard public alerts and warnings.
“We still have a ways to go,” says Botterell.”The public needs corroboration on warning. Often, they need a second, and frequently, even a third trigger before they heed an alarm. Secondly, most vendors are selling a product. There aren’t a lot of commercial advocates or single system vendors working to unify the current warning systems across the country. On the positive side, modern software and microprocessors, alarm systems, and smoke detectors greatly help in that direction. We need that common protocol to drive and mix all technologies.”
Tags: Mass Notification
Posted in Education, Mass Notification, Q & A : Ask the Expert, Spring 2008
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