Early Warning System

Introduction

We are seeing more and more situations that are a call to arms for early warning systems. Businesses have staff, information and inventory that needs to be protected. If an early warning system can help keep a business and its staff safe, it is worth it. I take my children’s school for example. I was floored the first day of kindergarten, when my son returned home to tell me they had learned the secret word. Secret word? All schools in the district now have a secret word that when announced over the PA system initiates a string of events to deal with anything from a wild animal in the school, to terrorism. I remember being a child and having only to remember to put my house key on a shoelace around my neck so that I could get back into our apartment. As disturbing as it seems, I commend the school for having something in place. The problem becomes one of cost, efficiency and ease of implementation. Enter the common cell phone

Proliferation of Cell Phones

I recently read an article about ICE. ICE in this case is an acronym for “In Case of Emergency”. According to the experts, you are supposed to place an ICE entry into your cell phone so that rescue workers know who to contact should you be rendered incapable of answering questions or require assistance. At last count the United States had over 210 million cell phones in use. That is almost one for every adult in the US. Cell phones have now become the norm rather than the exception. With such a proliferation of technology, could we not incorporate this device into an early warning system?

Building an Early Warning System

With cell phones becoming the norm, an early warning system could go something along these lines. When a new user (employee, student or contractor) starts at a company or school, the first thing should be for the organization to take down the person’s cell phone number and have it stored in a database. At this point the user is required to map in a distinct ring for the emergency number and email address for their organization. Most phones have this ability. The user must be educated that when they hear that ring, it is an emergency broadcast from their organization. The ringing would alert the user not to an incoming call but to an SMS message. The user would know instantly that something has happened at their place of work which requires immediate attention. The distinct ring eliminates the need to answer the phone or read the SMS message, simply the sound of the ring, and possibly the rings around them would be warming of a dangerous situation.

Should the need arise; the system could be activated extremely quickly from any number of computers around the campus or workplace through the authorised emergency response system. Users would not even have to pick up the phone; they would just know an emergency had transpired. Even staff that had not made it to work yet would be alerted and may be able to avoid coming to work.

The emergency response team can send text messages fast and to all recipients in a fraction of the time. Having a database with all users included with their cell phone numbers and/or SMS email addresses and prepopulated emails/messages would allow multiple people to be contacted extremely fast. Even if a staff member forgot their cell phone it is highly likely they will be around a member who has theirs. Thus building redundancy into the system.

Now a system like this is purely reactionary. It is not going to prevent situations from happening, but will provide a means of alerting staff very quickly. A number of situations have occurred where a system such as the one I have described may help save lives. It helps people be in the know during an emergency situation which allows people to make informed decisions quickly.

The system would be extremely cost effective to run. Actually, apart from some training for the emergency response team, the infrastructure already exists courtesy of the cell towers and people using cell phones. The computers and networking are already part of the business. The business could even collaborate with a known service provider to arrange for standardise phones for all of the staff. This minimal cost could be swallowed by the organization.

The system would be effective due to the accepted cell phone use. 10 years ago it may not have been possible. The system could be scalable as well. Think of an elementary school where kids are bussed in. Drivers are usually in touch via radios, but it takes time for the message to be relayed through the appropriate channels to get the messages to the bus drivers. A recent case at a school close by showed that it took about 12 minutes to locate a lost student on a bus by trying to track down the drivers. With cell phones (or in the case of the bus drivers use walkie talkie phones) all drivers could immediately be alerted and react accordingly via a text message with a distinct ring.

Conclusion

We all take the use of a cell phone for granted now. We need to start using the technology smartly. A smart, fast efficient communication system would be beneficial to many businesses and organizations.

Now I will be the first to admit I hate wearing any device that connects me to the office more than I have to be. But I am starting to rethink the use of the common cell phone.

At least in some situations, it actually may save lives.