A recent survey by Rave Mobile Safety finds that a lot of end user organizations are not so prepared for these types of emergencies. Solutions that help companies become more prepared, therefore, become more important than ever.
With active shooting, violence against employees and natural disasters becoming serious threats facing company workers, preparedness matters. However a recent survey by
Rave Mobile Safety finds that a lot of end user organizations are not so prepared for these types of emergencies. Solutions that help companies become more prepared, therefore, become more important than ever.
Ideally, a company should have a person or department that takes care of the security of the company. “How this gets done largely depends on the size of the organization. In smaller companies, it is often the case that a senior manager is wearing multiple hats – one of them being security. As companies get larger the model moves toward a defined security operation with a chief security officer (CSO) in place who manages all aspects of security – from physical plant and IT security to employee safety,” said Todd Piett, President and CEO of Rave Mobile Safety. “The chief security officer will generally have their own staff – again dictated by company size – and it is not uncommon for larger companies to contract with security firms for additional armed and unarmed on-site security. CSOs will also have dotted line relationships with HR personnel for employee safety, IT experts for cyber security, and facilities workers for physical security.”
However the Rave survey, completed anonymously by 150 managers in corporate safety and security, employee safety, physical plant security, IT security and business continuity, finds that 28 percent companies do not have a single person in charge of corporate security and in 6 percent of companies, ownership is completely unclear. Of the current emergencies affecting safety/security today, companies were most unprepared for situations involving an active shooter (25 percent). Emergency plans were also not standard for medical emergencies (18 percent), natural disasters (12 percent) and fires (8 percent).
According to Piett, this may lead to undesired consequences. “If there is a lack of clear leadership, this can cause slow, ineffective, or conflicting emergency response actions. This gap in communications can cause delayed response times and these extra seconds can sometimes be the difference between life and death. To increase the likelihood of organized, rehearsed emergency procedures, companies should have a clearly defined security professional in charge,” he said.
In the area of communication technology, the survey finds mass notification was still not adopted by 21 percent of respondents. Companies are also failing to utilize multiple methods of communication during emergencies. “Many companies use traditional notification models such as phone trees supported by a secondary technology such as email and others use chat apps like Jabber or HipChat to communicate. We find that some companies aren’t adopting new solutions because they simply are not aware of the technologies available today,” Piett said.
Against this backdrop, he mentions the importance of solutions that help companies become prepared. Rave offers Rave Guardian, an app-powered, coordinated employee response system that includes an anonymous tip enabling engagement between employees and corporate security keeps corporate constituents informed during critical events and offers one-button dial directly to security department including caller’s current location for faster response. Rave Alert allows the sending of unlimited messages to unlimited recipients. It also globally connects with constituents in just seconds through mobile apps, calls, email and text.