Building Business Resiliency

As workers return to the office, businesses must be prepared to protect their employees in any situation. From severe weather and medical emergencies to active assailants and cyberattacks, organizations must have resiliency plans in place.

However, as many as one-third of employees are unaware of or are unsure about their employer’s emergency plans for certain incidents, such as active shooter situations, cyberattacks and workplace violence, according to a recent survey. While these events are rare, ensuring that employees, along with other key stakeholders, are prepared to deal with them is essential to preparing for and managing critical incidents in the workplace.

For a business resiliency plan to be fool-proof, communication and collaboration strategies must be part of every phase of emergency management planning.

Having all the Tools
In the preparation stage of emergency management, organizations must ensure that they have all the tools, technologies and protocols in place to properly handle every kind of incident. This includes critical communication systems, such as a mass notification system, employee safety application, and/or a mobile panic button.

Making sure these systems and lines of communication are not only available but reliable should be part of every organization’s emergency preparedness checklist. Do these tools work consistently? When were they last tested? Do they meet the organization’s needs? When answering the last question, take into consideration the features needed to effectively communicate within the organization – for example, a large enterprise with multiple locations may require a platform with geo-targeting capabilities.

As part of this evaluation of systems, organizations should also take time to refresh procedures and emergency communication plans. This should not only include aligning on which channels will be used to communicate with whom (security staff, leadership, employees, facility managers, first responders, etc.), but also who is responsible for which emergency response activities related to each incident type. There should also be clear steps outlining protocols for notifying employees who work from home or other remote locations and ensuring that employee contact data is up-to-date.

The Response Stage
Should an emergency occur, organizations would then move into the response stage, where they act on their prepared plans. Onsite security and/or first responders are informed about the incident taking place and begin to respond. Those in charge of communicating with facility managers, corporate security and law enforcement must maintain open lines of communication to ensure everyone is on the same page.

This is where a software-based crisis management system can be a valuable tool in coordinating the emergency response across key stakeholders. These systems allow corporate security teams to automatically alert all individuals in a building or at a campus site as soon as an emergency situation is triggered. These platforms can provide guidance on emergency response protocols, share incident updates, increase situational awareness and deliver clear instructions to employees to inform and protect them from potential harm.

Crisis management systems also help streamline emergency response by allowing all types of safety entities – corporate security, police, fire, EMT and others – to coordinate efforts in real time. Authorized response teams can share data, responsibilities and plans to form a common operating picture to coordinate overall crisis management tasks.

The Recovery Stage
Once responders arrive on the scene, businesses must start the recovery stage – even though the incident might still be ongoing. This can include taking stock of which employees are in the area, getting medical attention to those who need it and sharing updates as they become available.

During this phase, two-way communication with employees – whether it be via an app, text or chat – is crucial to determining next steps and ensuring everyone is safe. Opening these lines of communication enables the emergency response team to quickly send out notifications and share relevant updates, as well as ensure all employees are accounted for during the incident. It likewise gives employees the ability to provide an update of their status and get the information they need to keep safe.

How it Plays Out
Once the incident has been resolved and safety has been restored, those in charge of emergency management must evaluate how the emergency response played out, note key learnings from the incident and update plans accordingly to be better prepared for the future.

In addition to leveraging analytics within current systems and platforms, the emergency management team should conduct an after-action review. Some questions to ask:

  • Did the technology and tools work like they were supposed to?
  • Did everyone who was supposed to receive emergency notifications get them?
  • Did employees feel as though they were receiving the latest information?
  • Were first responders and law enforcement well connected with key stakeholders, including facility management, company leadership and corporate security?
  • Were there any delays or disruptions in communicating information? Was data easily shared?

Answering these questions and making updates to templates, technologies and protocols can enhance emergency preparedness, streamline critical communications and improve operations in future incidents.

No business wants to experience an emergency incident while on the job, but it is best to be prepared. With the right tools, strategies and plans in place for critical communication and emergency response, businesses can set themselves up to be resilient in the face of adversity.

This article originally appeared in the May / June 2022 issue of Security Today.

Featured

  • Live From ISC West: Day 2 Recap

    If it’s even possible, Day 2 of ISC West in Las Vegas, Nevada, was even busier than the first. Remember to keep tabs on our Live From ISC West page for news and updates from the show floor at the Venetian, because there’s more news coming out than anyone could be expected to keep track of. Our Live From sponsors—NAPCO Security, Alibi Security, Vistacom, RGB Spectrum, and DoorKing—kept the momentum from Day 1 going with packed booths, happy hours, giveaways, product demonstrations, and more. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • ISC West
  • Visiting Sin City

    I’m a recovering alcoholic, ten years sober this June. I almost wrote “recovered alcoholic,” because it’s a problem I’ve long since put to bed in every practical sense. But anyone who’s dealt with addiction knows that that part of your brain never goes away. You just learn to tell the difference between that insidious voice in your head and your actual internal monologue, and you get better at telling the other guy to shut up. Read Now

  • On My Way Out the Door

    To answer that one question I always get, at every booth visit, I have seen amazing product technology, solutions and above all else, the people that make it all work. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • ISC West
  • Return to Form

    My first security trade show was in 2021. At the time, I was awed by the sheer magnitude of the event and the spectacle of products on display. But this was the first major trade show coming out of the pandemic, and the only commentary I heard was how low the attendance was. Two representatives from one booth even spent the last morning playing catch in the aisle with their giveaway stress balls. Read Now

    • Industry Events
    • ISC West

Featured Cybersecurity

New Products

  • PDK IO Access Control Software

    PDK.IO Access Control Software

    ProdataKey now allows for "custom fields" within the interface of its pdk.io software. Custom fields increase PDK's solutions' overall functionality by allowing administrators to include a wide range of pertinent data associated with each user. 3

  • Tyco Kantech EntraPass security management software

    Tyco Kantech EntraPass security management software

    Johnson Controls, the global leader in smart, healthy and sustainable buildings, and architect of the Open Blue digital connected platforms, has released the newest version of the Tyco Kantech EntraPass security management software. 3

  • Unique Oversized ID Card Printer

    Unique Oversized ID Card Printer

    Idesco Corp. is announcing its card printer – the XCR100 2.0 printer- that allows customers to personalize oversized ID cards on demand. The printer is ideal for assisting healthcare organizations find the right badging solution. As healthcare facilities continue to combat the spread of COVID-19, issuing oversized ID cards has helped identify staff clearly while adding an extra layer of security. The XCR100 2.0 printer is the only dye-sublimation printer on the market that can personalize CR100 cards (3.88" x 2.63"). The cards that are 42% larger than the standard credit card size. The printer can produce up to 180 full cards per hour in color, and up to 1,400 cards per hour in monochrome. An optional flipper is available to print dual-sided badges in one pass. Contactless encoding comes as an option to help healthcare facilities produce secure access badges on demand and the card printer features a 2-year warranty. 3