Taking a Proactive Approach to Safety
Overview
The Kissimmee Utility Authority (KUA) wanted to take a proactive approach to keep its employees safe by implementing a comprehensive mass notification system using the latest technology. Jeff Gray, Vice President of Information Technology at KUA, was frustrated with many organizations’ reactive approach to workplace violence or other emergency scenarios. “Why can’t we use technology that’s incredibly versatile and able to fit a lot of solutions, mitigate risk, save lives, and help people get to safety during an emergency?” said Gray. “We took that thought and began applying it to everything we had.”
To bring its existing notification technology together and fill critical gaps in coverage, KUA needed a powerful yet flexible system to meet its specific needs. KUA identified Alertus Technologies as their provider of choice to fulfill their requirements. KUA was already working with Alertus when the largest mass shooting in U.S. history occurred at Pulse, a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, just 15 miles from KUA headquarters. This incident confirmed to KUA that they were taking the proper steps to invest in their employees’ safety by choosing Alertus.
Challenges
Instant Activation and Complete Coverage
It was critical to KUA to have the ability to push a button and get the notification out to everyone right away, regardless of their location. To accomplish this, they wanted a hardware solution that used multiple notification points to increase the likelihood of employees receiving the alerts when activated.
Text Messaging Alone is not Enough
KUA already had a simple text messaging system with limited capabilities. “With just the text messaging system, we could not get alerts on computer screens, and the Alertus System had that built-in,” said Gray. “This is critical because we have people who might not be on the notify list or in an area where they don’t see an Alert Beacon®. No holistic solution would tell everybody, ‘get out’ at the same moment.” The text messaging system lacked the speed to deliver critical alerts in an emergency consistently.
Solution
A Holistic Approach
To solve the critical issues of fast, easy activation and comprehensive alert coverage, KUA decided to implement several Alertus solutions.
“We went with the Alertus Emergency Mass Notification System because it has all the pieces we needed,” said Shannon Berube, Business Applications Specialist at KUA. “The products were a great match for our company and fit our needs perfectly.”
“There’s a lot of desktop notification systems out there, but we needed integration built-in,” said Gray. Combined with the Alertus Mobile App and VoIP phone integration, KUA expanded notification reach and coverage.
Immediate Activation
KUA needed the ability to quickly and easily activate its emergency notification system.
“The chance of surviving an active shooter situation decreases when you stay in the building,” said Gray. “On average, it takes about 18 minutes to get the police to your door, while the active shooter situation is over in 12 minutes.” The team at KUA wanted to take every step possible to help people evacuate the building as quickly as possible to increase the chance of survival.
Conclusion
By leveraging the Alertus System’s unique capability, KUA created a holistic notification solution that quickly sends critical alerts to employees.