Facility Emergency Response Planning with Custom Emergency Profiles

Every emergency is unique, so your emergency procedures should be as well. Whether it's a fire, active shooter, medical emergency, natural disaster, or chemical spill, each situation has different outcomes and should have unique response procedures.

However, only 14% of facilities have complete confidence in protecting personnel from perceivable threats. This is mainly because about 50% of companies manage emergency evacuation through pen and paper and limited-to-no communication. Many organizations still rely on outdated, paper-based methods for managing emergency and evacuation procedures, such as handwritten logbooks and manual communication.

Tailored emergency response protocols and effective communication are essential, especially for businesses with a high volume of on-site visitors and personnel.

How Tailored Responses for Custom Communication Can Address the Biggest Challenges in Emergency Management

Manual processes are prone to human error, inefficiency, and delays, leaving organizations vulnerable during emergencies.

Security teams often need help with effective headcounts and slow responses, even in large enterprises. These outdated systems can lead to operational disruptions and financial losses, highlighting the urgent need for more efficient, reliable, and technology-driven emergency management solutions.

Challenges of Manual Emergency Communication Processes: 

• Difficulty quickly notifying all individuals, especially visitors, during an emergency or drill leads to confusion and delayed responses. 
• Time is wasted as roll calls are slow and inefficient, prolonging evacuation efforts and increasing risk. 
• The inability to effectively communicate when it is safe to return to work is causing further delays. 
• One-size-fits-all protocols may not account for the unique nature of each emergency, resulting in unnecessary actions or last-minute changes.
• Significant productivity loss and increased costs due to downtime, with some industries losing up to $20,000 per minute during disruptions.
• Infrequent emergency drills lead to inadequate preparedness and a higher likelihood of human error.

Tailor Your Emergency Response Plans with EmergenyOS's Emergency Profiles

EmergencyOS is a comprehensive emergency management solution that offers digital oversight at every stage of an organization’s response, from initial notifications and evacuations to post-event reporting and analytics. By ensuring the safety and security of all individuals on-site, including visitors and contractors, EmergencyOS enables organizations to take a proactive approach to emergency preparedness.

What are Emergency Profiles?

Emergency Profiles is a capability within EmergencyOS that enables the creation of multiple custom profiles tailored for different emergency scenarios. These tailored response procedures help to ensure that everyone involved in an emergency event is informed and prepared with the most appropriate information and actions to take.

Emergency Profiles provide administrators and safety officers with flexibility and control, allowing them to create custom emergency response profiles that precisely align with their organization’s unique needs. It enables companies to design specific workflows for safety drills and emergency events, defining the type of event, required actions, involved personnel, and targeted communication.

By enhancing the effectiveness of emergency communication, Emergency Profiles ensures that your business can confidently deliver tailored procedures and real-time notifications to all on-site personnel and visitors, providing a swift and coordinated response.

“Clear and effective communication during an emergency is crucial, yet traditional emergency management systems often lack support for customizing actions based on specific types of emergencies, or if available, configuring them can be cumbersome. We believe the best response plan is one that enhances safety, precision in emergency response, adaptability and overall effectiveness. With Emergency Profiles, this means easily configuring response flows, tailoring notifications, and ensuring targeted messaging.”

Ariel Mashiyev, CEO of iLobby, Press Release.  

Effective emergency management goes beyond a one-size-fits-all approach—it requires customized procedures that are both adaptable and efficient. Relying on outdated, manual systems exposes organizations to increased risks and delays.

By adopting a digital solution like EmergencyOS, its Emergency Profiles tool allows facilities to tailor their emergency response plans to ensure rapid, clear communication and action in any situation. In the following section, we’ll highlight five key benefits of Emergency Profiles, demonstrating how they can elevate your organization’s emergency management by offering real-time, customized responses for any emergency scenario. 

5 Key Benefits of Emergency Profiles and How It Boosts Emergency Management Effectiveness 

1. Enhanced Emergency Communication and Real-Time Visibility for Safer, More Efficient Responses

Offering a tailored approach to communication based on the type of emergency enhances safety and clarity in critical moments. When combined with a real-time digital roster of all on-site personnel, which is exactly what EmergencyOS does, security teams are properly equipped to see who is on-site during an emergency event and can respond with tailored messaging and guidance for all those affected.

This comprehensive and customized approach reduces the risk of unaccounted-for personnel. It also supports precise and relevant instructions during emergencies, making coordinating evacuations more efficient while reducing response times. 

2. Customized Instructions for Clear, Actionable Communication Across All Groups

Organizations can customize messages according to the type of emergency scenario, aiding in ensuring that information communicated to personnel and visitors during an emergency event is relevant and actionable. It allows organizations to direct specific instructions to select groups, like all employees or just those on-site.

This level of customization enhances the clarity and effectiveness of emergency communication, reducing the likelihood of miscommunication and ensuring everyone responds appropriately. 

3. Ensuring Real-Time, Tailored Alerts for Visitors and Non-Employees

In emergencies, visitors and non-employees often face unique vulnerabilities—they may not be familiar with site-specific procedures beyond what was reviewed at check-in or in many cases do not have direct access to emergency alerts. With EmergencyOS's Emergency Profiles, you can rest assured that all involved parties, including guests, receive real-time, tailored notifications based on the specific emergency type’s response plan. Seamlessly include non-employee groups in crucial communications, ensuring they receive precise instructions relevant to the emergency event.

By incorporating non-employees into customized emergency response plans, companies not only enhance clarity, but they also prevent confusion while supporting the safety of everyone involved in an emergency event.   

4. Delivering Critical Information Through the Right Channels for Maximum Impact

Every business is different when it comes to a preferred method of communication. These typically include email, SMS messages, in-app messaging or a combination of these. Having the ability to tailor emergency notifications to suit their specific needs is an effective way to ensure delivery and engagement.

By tailoring delivery methods and the notifications themselves to a specific emergency scenario, companies are taking the necessary steps to ensure that this critical information is reaching the right people through the most effective channels—ensuring clear, timely communication when it counts. 

5. Rapid Response with Tailored Protocols Streamlining Communication for Faster, More Effective Action

Emergency Profiles enable rapid response by initiating pre-set emergency protocols immediately, allowing security teams to bypass manual communication steps. Tailored alerts and specific instructions are immediately delivered to provide guidance based on the emergency profile type. It minimizes confusion when a particular emergency type occurs that a same-size-fits-all approach does not cater to and accelerates response times, enhancing the effectiveness of emergency management.

With its prompt initiation and clear, actionable information, Emergency Profiles help organizations respond quickly and efficiently to any emergency situation. 

Ready to learn more? Watch our on-demand webinar featuring insights from Corey Gosselin and David Kopf from OH&S on safety and compliance in visitor and emergency management. Find out how facilities like yours can mitigate risks and enhance safety standards with a digital-first approach. 

Navigating Compliance, like California’s Senate Bill 553 

Tailored communication can be key to staying compliant in emergency management. For example, California’s Senate Bill 553 mandates that employers in California create a workplace violence prevention plan (WVPP). It requires employers to record information about every workplace violence incident, post-incident response, and investigation.  

Emergency and evacuation solutions like EmergencyOS can help with compliance: 

• Account for Every Individual: Conduct real-time digital roll calls and building sweeps, prioritizing those who may need immediate assistance due to disability or other factors. 
• Communicate in Real-Time: Instantly alert the right people with customizable notifications during emergencies, ensuring swift, coordinated action. 
• Harness Actionable Insights: Leverage comprehensive data to continuously enhance your workplace violence intervention plan. 
• Customize Emergency Responses: Build tailored profiles for different scenarios, including workplace violence, with easy-to-use emergency response workflows. 
• Maintain Flawless Records: Automatically track and log incidents, evacuee details, and in-depth information about emergency responses with robust reports, ensuring you’re compliant and audit-ready. 

Effective emergency communication with tailored responses and procedures is essential for ensuring safety and minimizing risks. iLobby’s EmergencyOS solution offers the flexibility and precision to communicate effectively during critical moments.

Consider evaluating your organization's current preparedness strategies and explore how adopting this customizable, technology-driven solution can enhance the safety and security of your facilities.