Be Best Informed for a Professional Response

Alerting of emergency responders, staff and the public

Failures and breakdowns in large-scale industrial facilities, for example in chemical plants, are inherently coupled with an increased safety risk. Even the best of precaution and safety measures are not able to preclude emergency incidents with certainty, nor fires, explosions or the discharge of hazardous substances. Frequently there is the fear of exposing local communities to harm, e.g. when a leakage of toxic chemicals or dangerous smoke development in a fire threaten the local populace.

The security center in charge needs to perform a multitude of important tasks at highest speed.

As a result, every security officer and disaster manager must not only ensure that all appropriate task forces are duly informed in an emergency situation, that the malfunctions — whatever their nature — are eliminated and all dangers are averted, they must also correctly and immediately assess if the situation has the potential of also causing a hazard to both the local communities and the environment, define a pertinent reporting category and, if needed, warn the public.

Sirens are often used to this end and critical information is communicated in radio broadcasts and information hotlines. In addition, public buildings and other areas where many people gather, such as schools, nursery schools, public agencies and companies, must be actively warned and informed how to act for their own safety.

This adds up to a multiplicity of tasks, all of which need to be performed within a minimum time span and under tremendous pressure. When using DAKS for the automated distribution of critical information and alarms, not only are stress-induced errors diminished, you are also better prepared and trained for key processes and your overall workflows are simplified and accelerated. Being responsible means being ready!

Our Solution

When a worker or a sensor of an industrial plant detects an operational disruption, the failure is immediately communicated to the security center. There, the situation must be evaluated at once and a number of critical measures and operations must be initiated quickly and preferably all at the same time:

Every emergency service that is needed to the incident (fire department, rescue and emergency teams, perhaps additional experts, decision-makers, crisis teams, local authorities) must be fully informed and alerted. With DAKS, group teams can be easily predefined for situations like these. They constitute veritable skill groups and are comprised of the various experts that are required to rectify specific disruptions and dangers. At the push of a single button the system will automatically call multiple phone numbers, send messages and switch public-address announcements via loudspeaker as well as voice announcements. Hence, the emergency responders arrive swifter at the scene where they are needed!

Depending on the scope of the incident, a crisis management group may need to be convened as well. DAKS handles the automated notification process and informs all team members using various media, e.g. over the phone, via e-mails and text messages, and can even switch together all responders in an emergency telephone conference.

Visualizing the workflows and graphically rendering the selected scenarios makes it easy for all staff at the security center to take action intuitively and effectively when every second counts.

DAKS also enables you to form groups that consist of persons or entire company buildings that risk being affected in an emergency situation. Whenever needed, DAKS will apply public-address announcements and other communications media to swiftly and effectively inform these preconfigured groups of the incident or hazard, and to let them know the necessary safety measures that need to be taken at once.

Depending on the current direction of the wind, all neighborhood communities must be determined that are affected directly by the impacts of the incident. In all of the these areas, the public must be actively warned of the particular dangers, especially schools, nursery schools and other public buildings and institutions. As soon as the responsible officer at the security center specifies the direction of the wind the system will suggest the specific groups that need to be alerted over the phone.

Your Benefits

To be optimally prepared in case of an emergency is one of the key benefits of using DAKS.

It is no secret that, when it comes to sensitive situations, a sound preparation, regular training and the automation of critical communications and alarm processes avert stress-induced errors otherwise capable of causing both serious consequences and cases of escalation. Also, every voice message that is created and recorded in a relaxed atmosphere in advance imparts higher safety and prevents panic reactions when calm is most needed.

The user-friendliness of DAKS additionally enables all emergency responders in security and control centers and to act and react intuitively.

When critical communications processes are organized and defined in advance with DAKS, and when workflows are grouped together technically and automated, you are empowered to respond and convene, rectify and alert quicker.