Networked Crisis Communication: Has evolved far beyond sending important messages during a critical incident 1 Session Objectives: Describe the factors leading to emergency mass notification systems becoming commoditized Review relevant theory and practices on alerting, warning and human behavior in emergencies and disasters Share Best Practices from 3 diverse Court systems and how they approached Mass Notification & enhanced Interagency notifications Review recent real world events and assess message creation and delivery Provide attendees with practical solutions to plan, assess and exercise the effectiveness of their own emergency warning and alert messages 2 Significance: Optimization of emergency warning messages by incorporating relevant academic theory could improve public response and save lives. Assessing the current status of messages, guidance and industry standards can provide insight as to the need for further training or for the development of industry guidelines in creating more effective emergency and disaster messaging (National Fire Protection Association, 2013). Comparing real world messages from a variety of sources can highlight examples of effective, compliant message templates versus those that are less effective and less compliant (U.S. Department of Justice, 2008). 3 1
The Problem: There is no source of training, development tools, or pre scripted messages for alerting that combines the best of investigative academic research (Mileti, Drabek, Sorenson and Kuligowski, et al) alongside the regulatory and experiential work of the FCC, DOJ, FEMA, the NFPA, the NCD and the NWS. Those performing emergency management duties with limited resource and knowledge currently have limited access to resources to improve either their compliance with standards or their competency in applying accepted theory. 4 Drabek there are essentially no true theories of emergency and disaster management but there are theories that are emergency management related (Drabek, 2004). In this vein, there are no theories of creating effective messages but there are some theories that that influence this area of academic study Sorensen Sorensen provides a twenty year review of emergency mass notification systems (EMNS) and their evolution from large, broadcast horns and sirens to the voice/text/email messages of today (Sorenson, 2000). 5 Mileti Warning messages should be: specific, consistent, certain, clear and accurate Most of these studies believe the most important aspect of the process lies in its social and human component, particularly how the warning target population responds to risk information and how public risk communication can facilitate timely and proper response (McEntire, 2004; Mileti, 1995) people do not panic in disasters, they are mostly compliant with official messages if they recognize the authority of the source of the message, understand the situation, personalize the threat and are provided options on what to do (Drabek, 2004; Mileti, 1995; Kuligowski, 2014; Mileti, 1990; Quarantelli, 2000; Wimberly, 2010). 6 2
Kuligowski The Basic Elements: o Who is providing the message? o What should people do? o When do people need to act? o Where is the emergency taking place? (i.e. who needs to act and who does not) o Why do people need to act? In a review of 162 literature sources from engineering and social sciences, Kuligowski concludes that, there is a lack of guidance on the use of mass notification systems in the most effective manner. She describes that there is a lack of information and guidance regarding warning and emergency message content (Kuligowski, 2014, p. 1). 7 Compliance Factors Who? Credible Source What? Description of threat/magnitude What to do? Protective actions/options When? Time of impact/duration of warning Where? Boundaries of impact area Why? Personal consequences of inaction 3-3-30 Compliant 6th Grade Readability? Additional information available? Accessible format available? 8 The Data: Key Compliance Factors Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q5 Q6 Q7 Q8 Q9 Q10 Ave. % Total Poss Rank College University 1.4 1.3 1 0.9 1.2 0 1.4 1.7 0.3 1 1.32 66% 13.2 20 3 Emergency Management 1.6 1.7 1.3 1.7 1.4 0.6 0.2 0.6 1.1 1 1.12 56% 11.2 20 6 Fire Safety 1.9 1.5 1.4 0.3 0.2 1.1 0 0.2 1.1 1 0.87 43% 8.7 20 7 Health 2 2 1.8 1.7 1.6 0.4 0 0 1.4 1 1.19 59% 11.9 20 4 Law Enforcement 1.6 1.3 1.7 1.4 0.9 0 0 0 0.3 0.2 1.48 74% 14.8 20 2 Product Recalls 2 2 2 2 2 2 0 0 2 2 1.6 80% 16 20 1 Weather 2 2 1.4 2 1.5 1 0 0 0.8 1.1 1.2 59% 11.8 20 5 Average 1.74 1.61 1.48 1.45 1.24 0.72 0.22 0.35 1 0.97 1.07 Percentage 87% 80% 73% 72% 62% 36% 11% 17% 51% 52% 53% Totals 12.2 11.3 10.3 10.1 8.7 5.1 1.6 2.4 7.2 7.3 87.8 62% 87.5 140 Scoring: 0 1 2 points 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 14 9 3
Most alerts are compliant with some theory Alerts should leverage relevant academic theory to optimize message creation and recipient compliance with official directives. Message format should be optimized for the various modes of dissemination The Findings: Consider: the position of the source of the message, the type of threat, specific actions to take, risk/consequences of non compliance and timeline. Understanding the differences between modes (email, text and telephone messages) The characteristics of an effective warning must be understood more broadly by all those involved in operating an EMNS system 10 NIST 1779; 1827 NFPA 72, Annex M The Results Both describe the key characteristics that make up an effective message (National Fire Protection Association, 2013; Chandler, 2010; Mileti, 1995). Annex M: Guidelines for Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings and Campuses The material in this annex is based on the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Fire Protection Research Foundation research Guidance Document: Emergency Communication Strategies for Buildings, by Erica Kuligowski, Ph.D., 2014, as adapted by the NFPA ECS TC. 11 Lessons from Brussels Attack 12 12 4
Lessons frombrussels Attack 13 13 Lessons from Brussels Attack 14 14 Facts from UCLA Shooting 15 15 5
UCLA Shooting 16 16 AAR from Western Washington University Because these situations are dynamic and evolve rapidly, university communications offices, the university police department, or other appropriate departments will be required to quickly write coherent messages. However, it can take time to write and edit the information to fit within the 160 character limit for text messages. Furthermore, because clarity and accuracy of the information are essential, it would be beneficial to know whether students, faculty, and staff interpret and understand the information in the messages (via a pilot study). 17 17 18 18 6
19 19 20 20 21 21 7
Code Maroon https://codemaroon.tamu.edu/deliverystatistics.aspx https://codemaroon.tamu.edu/deliverystatistics.aspx 22 22 Take Aways: Message Planning is a big deal: Lives depend on it! NFPA 72 Annex M and NIST 1829 are required reading Multiple modes of communications targeting multiple devices greatly increase chances of message retrieval Text Messages should be truncated and formatted in advance specifically for better understanding and compliance Two way (info/intel) messaging improves tactical advantage Time to delivery and efficiency of phone calls is questionable 23 23 Alert Scenario Planning for Courts 24 24 8
Alert Scenario Planning for Courts 25 25 Interagency Collaboration Must be: Timely Unified/Integrated Without end user management burden Permission based 26 26 Judicial System Crisis Communication Network 27 27 9
Judicial System Crisis Communication Network 28 28 Session Summary Effective alerting and warning must be preplanned Theory and best practices are proven Threat and Hazard Analysis are the starting point Internal Notifications should target multiple devices as threat potential increases 29 29 Session Summary Planning matrices allow consistency and uniformity Cross agency alerting is essential but difficult No cost resources exist to expand notifications beyond your organization All plans must include training, testing & exercises 30 30 10
Bibliography Association, N. F. (2013, January). NFPA Standard 72. National Fire Alarm and Signaling Code. Boston, MA, USA: NFPA. Botterell, A. (2006). The Common Alerting Protocol : An Open Standard for Alerting, Warning and Notification. Precedings of the 3rd International ISCRAM Conference (pp. 497-503). Newark, NJ: ISCRAM. Dawson, G. (1993, March). A Comparison of Research and Practice: A Practitioner's View. International Journal of Mass Emergencies and Disasters, pp. 55-62. Drabek, T. A. (June, 2004). Theories Relevant to Emergency Management Versus A Theory of Emergency Management. Emergency Management Higher Education Conference (pp. 1-13). Emittsburg, MD: National Emergency Training Center. Gaylord, C. A. (2013, December). Emerging Trends in Mass Notification: A Comparative Study of Public and Higher Education Emergency Notification Systems. Long Beach, CA, USA: California State University. Mileti, D. S. (1995). Factors Related to Flood Warning Response. Research Workshop on Hydrometeorology, Impacts and Management of Extreme Floods (pp. 1-17). Boulder, CO: University of Colorado. Quarantelli, E. L. (2000). Emergencies, Disasters and Catastrophes Are Different Phenomena. Delaware, USA: University of Delaware, Disaster Research Center. Sorenson, J. H. (2000). Hazard Warning Systems: Review of 20 Years of Progress. Natural Hazards Review, 119-126. Witty, R. J., & Girard, J. a. (2014). Magic Quadrant for U.S. Emergency Mass Notification Services. Stamford, CT: Gartner, Inc. 31 Thank You! John Linstrom (650) 730-3815 linstromj@blackberry.com 11