Emergency Communication

1
Emergency Communication

• Betsy PillaEverbridge (formerly 3n)

1
2
The ability to communicate with employees,
customers constituents in moments
Healthcare Provider With 3 Hospital Campuses In
New York City Uses Everbridge to notify every
member of its Critical Staff. 100 of staff
members were NOTIFIED in seconds and 90
CONFIRMED receipt within 20 minutes. Before
Everbridge, this task took more than many hours.
3
Employees are your most expensive and most
important asset Employee Communication is step
1 to all BC/DR Pandemic Plans Employee
Accountability is your responsibility Communicati
ons tools give you the Ability To Reach Everyone,
Everywhere, Anytime and on Any Device High Speed
two-way communication Enables Faster Response and
Recovery Mass Notification tools eliminate the
search for contact information in a
crisis. Downtime costs money Communication
returns you to normal operations faster - ROI
3
4
Why Mass Notification
Connected Society Multiple Communication Devices

• Pre-90s phone, fax pager.
• Now multiple phones, email, BlackBerry, SMS, IM,
  etc.
• More devices decreases efficiency and increases
  complexity.
• With mass notification, every contact path is
  utilized.

Fortune 500 Financial Company With 2.8 Million
Customers Used 3n after the London Underground
Bombing (7/05) to reach its mobile employees and
notify its BC/DR team members of emergency
meetings.
5
Agenda

• Section One Incident Communication
• Introduction to Incident Communication
• Life Cycle (Six Stages) of a Crisis
• Introduction to Message Mapping
• Section Two Constant Reminders of Why We
  Prepare
• Southern California Wildfires Pepperdine
  University Life Cycle
• Hurricane Ike City of Galveston, TX Life Cycle
• Section Three Pandemic Preparedness
• Communication for a Pandemic Dos and Donts
• Handling Rumors

5
6
Do your BCPs include emergency communication
procedures?
Section OneIncident Communication
Source Forrester Research and the Disaster
Recovery Journal Market Study
6
7
Incidents are common and costly
62 of organizations experienced between one and
five business interruptions in the last
year. Minor unforeseen events interrupt
operations for approximately four hours. 34 of
organizations estimate that a major disruption
costs more than 100,000 per hour.
Businesses experiencing interruptions over a
12-month period
7
8
Incident communication pushes people, processes,
and tools to the limit

• Incidents are complex with many facets
• Each incident changes and evolves over its
  duration, requiring you to adapt your approach
• There are many types of incidents

8
9
Communication needs change throughout the
incident lifecycle
Chandler Six Stages of a CrisisTM
9
10
Building your Communication Plan
Where will you be when a crisis hits? Who
will you need to communicate with during and
after the event? What will you communicate?
When (and how often) will you communicate with
them? How will you communicate with them?
10
11
Message Mapping Strategy

• To construct a message
• 3-3-30 rule
• Goals of the message
• What action or behavior should result from the
  communication?
• Who is the target audience?
• What source will the message come from?
• What modalities or channels should be used to
  deliver the message?
• What is the actual message template that willbe
  distributed?
• What are the messages readability statistics?

11
12
Section Two
Constant Reminders of Why We Prepare
12
13
Crisis Southern California WildfiresCustomer
Pepperdine University October 2007 (and in 2009)

• 1,500 homes destroyed
• 500,000 acres burned
• 9 deaths
• 85 injuries including 61 firefighters
• 900,000 evacuees
• Temporary shelters created throughout Southern
  California

13
14
Pepperdines Lifecycle
748 am All residents asked to relocate 1038
am EOC team members asked to report to 1045
briefing 1151 am Community updated on status of
fire and reminded to stay put. Classes and events
cancelled
721 am Campus community notified. Students
instructed to remainin residence halls. Faculty
and staff asked to relocate
242 pm Students, faculty, and staff encouraged
to return to residences. Classes canceled for
next day Access provided to Student Health and
Counseling Centers
618 am EOC team is notifiedof fire and
resulting power outage and instructed to assemble
Next day Classes resume Post-incident analysis
of processes and communications
545 am A wildfire breaks out, engulfing areas
surrounding the campus Flames and smoke cause
closure of major roadways
14
15
Crisis Hurricane IkeCustomer City of Galveston
September 2008

• Third most destructive hurricane to make landfall
  in the United States
• Third costliest U.S. hurricane of all time,
  behind Hurricane Andrew (1992) and Hurricane
  Katrina (2005)
• 31.5 billion in damages for the United States,
  Cuba, and the Bahamas
• In the U.S., 82 people were killed, 202 are still
  missing

15
16
City of Galveston Lifecycle
Sept 14 952amCrisis Management Sent updates
during the crisis using geographically targeted
notifications (GIS)Sent messages via multiple
contact paths and confirmed message receipt
Sept 10 712pmWest End evacuation Sept 11
1045am Entire Galveston Island Evacuation
Emergency officials reached residents in record
time, increasing evacuation times from previous
crises
Sept 16 248pm Sept 16 520pm Sept 20
1047am City of Galveston sent re-entry
Instructions to its residents and businesses
Sept 10 - 1046amOfficials used voice and text
messages to mobilize staff including emergency
personnel and key officials
16
17
Lessons Learned from Recent Disasters

• Communication is key. There is no way to predict
  what will happen in every crisis situation, so
  proactive and continuous communication is
  critical.
• Communicate across all devices
• Communicate with all of your audiences Your EOC
  Team, Your Constituents, Fire, Police, other
  agencies

17
18
Section Three
Pandemic Preparedness
18
19
Potential impacts to your organization

• Rapid spread, leaving little or no time to
  prepare
• Prolonged effect (as compared to other natural
  disasters)
• Several months wait for vaccine development
  availability
• Medical facility shortages
• Sudden and potentially significant shortage of
  personnel to provide essential community services
• Workplace depletion

• Loss of workplace experience and knowledge
• Quarantine risks facility closures
• Infrastructure and support system slow-down or
  breakdown
• Supply chain/product distribution chain
  disruptions
• Transportation and public place closures
• Significant travel and trade disruptions

19
20
Communication Priorities for Pandemic

• Health Risk Communication Factors
• Communication Plans for the Pre-Pandemic Period
• Communication Plans in the Pandemic Alert Period
• Communication Plans for the Pandemic Acute
  Outbreak Period
• Message Creation and Message Mapping Plans for
  Controlling Rumors and Misinformation during a
  Pandemic
• Communication Plans for the Post-Pandemic
  Recovery Period
• Assessing Pandemic Communication Readiness

21
10 crisis communication mistakes

• Underloading or overloading messages
• Not testing messages
• Sending mixed messages
• Poorly-timed messages
• Wrong delivery channels

• Mismatched messages
• Failure to understand your audience
• Lack of transparency
• Failure to communicate
• Failure to have a pandemic communication plan

22
10 crisis communication best practices

• Balance ideas, information, and words in the
  context of a crisis.
• Test content, tone, and comprehension with focus
  groups.
• Create messages that are accurate and consistent
  and reinforce each other.
• Plan ahead and act quickly to communicate during
  the short window when people are most receptive.
• Account for changes to common communication
  channels due to quarantine, illness, and other
  pandemic effects.

• Create and send authoritative, accurate,
  forthright messages. Do not downplay risks or
  threats. Correct misinformation swiftly.
• Understand and adapt messaging to your audiences
  comprehension levels and motivations. Avoid
  jargon and sophisticated concepts.
• Provide factual, accurate information.
• Communicate proactively.
• Put in place a well designed, thoroughly tested
  pandemic communication strategy.

23
Message maps that will be needed to address H1N1
issues

• Communication and Contact
• Contacts
• Messaging
• Updates
• Policies and Procedures
• Attendance
• Benefits
• Illness Protocols
• Prevention
• Quarantine
• Telecommuting
• Treatment
• Antivirals

• Awareness and Education
• Caring for the sick
• Company Preparedness
• Prevention
• Virus Information
• Workplace Hygiene
• Crisis Team
• First responders
• Business Continuity
• Communication
• Operations

23
24
How do we prevent rumors?

• A crisis communication plan is the first step in
  preventing misinformation. Information must be

• Honest and transparent
• Coordinated and consistent across all levels
• Accurate and fact-based
• Timely and relevant
• Comprehensive and correct
• Proactive
• Credible

25
Preventing rumors with message maps

• When delivering messages
• Recognize and acknowledge anger, frustration,
  fear, outrage, or concern
• Provide 3 or more positive points to counter
  negative information
• Accept and involve the public and the media as
  legitimate partners
• Indicate through actions, words, and gestures
  that you genuinely share their concerns
• Listen carefully to what people are concerned
  about
• Convey compassion, conviction, and optimism
• Speak clearly, simply, and calmly
• Gain trust by admitting there are things you do
  not know

26
Responding to Rumors and Inaccuracies

• Determine what rumors are circulating - true or
  false
• Replace rumors with reliable information -
  Quickly
• Keep the level of response appropriate to level
  of the problem
• Overreacting to an isolated mistake will attract
  attention to the problem you are trying to
  correct
• Under-reacting to widely reported information
  that is not correct will compound the error
• Be careful that comments dont leave the wrong
  impression and that they are not open to
  interpretation
• If a rumor is confined to a small audience,
  correct it within that group dont create a
  major public event
• If a rumor is widely known and spreading, move
  aggressively and publicly to correct it
• Anticipate how the rumor might evolve in response
  to your efforts. Be as thorough as you can in
  closing off avenues for future rumors

27
Incident notification solutions addresses common
challenges

• Communicate quickly, easily, and efficiently
  with large numbers of people in minutes, not
  hours
• Use all contact paths especially when regional
  or local communication infrastructure is
  damaged or not working
• Ensure two-way communications for better
  visibility and planning

• Reduce miscommunications and control rumors with
  accurate, consistent messages
• Free key personnel to perform critical tasks by
  automating manual, time-intensive, error-prone
  processes
• Resume normal business practices quicker
  and more efficiently

28
You Are Invited

• www.everbridge.com
• Swine Flu Communications Preparing for the Fall
  Surge
• Swine Flu Employee Communications Truth and
  Transparency
• Brad Rebab How to restore your reputation after
  a crisis
• Swine Flu Best Practices
• The 6 Stages of a Crisis

29
The bottom line is that we believe the
dissemination of time-critical voice and text
information to anyone, anywhere, anytime on
virtually any wired or wireless endpoint,
immediately and interactively, is a
requirement. Ken Landoline Yankee
Group

• Betsy Pilla
• betsy.pilla_at_everbridge.com
• 636-529-1545
• www.everbridge.com

29