In this featured piece by Building Services Management, Terry Swanson, president and CEO of Singlewire Software, explains how incident management software helps organizations plan for and respond to building emergencies more effectively than relying on multiple disconnected point solutions. He describes how connecting detection tools like AI video surveillance, air quality sensors, fire alarms, and panic buttons to a single system speeds up the time it takes to notify the right people when an issue arises. Swanson details how organizations can prebuild custom messages for different stages of an event, from the initial alert to the all-clear, and broadcast them across existing hardware including desk phones, digital signage, and overhead speakers. He also covers how mobile apps, resource sharing, and real-time collaboration tools help organizations manage an incident from detection through resolution and communicate with people both inside and outside a building.
Key Takeaways
- Terry Swanson, president and CEO of Singlewire Software, writes that using multiple disconnected point solutions to manage building emergencies can create more complexity than having no plan at all.
- Incident management software can connect to detection tools such as AI video surveillance, air quality sensors, fire alarms, and wearable, fixed, or virtual panic buttons to speed up threat notification.
- Organizations can prebuild custom messages for every stage of an event, from initial alert to follow-up instructions to the all-clear, and broadcast them as text, audio, and visual messages.
- Robust incident management software lets stakeholders access shared resources like safety checklists and floorplans and collaborate in real time during an event.
- Mobile apps, SMS text, push notifications, email, and phone calls help organizations communicate with people working rotating shifts or away from a building during an incident.
Original Story
Planning for and managing fire and life safety incidents within a building is no easy task. Identifying problematic events, understanding how to share information, developing a response plan, and determining how to resume normal operations all require careful consideration to ensure a positive outcome.
Many organizations look to solve these problems within their buildings with specific solutions that address each concern. While it is good that organizations are taking the steps to prepare for and respond to these events, they may unwittingly create a larger headache for themselves than if they had no plan at all.
Checking a box looks good on paper but doesn’t always work well in practice. The more individual solutions within a building the more complex it can be to implement plans when events occur.