If you’ve been around this blog for any length of time, by now you know that we at Invictus Consulting advocate for everyone to have an emergency action plan. An emergency action plan tells your people what to do in the event of various types of emergencies (e.g., active shooter, tornado, workplace violence); an emergency action plan will tell your people what type of emergency is occurring, where to go, how to conduct themselves, their role as relates to other people (e.g., teacher’s role in terms of their students), evacuation procedures and routes, and other critical information. The other critical aspect of an emergency action plan is drilling that plan with your people.
Today we want to talk about making your emergency action plan mobile. There are a few apps on the marketplace that allow an organization to put their emergency action plan and accompanying documents in an easy accessible and mobile place. Let’s face it – our people (whether it’s our teachers, employees, executives, students, third-party contractors) have their mobile devices within arms reach at all times. What better place to have your emergency action documents than on people’s phones?
When looking at the options on the market, think about the following:
- Is the information on the app secure?
- Can documents be uploaded easily when parts of the plan change?
- Can the app handle images such as floor plans, evacuation routes, and other maps?
- Can the app be used offline so that people can view emergency documents even if there is no internet available?
- Is the app user friendly so that your people can easily use the app during an emergency?
You can find apps on your choice of app store by querying “crisis manager,” “emergency management,” “incident management,” “crisis plan,” or “mobile emergency response plan”. At this point in time there are only a handful of options on the market, but we are hopeful that over time more companies will put products on the market to give users increased options. If you are an app developer, consider creating an app based on the bullet points above.