Incident Communications

London Bombings - Rapide's Incident Management Solution

I am sure that you remember where you were when you heard about the London bombings. Many will have been sitting in an office, and after the initial confusion and anger, how many of you needed to find out if your staff and colleagues were safe? The natural reaction is to pick up the phone, and start calling people. But if you have responsibility for the safety of hundreds (or thousands) of staff working in multiple locations, or out on the road, those calls could take hours. Even if you did pick up the phone and dial, in a major incident like the London bombings it is highly likely that you will struggle to get through. Call traffic on the networks can rise very high – Vodafone, for example, experienced a 250% increase in call volumes on the morning of July 7th.

So your calls may simply not get through.

Several reports into the 7/7 bombings (and the 9/11 attack) reach the same conclusions – you cannot rely on phone calls for emergency communications in a major incident. Instead, the reports include:

• “SMS was the most reliable means of communication”
• “Text messaging is an effective means of communicating in a crisis”
• “Organisations should investigate text messaging transmission options and ensure that all staff are aware how to use these systems.”
Siemens Insight Consulting (www.insight.co.uk)

The Rapide Incident Management service was designed specifically to use the reliability and speed of text messaging to help you find out exactly what you need to know – are your staff safe?

From your desktop PC, or even direct from your mobile phone, in a few moments you can text thousands of staff. And our services capture the replies on screen – showing who has responded and is safe, and identifying which staff members have not replied and may be at risk.

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