In 2017 we have born witness to several major natural disasters, with on going consequences. Hurricanes Irma and Maria have hit American territories hard, with Puerto Rico still struggling to gain stability in Maria's wake. Central Mexico was devastated by an earthquake that caused the deaths of 369 people, and injured a further 6,000. And, most recently, Vanuatu island Ambae was evacuated of its 11,000 residents due to the threat of volcanic eruption.
Of course none of these events could have been prevented but, in their wake, we must take a look at how we can improve our responses to better aid victims and those providing assistance. As a visitor management software, Sine is examining how it can help you when dealing with a natural disaster.
At the click of a button you can export all currently checked-in visitors, sending their information to yourself or your OH&S personnel as a email, or printing out a physical copy. This way you will know who is on site, and will be able to a) complete a safety check that all members have evacuated, and b) have the contact information of anyone who goes missing.
From the moment an emergency occurs, the biggest issue is letting everyone know. Through the use of the SineWeb dashboard, SinePoint Pro iPad and the SinePro mobile app, you are able to instantly notify everyone who is checked into your site that an emergency has occurred. Mobile app users will get a push notification from the app, letting them know what has happened and, as the messages are completely customisable, how they need to respond. If your users are not using an app, they will still get an email notification using the email they provided on check-in. You can also send the emergency messages to any SinePoint Pro iPads you have on display.
As part of Sines mobile app, visitors are able to access the emergency evacuation information that you set as part of their check-in to your site. By simply clicking on their profile, they are able to call up these check-in forms again, and will know exactly where to go.
Power outage? Not a problem. The Sines webdash is completely accessible through mobile internet web browsers, allowing you the full Sineweb experience and all the important evacuation features from your personal device.
The biggest issue that faces rescue services and disaster relief is knowing exactly where everyone is. Being able to set up temporary check-in sites at different locations provides two big aids: 1) Using Sine to check-in people at disaster relief sites gives rescue services an instant list of every single person safely located; who they are, where they're from, how to contact them. Activity feed filtering allows rescue services to search for specific people. Visitors checking-in can be customised by visitor type (ie. refugee, aid relief etc) and check-in forms can be used to designate state of the visitor (aka. visitor, checked in as injured, healthy, needing aid.). 2) Using the same services allows rescue teams to track where volunteers and aid workers are currently located. Need a certain specialist in a hurry? Track their location through the dashboard and send them a message using the same service.
Through the use of the mobile app and geo-fencing set for each site, volunteers will be notified when they reach a site and will be able to instantly check-in without having to locate the local command centre. They will also be informed the moment they leave the site area, and reminded that they need to check out of the site.
With fully customisable forms that can be assigned by visitor type, you can ensure that every worker gets the right information on check-in. Need your first-aid people to go to a certain tent to receive gear? Assign it to their check-in form. Already have too many of a certain volunteer type, but know that they are needed at site B? Add that to check-in. Check-in forms can be set for whatever your requirements might be.
The last thing you need during a disaster is to lose track of all important assets. With Sines asset tracking system you can assign assets to peoples checked-in profiles and set up check-out forms that remind them to return the asset before leaving.
You have a lot of people on site, and you need them to check-in quickly but location services are screwy thanks to your site area, or other issues, so geo-fencing isn't working as well as you'd like. QR codes are the quick fix method of allowing fast check-in. Just set up your sites code at headquarters and your volunteers can quickly scan themselves in.
Desperately need certain workers/volunteers on site for a day? Send out an invite. By getting your workers to send you their information when they first arrive, you can upload every single worker/volunteers information into your system using CSV files.
Set up hosts by visitor type and ensure that your site co-ordinators are aware of everyone that checks in. Need help in a certain section? As the host of say, medical assistance, you are able to message every medical volunteer as they check in, or as a group, letting them know they are needed in a certain location asap.
Unfortunately, the use of visitor management systems like Sine won't be able to fix everything but, as the above has shown, we can be used to improve efficiency, security, and time management, all of which can be crucial in the first days during and after a natural disaster.
