The major emergency alert systems in use today
Emergency notification systems are designed to alert an audience to an emergency or other life-threatening or dangerous event so that people can be informed as quickly as possible so as to take appropriate steps to be safe.
When an emergency happens, there are six main types of emergency alert systems that are used to send information to people who may be affected. These are:1. Mass notification systems
A mass notification system sends recorded messages to landline phones to alert the person who answers to a nearby situation that they should be aware of. However as landline phone use is decreasing, there are fewer recipients of these sorts of messages.
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2. Wireless Emergency Alerts (WEA)
These are alerts sent from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as well as state and local authorities to peoples’ wireless devices, including mobile phones. Messages are sent to all cell phones in an affected geographical area.
3. SMS text systems
This system is used to send SMS text messages to numbers in a database that have opted in to receive both emergency and non-emergency communications.
4. Outdoor public warning systems
This is a system that uses stationary speakers and sirens placed throughout the community that will be activated in an emergency to warn people.
5. Color code alerts
Hospital and healthcare facilities often use color codes as part of their alert systems so they can communicate the type of emergency being experienced without alarming patients and visitors to the facility. They are a quick and easy way to let staff know what the emergency is so they can be equipped to deal with it.
Color codes sometimes vary between facilities, but these ones are usually pretty standard;
- Code blue - life threatening medical emergency
- Code red – a fire or a probable fire
- Code purple or pink – a missing child or child abduction
- Code gray – to alert security personnel that there is a dangerous person or criminal activity happening in the facility
- Code green - the hospital is activating its emergency operations plan
- Code orange – medical decontamination is needed such as a hazardous fluid spill
- Code silver – an active shooter
- Code black - bomb threat.
6. Organizational emergency alert systems
An organizational emergency alert system, such as DeskAlerts, is one that can be deployed in a business, school, healthcare facility or any other organization to communicate quickly with employees in the event of an emergency. These systems work by sending emergency communications to computers and mobile devices, using different communications channels, to alert employees to an emergency situation such as a fire, active shooter, natural disaster, chemical spill, bomb threat or other crisis.
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As an employer you have a responsibility to keep your people safe. When you have an emergency alert system in your organization you will be able to broadcast important information to employees alerting them in a crisis and providing timely information about the steps that they must take in order to be safe.
FAQ
What are the different types of alerts and what do they mean?
The different types of alerts include:
- Emergency alerts for fires, floods, natural disasters etc.
- Amber alerts when a child is missing
- Silver alerts when seniors re missing
- Ashanti alerts for missing adults who are too old for an Amber alert and too young for a Silver alert
What is an example of an emergency alert?
There are different types of emergency alerts that are issued by FEMA where a sound is played on devices to let people know about the situation. One example is an alert that is issued by the President of the United States of America.
What color alerts are there?
There are three main color alerts that are used in law enforcement in order to help locate a missing person or let the community know about potential criminal activities in their area.
These include:
- Amber alerts - when a child under the age of 17 is abducted
- Silver alerts – when a senior citizen is missing
- Blue alerts - issued to help capture an offender at large who has killed or injured a law enforcement officer
- Camo alert – designed to alert the public when a current or former member of the armed forces goes missing and could pose a threat to themselves or others.
