By Kara Stamets, Content Marketing Specialist at Alertus Technologies

Each year, severe winter weather poses a threat to college and university campuses by creating safety hazards such as ice and power outages affecting roads, sidewalks, and buildings. While many areas across the country are experiencing snow storms and freezing temperatures, now is the ideal time for campus emergency teams to identify issues and develop guidelines for keeping the community informed during severe winter events. 

If classes are canceled based on weather forecasts and conditions, personal notification methods like text and email are instrumental in reaching your students, faculty, and staff wherever they are. As important as personal notification, network-based notification methods are also essential to alert those working or studying on campus.

Below, we provide a number of effective personal and network-based solutions for higher education institutions to utilize in inclement weather. 

Personal Notification Solutions

When severe winter weather threatens your community, it is critical to distribute location-based information as quickly as possible to students and employees so they can take appropriate action when facing the potential for icy roads, snowstorms, and freezing temperatures. Personal notification methods like text, email, social media posts, and push notifications are key to reaching broad audiences in one click. 

Mobile applications such as the Alertus Recipient App allows users to receive push notifications to their Android or iOS tablets or smartphones and offers a panic button for sending geo-tagged incident reports to emergency responders. So if an employee or student encounters icy roads while driving on campus, they can submit the location information through the app for leadership to be notified of the hazardous conditions. 

Posting to your institution’s social media channels is also important for reaching students and faculty who are active on these platforms. Twitter is especially beneficial for sharing short, concise updates on weather conditions. 

Enterprise and IP Network Solutions

To safely and effectively alert students, faculty, and staff working or studying on campus, leadership should leverage enterprise and IP network-based solutions to contact large populations about hazardous weather. Desktop notifications grab the attention of all computer users with full-screen or partial-screen pop-up alerts. VoIP phone notification transforms every VoIP phone into part of an emergency PA system throughout all campus buildings.

Schools with TVs placed throughout campus buildings and residential halls can get the word out quickly with visual and audible (on systems with audio output capabilities) full-screen Cable TV Override alert notifications. The TV override system complements existing public address systems to ensure reach in large areas and meet ADA compliance for individuals who are deaf or hard of hearing. 

A mass notification system is important in keeping your community safe and informed during the hazardous winter months. Ensure consistent alert messaging across your campus with personal and network-based notification methods.