Houses of worship face growing security threats and a unique balancing act: increase safety for their congregations while still offering a warm, welcoming space. Security managers within can use a mass notification system (MNS) as an important tool to prevent or mitigate violence within these vulnerable communities. This blog will discuss three ways houses of worship can prepare for emergencies with an MNS.

Make a Plan

Implementing or updating a preexisting safety plan is critical to the unique needs of your congregation. To develop or revise the safety plan, leadership should:

• Identify potential emergencies like fires, natural disasters, and security threats based on past experiences or common scenarios.

• Assess the size and layout of your facility and membership. 

• Determine appropriate notification solutions that best fit the needs of your congregation (network-based, facility-based, outdoor, or mobile notification).

• Establish a team to implement the security plan, develop preset alerts, and initiate notifications when an emergency occurs.

• Test your system regularly and improve your system based on lessons learned during drills or real emergencies.

EXTEND YOUR NOTIFICATION REACH 

Churches, mosques, synagogues, and other congregations draw large groups of people of all ages and abilities – some may leave their mobile phones at home or on silent mode during services and others may require special accommodations if they are deaf or hard of hearing. Extending your notification reach with audio-visual mass notification will ensure inclusivity and broaden communication reach in loud environments or areas lacking full PA coverage. The Alertus Alert Beacon®, a wall-mounted IP alerting device, delivers strobes, alert text, and audio that can be heard from several feet away. Paired with the LED Marquee, you will have peace of mind knowing that your message is getting heard and seen in widespread areas.

Leverage Existing Technology

With an MNS, congregations can unify existing security systems and IT assets to streamline communication. The Alertus System can be integrated with fire alarms, digital signage, and speaker systems, for example, to enable swift notification and evacuation in any kind of emergency. 

By developing and organizing a safety plan, assessing gaps in communication, and utilizing existing technology, you can protect your congregation members from harm via mass notification. Contact us to learn more about the Alertus System features, capabilities, and integrations for houses of worship. 

Resources 

Leveraging Mass Notification for Nonprofits: Chesapeake Church

Alertus works with many nonprofit organizations to provide audible/visual alerting solutions. Chesapeake Church, an Alertus customer since March 2021 and a vibrant congregation based in Calvert County, Maryland, decided they needed an extra layer of security for their congregation.

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Audible and Visual Notification 

Incorporating audible and visual notifications helps to overcome challenges such as loud environments, areas with high volumes of visitors, and buildings without existing PA systems, to ensure you reach those with auditory impairments.

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With visitors flocking to hotels, theme parks, resorts, theaters, and more this summer, it’s important to make sure everyone feels safe, including your staff and guests. Providing ways to call for help, report an incident, or spread critical information to guests gives peace of mind to your staff. Below, we highlight a few scenarios in which staff members can quickly call for help and notify guests and visitors in various emergencies.

Scenario: Unruly Guests or Medical Emergencies in Hotels and Resorts

To ensure the safety of front desk staff and receptionists in busy hotel or resort lobbies, discreet panic buttons placed on desks provide a direct and immediate way for staff to call for help in the case of an emergency. With the USB Panic Button and Multi USB Panic Button, staff can trigger emergency notifications from the Alertus System to integrated products or activate their mass notification system. 

Handheld devices, like the WiFi Panic Button, are useful for housekeepers, maintenance workers, property managers, and concierges when facing disorderly guests or assisting guests experiencing a medical emergency. These discreet devices connect to your existing wireless internet infrastructure and can be kept in a pocket or lanyard. Once pressed, they immediately call for help and send location information to security personnel and first responders. 

Learn More: Panic Button Solutions

Scenario: Severe Weather Threatens an Amusement Park or Outdoor Event

During the warm summer months, crowds flock to outdoor venues and amusement parks. Since severe weather can threaten to cancel, postpone, or temporarily pause events and operations, an effective outdoor warning system is a must. Amusement park attendants and emergency managers can utilize High Power Speaker Arrays (HPSA) to provide clear, enunciated notifications across large areas. The Mobile HPSA delivers the same capabilities but on a mobile trailer, making it convenient for temporary use.

Learn More: Mass Notification for Large Events and Amusement Parks

Scenario: Fire Danger in Theaters and Event Venues 

Theater fires can break out for numerous reasons, including arson, electrical faults, or kitchen accidents that threaten guest and staff safety. Smoke inhalation and burns are significant hazards; therefore, time is of the essence to activate and distribute emergency alerts. The Alertus Fire Alarm Control Panel Interface takes fire alarm event information from the fire panel, applies innovative logic technologies, and broadcasts messages over multiple communication paths.

Digital signage override is especially useful in communicating announcements in high-occupancy areas and is zoneable, so individual screens or groups of screens can be targeted to display alerts that display warnings and evacuation information to event guests in the event of a fire or other emergency.

Learn More: Mass Notification for Museums, Performing Arts, and Movie Theaters 

Ensuring that your staff is prepared to respond to emergencies with mass notification will give them confidence to react in threatening situations. They will be able to get emergency personnel on the scene quicker with one-touch activation solutions and mitigate and diffuse other potential emergencies. Contact us to learn more about effective solutions for the hospitality industry. 

University and college campuses saw an uptick in protests, demonstrations, and large gatherings this spring, some of which escalated and led to suspensions and confrontations with local and campus police. Protests involved students, faculty members, and outside visitors with no school affiliation, raising many safety concerns.

As we look toward the fall semester, maintaining order while allowing student groups to protest peacefully is paramount to ensuring the security and well-being of the campus community. One important component of a comprehensive safety plan involves establishing a reliable and wide-reaching mass notification system (MNS) allowing university leadership to communicate critical information quickly and effectively with students, faculty, and staff, and collaborate swiftly with first responders and local law enforcement. 

With mass notification, university leadership can monitor and provide timely updates about protest locations and disruptions to campus activities using mobile notification methods such as SMS/push, social media, and email. Preparing templates in the Alertus Activator App Interface ahead of time with mindful language can save valuable time when alerts need to be distributed quickly during campus unrest. Where violence may unexpectedly unfold, users can access the Alertus Recipient App to report incidents with their current location and send customized messages to emergency management. 

College and university institutions cover large geographic areas and operate across many facilities, so emergency notifications should also be distributed over outdoor warning systems like High Power Speaker Arrays to communicate with protesters if they must vacate an area, for example. Facility and network-based notification systems such as IP Speakers deliver clear, consistent emergency messages across indoor areas where announcements are needed to provide timely and consistent information about closures and potential safety threats.

Campus administration can also use mass notification to remind the community of important policies and protocols regarding conduct, assembly, and freedom of speech, unique to their public or private institution. For those feeling overwhelmed by the protests, mass notification can be used to provide information about support services like emergency hotlines, safe spaces, and counseling information.

Student activism and protesting on college campuses is not a new concept – protests of the Vietnam War, the South African apartheid, and the Iraq War, for example, have taken place at institutions across the U.S. over the years. Campus administrators can learn from the past to manage large groups, refine safety strategies, and utilize mass notification technology available today to communicate faster. 

Mass notification is critical in keeping your campus community safe and informed during protests. Protocols will vary by institution, but with an MNS, all campus leadership will benefit from communicating urgent information to the community about current events on campus, important policies, and support services. 

Alertus helps colleges and universities develop or enhance their MNS to respond to disorders that can arise from protests. Contact us to schedule a demo to explore solutions that help you communicate effectively during conflict. 

More Resources

Case Study: Virginia Commonwealth University 

Webpage: Alertus Campus Solutions

College and University campuses face many threats such as shootings, fires, severe weather, power outages, and intruders. They are also strapped with common challenges like aging building infrastructure and tight operating budgets. To protect students, faculty, and staff in emergency situations, institutions can invest in mass notification systems to quickly and effectively communicate life-saving information. 

Audible notification is critical for higher education institutions as it provides clear alerts to a widespread community regarding emergencies or general announcements. Audible notifications should be used to reinforce visual communications and fill coverage gaps where visual alerting methods are unavailable. 

Traditional overhead speakers and PA systems provide wide-reaching coverage but are limited to a central amplifier. IP Speakers offer more flexibility and can be zoned to send voice alerts to specific areas or select speakers across your campus. Speakers should be utilized in high-traffic areas such as:

• Auditoriums

• Residential facilities

• Parking garages 

• Libraries

• Student unions

• Cafeterias

• Labs 

• Classrooms

• Athletic facilities  

Whether your institution is looking to install new speakers or upgrade existing ones, you should look for the following features in IP Speakers: 

1. Ease of Installation: Retrofitting or installing dozens of new speakers in the interiors of hallways and residences is no small task, therefore look for IP speakers that provide power over ethernet (PoE) to simplify installation and provide resilient network connectivity.

2. Fully Supervised Coverage: Conventional PA systems can be challenging to maintain. The IP speaker provides constant status and readiness updates at the unit level and is fully supervised, so any issues arising from the device’s performance are reported to facility management. 

3. Capability to Retrofit Existing/Older Buildings: Indoor areas of older buildings, such as residence halls, can be transformed with IP Speakers, as they serve as an activation expansion point with two input and output relays to control other alerting appliances like strobes. IP Speakers seamlessly integrate with existing infrastructure, making it an affordable and modern choice.

The Veteran Affairs (VA) Tennessee Valley Healthcare System provides healthcare services at 21 locations across central Tennessee and southern Kentucky. They offer training for future healthcare providers and lead important medical research in health services, rehabilitation, cardiology, dermatology, oncology, and many more fields.

We spoke with Charles Pickett, Emergency Management Specialist at the Tennessee Valley Healthcare System, who leads disaster planning, testing, and staff education in these areas, and also assists the healthcare system when disasters occur.  

What challenges did the VA Tennessee Valley Healthcare System initially face that led to considering an emergency mass notification system? 

There was an active shooter event in which a Veteran shot himself in the head in the lobby of our Nashville VA Medical Center Campus. The healthcare system had no way of alerting the facility that an emergency was occurring. Since that incident, leadership decided to invest in a mass notification system that would alert staff and visitors to keep them safe. The Emergency Alerting & Accountability System (EAAS) also known as AtHoc, which is the VA’s system-wide SMS/email alert system, came about after this event. Our end goal is to integrate/complement the Alertus System with EAAS. 

What are some advantages you’ve discovered while using our solution? 

We now have the advantage of being able to notify a portion of a facility, the entire facility, or ALL of our facilities. We can target individual computers, teams, or sections within a facility as well. We are using Desktop™ Notification, IP Phone Integration, High Power Speaker Arrays (HPSA), the Alert Beacon®, IP Speakers, Hardwired Panic Buttons, and USB Panic Buttons. Utilizing these solutions within our facilities has helped us achieve system-wide notification that gives us control.  

Have you used or activated the Alertus system in an emergency?

Not yet, but we have come close. There was an instance in which we had to initiate a partial evacuation for a fire in a building. We didn’t purchase the Fire Alarm Control Panel Interface feature of Alertus at the time, but it certainly would have helped streamline the alerting process.

Do you test your Alertus System regularly?

I test my HPSAs almost weekly, and a full system test is scheduled quarterly. We use the Alertus self-reporting feature often.

What advice would you give to other VA sites, or generally to healthcare facilities, when it comes to selecting and then using a mass notification system?

I think it’s a simple answer in question form…What’s your plan to keep your family safe if they happen to visit you at work and an incident occurs? Would you like them and yourself to be notified as quickly as possible before conditions worsen? Alertus provides detailed instructions and early notification to people in and around your facility, so not only are your people notified, but the people around your facility in the community are too. If you don’t want you or your family to walk into a potentially bad situation, then this only makes sense.

What next steps does your institution have regarding emergency mass notification? 

Next for us is to make Alertus more robust. We will add more IP Text-to-Speech (TTS) speakers and Alert Beacons, as well as the Rapid Response Console and the Activator App to allow key personnel, such as VA Police, to activate the system while on patrol, should the need arise. Personnel in high-threat areas will be able to use their mobile devices to activate the system if they need to take cover and can’t reach one of the panic buttons.

Manufacturing environments can be widespread and loud, making reaching all employees working across your facility difficult in the event of a natural disaster, fire, security threat, or equipment malfunction. 

To ensure everyone’s safety, creating a plan for these types of emergency scenarios and investing in a unified, robust indoor notification system can help mitigate potential harm and demonstrate your commitment to the well-being of your employees. 

Step One: Devise an Emergency Action Plan 

When an emergency strikes, keeping your employees safe while maintaining business continuity is paramount. Planning with an all-hazards approach will provide long-term success, therefore you should create an emergency action plan (EAP) that highlights proper equipment operations, worst-case scenarios, and evacuation policies and procedures in a manufacturing setting. The plan should be tailored to the unique size and type of manufacturing facility you manage. All employees should receive annual training and copies of the plan to know what to do before, during, and after an emergency. 

Step Two: Outfit Your Facility with Impactful, Indoor Notification 

Traditional fire alarms and PA systems are vital in effectively communicating emergencies, but organizations can go further to provide wide-reaching audible and visual notifications. 

• The Alertus Omni-Directional Indoor Speaker is ideal for large manufacturing facilities and warehouses because it provides crystal-clear indoor, audible notification and can be targeted to notify specific areas, buildings, and passageways.

• An LED Marquee effectively displays vital and general announcements in large areas. Paired with the Alert Beacon®, these two devices provide legible, actionable information to all employees. 

To streamline emergency response, it is beneficial to unify your system so authorized users can activate and distribute notifications to many endpoints across your facility. Doing so will save time and lives.

Resources

Industrial and Manufacturing Solutions

Industrial facilities face a unique set of emergency notification challenges. Many operate in loud environments with large footprints, making notifications via cell phone or overhead announcement ineffective or in some situations even impossible. Alertus offers an array of emergency notification solutions to help you reach everyone across your facility in the event of any emergency.

Learn More

The Omni directional indoor speaker

Ideal for manufacturing facilities, Alertus’ Omni-Directional Indoor Speaker delivers zoneable audible notification for large indoor spaces and enhances communication with distinctive tones and voice messages to reach everyone during an emergency.

Learn More

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake recently hit New Jersey and was felt in the tristate region and parts of the northeast. It shocked millions of residents, disrupted school and work life, and caused flight delays. Unfortunately, area residents were left without official notification for some time — New York City officials sent the first NotifyNYC emergency alert 26 minutes after the earthquake hit, followed by a Wireless Emergency Alert 40 minutes later.

No critical damage resulted from the New Jersey quake, but it underscored the importance for municipalities to provide communities with adequate, timely warnings and updates to mitigate harm to lives and property.

How can cities improve their disaster response through effective, proven mass notification practices?

• Assess risks and plan ahead: Various regions will encounter different types of weather and natural disasters, so municipalities should identify and assess risk levels for extreme events that are unique to their areas, like floods, droughts, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornados, and tsunamis. Then, they should develop or modify a disaster preparedness plan tailored to the distinct needs of their community.

• Build awareness: Familiarize the community with the risks they face and actions they can take to prepare for natural disasters. This includes evacuation routes, what to include in emergency kits, important resources, and instructions for receiving emergency alerts.

• Focus on creating redundancy: While SMS text and email remain very important means of mass communication, it is risky for city leaders to rely solely on these channels. Cellular network overload, internet disruptions, and power outages can slow notification reach, therefore municipalities should add alerting layers to their emergency notification methods – digital signage, indoor and outdoor speaker systems, and VoIP phones, for example. Doing so will increase the chance people see/receive the alert, and may take it more seriously.
  
  

Features to look for in a mass notification system: 

• Mobile alerting: When determining a mobile notification solution, administrators should seek solutions that provide customizable preset alerts that can be sent quickly, and provide real-time reports on who receives the message. Cell broadcasting technology allows city officials to instantly reach a wide audience using geo-targeted mobile push notifications. Messages can be sent in bulk to multiple devices without the need for individual phone numbers or subscribers. 

• Outdoor notification: Cities must utilize outdoor notification, such as High Power Speaker Arrays (HPSA) to provide wide-reaching, clear notifications. HPSAs rapidly disseminate critical information to large, outdoor areas using Text-to-Speech technology, pre-recorded messages, or siren tones. Alertus’ Mobile HPSA provides the same features but functions on a mobile trailer so it can be easily set up and taken down for natural disaster notifications.

• Weather monitoring capabilities: While earthquakes can’t be predicted, we can track and better anticipate severe weather and other impending natural disasters. Threatwatcher™ broadcasts real-time weather updates and instant, site-specific warnings from AccuWeather Skyguard® Severe Weather Warnings, the National Weather Service, and Environment Canada National Warnings. These warnings can be delivered to users who receive SMS/TXT.

As the weather warms up nationwide, large festivals, outdoor events, and state fairs are drawing crowds. With high volumes of visitors passing through event grounds, it is critical to have an emergency mass notification system (MNS) in place to warn guests and staff of potential severe weather emergencies.

Spring weather can be unpredictable and swings quickly between warm and cool temperatures. Recently, rodeo-goers in Houston, Texas were caught in a rain and hail storm prompting crowds to run for cover, while Ultra Music Festival organizers in Miami, Florida were forced to shut the concert down early due to severe thunderstorms, strong winds, and flooding, and delayed opening the following day.

During severe weather events, it is important to communicate with visitors via push, SMS/TXT, and social media updates in order to provide cancellation/opening updates and instructions on what to do. Using personal notification methods ensures you reach a wide range of individuals whether they are on their way to the festival or are already there. 

Two-way radios are essential devices for event staff communication. The Alertus Radio Integration uses text-to-speech technology to provide clear emergency alerts to the appropriate personnel—no matter where they’re located on-site.

Outdoor warning via long-range speakers is a critical way to alert visitors of lightning or flooding and provide safety instructions. The Alertus’ Mobile High Power Speaker Array (MHPSA) is ideal for seasonal events and can be set up in just 15 minutes to provide far-reaching, attention-grabbing voice messages. The Greater Gulf State Fair in Mobile, Alabama prearranged messages to be distributed over the MHPSA in the case of an emergency.

Learn how you can prepare for emergencies and communicate effectively in unique, widespread environments like festivals, concerts, and fairgrounds with the Alertus System.

Outpatient treatment centers, psychiatric hospitals, and residential mental health facilities face unique emergency incidents that require swift attention from staff and first responders. Emergency managers must provide peace of mind to employees, patients, and visitors that they’ll receive timely alerts and assistance, no matter where they are located around the facility. 

Reliance on a PA system or email notification alone will only sometimes meet the unique needs of your facility. To improve emergency response, behavioral health organizations should continually assess their mass notification system (MNS) effectiveness to verify they are maximizing their system’s capabilities and reaching all intended audiences. 

Four elements of an MNS your mental health facility should strive for are:

1. System Unification: Centralize your mass notification system under a single platform for better organization, message consistency, and ease of use. Alertus’ net-centric alerting system incorporates web-based management and alert activation.

2. One-touch Activation: One-touch activation methods simplify and expedite your alerting process, allowing you to activate your MNS faster during a behavioral health crisis. Nurses located at desks and kiosks can press the Alertus Desktop Activator to activate and distribute alerts to specific devices or across the entire facility. The Rapid Response Console is another device that streamlines activation with multiple users.

3. Seamless Integration: Incorporate new, state-of-the-art mass notification products with your existing emergency communication investments, such as a fire alarm control panel, VoIP phone notification, access control, and desktop alerting.

4. Incident Response: Calling for help shouldn’t be complicated. With a quick press of a button, your staff can request help with the WiFi Panic Button. This effective incident response tool integrates seamlessly with the Alertus suite of mass notification products and many third-party solutions.

By customizing your system with the latest technology to reflect your facility's needs, you can better protect your residents, visitors, patients, and staff members when critical incidents occur in Behavioral/Mental Health settings. 

Resources 

Case Study: Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) 

HCMC is an integrated system that offers primary and specialty care, and notably, a large psychiatric program. Being spread across five city blocks in downtown Minneapolis makes emergency communication a crucial element in HCMC’s day-to-day operations. Read More

Video: The Alertus WiFi Panic Button 

Hospital staff faces numerous challenges every day. When a patient (or visitor) becomes violent, nurses and staff can quickly request help and backup by simply pressing a button. Watch Here

Spreading awareness during a crisis can be challenging in loud, widespread environments like chemical manufacturing facilities. However, you can mitigate harm from accidents and injuries by implementing a mass notification system (MNS) to share critical information. 

With a comprehensive mass notification solution like the Alertus System, you can rapidly disseminate emergency information to your entire facility for any circumstance — from severe weather to hazardous chemical exposure. The Alertus System easily integrates with your existing communication system to create a multilayered, seamless emergency response. 

Below, we will address common incidents in chemical manufacturing facilities and helpful Alertus solutions.

Fire/Explosions

In chemical manufacturing facilities, vapors and liquids can travel long distances and may ignite if they reach a flame or spark. Alertus’ NFPA 72-compliant Fire Alarm Control Panel (FACP) Interface connects your entire mass notification system. When activated, this innovative interface takes fire alarm event information from the fire panel, applies innovative logic/transformation technologies, and broadcasts messages over multiple communication paths.

Chemical Exposure

Many common solvents are toxic if inhaled, and inhalation of certain chemicals can severely irritate membranes in the eyes, nose, throat, and lungs. Seconds matter when these exposures happen, and chemical manufacturing facilities must be equipped to notify surrounding communities in case of a hazardous waste threat.

The Alertus System extends notification reach by offering leading audible and visual alerting devices:

High Power Speaker Array (HPSA)

Rapidly deploy intelligible emergency communications and announcements about the exposure via outdoor warning systems and provide clear instructions on how to proceed.

Alert Beacon®

Capture in-building attention from a distance with bright strobes and clear emergency tone sounders. ADA Compliant.

Severe Weather

Understanding how severe weather events could impact your facility and community is important. Gone are the days of relying on severe weather warnings from a weather radio or mobile device. The Alertus ThreatWatcher™ broadcasts real-time weather updates and up-to-the-minute, site-specific warnings from AccuWeather Skyguard®, Severe Weather Warnings, and from the NWS to multiple endpoints of the Alertus System.

LED Marquee

Instantly notify indoor employees about emergencies or regular announcements by displaying easy-to-read, actionable messages at a distance in loud environments.

Facility Accidents & Injuries

Working with heavy, powerful machinery and hazardous materials can lead to critical facility accidents and injuries. If not addressed immediately, these incidents can be extremely dangerous to employees.

The Alertus System significantly reduces emergency response times by activating all emergency endpoints with a button click.

Activation Buttons

Activate life-saving alerts directly from the floor in case of a catastrophic accident at a single point.

WiFi Panic Button

Quickly request help and share location information during equipment malfunction through this wearable device.

Omni-directional Speakers

Deliver zoneable distinct tones and enhance communication with intelligible spoken-voice announcements to inform building occupants of the emergency and how to respond.

Remaining proactive about your emergency preparedness plan and staying up-to-date on alerting solutions is a must. With a robust mass notification system, you can better preserve operations and protect personnel during emergencies.

Recent shootings and the passage of Alyssa’s Law in several states have motivated K-12 schools to invest in panic button solutions, while hospitals, corporations, manufacturing facilities, and other organizations are also implementing the new technology due to growing threats facing their facilities.

Recently named New Product of the Year by Campus Technology, the Alertus WiFi Panic Button offers employees peace of mind with a powerful incident response tool that puts the ability to request help in the palm of their hands.

The WiFi Panic Button provides:

• Location and User Awareness: A valuable feature in large facilities or campuses where location and user information are essential for a rapid response. The device is fully integrated with the Alertus suite of mass notification products to provide streamlined communication and coordinated response.

• Reduced Response Time: During a medical emergency, active shooter, or burglary, time is of the essence to protect your people. With the WiFi Panic Button, users can instantly and simultaneously alert security staff and first responders that an incident is occurring.

• Discreet Activation: A WiFi panic button allows for discreet activation, thanks to its sleek profile and size, and can be worn on a lanyard or fit directly into a pocket. This ensures that the alert is sent without drawing attention to the user.

• Accessibility: By eliminating the need for individuals to physically reach for a phone or other means of communication to call for assistance, a WiFi panic button can be activated by a quick press of a button. The device can be preconfigured for your organization’s unique needs, making it suitable for a wide range of individuals to use and increase feelings of safety in their workplace.

The WiFi Panic Button is an efficient and customizable mobile solution that enhances overall workplace safety. Schedule a demo to learn more about our variety of panic buttons and how they can help transform your organization’s mass notification needs.

OUR NEWEST SOFTWARE RELEASE IS NOW AVAILABLE!

We are delighted to share highlights from our winter 2024 software release, which provides improvements and integrations to enhance your emergency management solutions and protect your community. An exciting new feature we’d like to spotlight is our Shooter Detection Systems Integration, an inbound integration with Shooter Detection Systems (SDS) that allows you to send alerts when a shot is fired and use Custom Event Triggers to manage actions. 

More Improvements, Policies, & Integrations:

• MySQL 8 Migration: Infrastructure change to the Alertus Server. MySQL 8 will support future security updates and improvements (MySQL 5.7 is no longer supported).

• Preview for Text-to-Speech and HPSA Alert Services: Ability to preview audio and text-to-speech when sending a Custom, Preset, Emergency, or Desktop Activation to Alertus IP AVA and HPSA devices. Additionally, Text Pronunciations can now be previewed.

• WiFi Panic Button Improvements: Various enhancements include the capability to batch assign contacts to devices, a CSV import, a new Desktop template, and the ability to support BSSID wildcards for Device Assignment Rules.

• Redesigned HPSA Dashboard: The appearance of the HPSA Dashboard has been enhanced for better navigability and ease of use.

• Alertus Desktop 7.0 (Beta): Major redesign allowing configuration to be centrally managed from the Alertus Server. Includes additional customization options and support for Panic Forms and the new USB Multi Panic Button.

Alertus customers can view the full release details and download the software release by logging into help.alertus.com. This software release will help ensure your Alertus System is as efficient and effective as possible.

Educators are an important part of our children’s lives, but the growing threats facing K-12 schools – including active shooters, medical emergencies, and more – make their jobs much harder.

For over 20 years, Alertus has worked with hundreds of educational institutions to deliver impactful emergency mass notifications throughout academic, recreational, and administrative settings. 

A layered mass notification system (MNS) is the most comprehensive way to ensure everyone across your facilities or campus gets critical information when and where they need it. As the only company in the mass notification industry covering all four Critical Alerting Layers – facility, network, outdoor, and personal – Alertus enhances and extends mass notification reach to provide peace of mind to staff, students, and families.

Facility-based Notification

Schools can overcome challenges in loud environments such as cafeterias and gymnasiums through facility-based notification, including audible and visual alerts.

The Alertus System allows designated personnel to activate an emergency alert in one touch, regardless of location – reducing risk, as activators aren’t tied to vulnerable areas such as front offices or need to activate disparate systems from multiple locations.

With Alertus’ flexible, scalable, and reliable MNS, you can streamline emergency communication and response procedures by integrating building automation capabilities.

Alert Beacon®

The Alert Beacon is designed to integrate with LED signs, signaling devices, electronic door locks, and other external equipment. 

• Interfaced with third-party mass notification solutions through our open Alertus API and Common Alert Protocol (CAP). 

• Utilizes bright strobe lights and clear emergency tone sounders to grab the attention of building occupants. 

• Ability to display a custom emergency message and provide instructions on how to respond to an emergency.  

IP Network-based Alerting

Using existing infrastructure can ensure you reach your entire school population with consistent alerts while extending coverage to visitors and other guests who may not be accounted for in staff directories.

Alertus’ IP technology transforms a school’s indoor areas into a unified emergency communication system. Transform VoIP phones, computers, digital signage, and other network-connected technology into intelligent devices for instant communication throughout school grounds.

Send clear, enunciated emergency and non-emergency notifications in real-time without physically being at the PA system to activate.

Deliver highly intelligible indoor audio that can integrate with existing systems. 

• Deliver on-the-fly human speech synthesis, pre-recorded messages, and unique tones to alert teachers, staff, and students.

Send desktop notifications to all staff with just a few clicks by leveraging Alertus Desktop™ for your organization. 

• Solely alert staff to reduce student panic during a lockdown or emergency drill.

• Improve non-emergency communication for instances such as IT outages or school schedule changes.

• Provide bilingual alerting by using custom templates.

Transform office and desk phones into a unified emergency communication system.

• Digital PA: Send a real-time or prescheduled recorded message or an audio tone through the VoIP phone headset or speaker and display static or scrolling text.

• Panic Button: Leverage your VoIP phone as an emergency button to request help or trigger pre-set alerts in vulnerable areas such as classrooms or front offices.

• Network Coverage: Directly connect to your VoIP system for immediate alert distribution to staff without overwhelming phone networks.

Outdoor Warning

Immediate and intrusive notification ensures potentially live-saving information reaches everyone on sports fields, parking lots, outdoor classrooms, or playgrounds swiftly and effectively. 

Alertus’ innovative outdoor warning solutions feature text-to-speech (TTS) technology to ensure your ability to notify everyone across broad areas and provide real-time information.

A temporary PA system designed with features that meet the needs of K-12 grounds to provide intelligible and effective notification.

• Deploy giant voice emergency notifications for special events, including athletics and graduations.

Coupled with Alertus text-to-speech technology, these horns are multi-directional and fully zoneable to inform students and staff of an emergency and how to respond.

• Provide clear spoken messages and siren tones throughout widespread areas such as playgrounds.

Personal Notification

Reaching everyone across school grounds, regardless of location, through fast, multilayered, redundant alerting is vital to ensuring on-site safety. Alertus offers mobile phone apps for enhanced mobile notification between authorized dispatchers and end-users.

The Recipient App

Allows end-users to receive push notifications and quickly send geo-tagged incident reports to emergency management personnel via the panic button feature.

• Alertus integrates seamlessly with leading third-party personal recipient notification solutions, including Everbridge, Rave, and AlertAware.

Alertus Activator App

With the Alertus Activator App, all emergency notification endpoints can be activated on the go with just a click of a button — even when the dispatcher is away from the PA system.

• Quickly send emergency notification alerts to faculty, staff, students, or personnel via Android or iOS tablets or smartphones.

• Launch an alert to the Alertus Alert Beacon, Desktop Notification, VoIP phone alert, digital signage, Alertus Recipient App, and more.

Schools must communicate quickly and effectively to mitigate harm and destruction in an emergency. Outfitting your facility with an MNS or adding layers to your current notification system will provide your community better protection and quicker communication.

In 2023, there were 657 mass shootings in the United States, according to the Gun Violence Archive. With recent tragedies in Iowa, Nashville, Uvalde, and Philadelphia, it’s more important than ever that K-12 schools explore additional measures to protect their communities.

Alyssa’s Law requires public schools to have silent panic alert systems linked directly to first responders and law enforcement. First passed in New Jersey in 2019 and Florida in 2020, the law was named after Alyssa Alhadeff, a 14-year-old victim of the shooting that killed 17 people at Marjory Stoneman Douglas Highschool. Florida’s law goes beyond the initial requirements, mandating that panic buttons be mobile to empower teachers and staff to discreetly call for help no matter where they are located. 

Many states are following New Jersey and Florida; the law has passed in New York, Texas, and Tennessee, and is now pending in eight additional states. Across the country, other states have earmarked funding to make panic alerts available as a best practice. 

Alertus K-12 Solutions

Alertus works with hundreds of K-12 schools and districts across North America, equipping them with unified, multilayered mass notification solutions to communicate effectively and protect their communities from potential threats, including active shooters, severe weather, health outbreaks, and more. 

Alertus’ offerings – including Alertus Desktop™, IP Text-to-Speech Interface for PA systems, and a range of hardwired and pocket-sized activation devices – are designed to help K-12 schools automate widespread, instant alerting in an emergency. What’s more, Alertus lets schools activate all integrated alerting methods simultaneously, even without internet or cell coverage. 

Hardware, software, and mobile activation devices that help meet Alyssa’s Law requirements:

• WiFi Panic Buttons can be carried on a lanyard or discreetly in a pocket. When faced with a medical emergency, violence, or external threats, teachers and staff can quickly and subtly activate alerts and request help.

• The Rapid Response Console is a sleek, wall-mounted tablet that allows multiple authorized users to send or cancel preset alerts quickly.

• Through Alertus Desktop™ Activator, administrators can instantly send a desktop alert for incidents ranging from minor IT outages to critical emergencies such as a “lockdown” or “shelter in place.”  

• USB Panic Buttons allow faculty and staff in especially vulnerable locations, such as a front office, to discreetly and instantly seek help from their desks when faced with an active shooter or aggressive or disruptive visitors.

• Alertus Emergency Activation Buttons can integrate with the entire Alertus suite, creating a single point of activation for emergency alerting of your most imminent threats.

• With the Alertus Activator App, all emergency notification endpoints can be activated on the go with just a click of a button — even when the dispatcher is away from the PA system. 

Meeting Alyssa’s Law Requirements with Alertus and Raptor Technologies

Alertus proudly integrates with Raptor Technologies, the leading provider of school safety software, to help K-12 schools enhance security and satisfy Alyssa’s Law requirements.

The partnership combines Alertus’ notification solutions with Raptor’s robust emergency management and reunification tools, setting high standards for critical communication and response during emergencies. Any K-12 school utilizing Raptor Technologies can automatically send emergency notifications to all alerting modalities unified by the Alertus Mass Notification System via Raptor® Connect™. This new platform allows third parties to link with Raptor® Alert™, a mobile panic button for schools.

Alertus serves a wide range of customers from various industries with one common goal – to solve their mass notification and safety communication challenges. Our team of experts takes the time to meet with, discuss, and curate custom emergency action notification plans that fit our customer’s needs.

January 18 is “Get to Know Your Customers Day”! Read customer testimonials and case studies to learn how organizations and schools have addressed their pain points with the Alertus Mass Notification System.

Vanderbilt University

Vanderbilt is committed to campus safety and utilizes Alertus’ unified mass notification system to reach their community members when an emergency strikes.  

By 2010, Vanderbilt integrated the Alertus System with Everbridge to unify their mass notifications. Alertus offers seamless integration between its facility-based mass communication system and Everbridge’s personal recipient notification software, enabling centralized command and control of all notification assets under one unified system.

Greater Gulf State Fair

The Greater Gulf State Fair added Alertus’ Mobile High Powered Speaker Array (MHPSA) to its grounds to help with outdoor notification. The fair's Executive Director, Josh Woods, walks us through his experience working with the MHPSA and Alertus. Watch the video to the left!

Northwest School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing

Both students and some staff at Northwest School for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing (NWSDHH) Children are deaf and hard of hearing, so when it comes to emergency communication devices, audio-only alerts are ineffective. They needed a system that could provide both audible and visual notifications.

They looked into several notification systems while consulting with other organizations serving the deaf community to understand their experience with various mass notification solutions. After extensive research and weighing the pros and cons of each crisis alert system, NWSDHH determined that Alertus was the best fit for their emergency communication needs.

Testimonials

Are you interested in learning more about the Alertus System? Read other customer case studies for additional insight, or schedule a demo with one of our mass notification experts.

When an active shooter or intruder enters your building or a restricted area, you must be prepared to secure the premises, call for help, and communicate with your people. Integrating your Access Control System with a Mass Notification System (MNS) offers a robust approach to safeguarding occupants and assets and streamlining emergency response.

Access control provides real-time data on who entered the building, allowing for accurate headcounts and location-specific alerts during emergencies. This information aids responders in directing resources effectively and evacuating occupants efficiently.

With an MNS, you can broadcast critical alerts through various channels, such as mobile notifications and audible alarms. Paired with access control data, these incident notifications can be targeted to specific areas or individuals, providing clear instructions tailored to the emergency. If an unauthorized individual attempts to breach security protocols, the integrated system can also trigger safety alerts or lockdowns, preventing unauthorized access and potentially dangerous situations.

Interested in integrating your access control and mass notification systems? Make sure your MNS is equipped with:

Seamless Integration with Third-Party Access Control SystemS

Data exchange between building access controls and an MNS helps create a more secure, efficient, and manageable environment for individuals responsible for building security and emergency communications. Alertus provides industry-leading integration capabilities and partners with prominent vendors, integrators, and installers, such as Raptor Technologies, Genetec, and Axis Communications, to facilitate seamless integration. Integrations with the Alertus System are accomplished via input/output connections or APIs, helping you to get the most out of your security investments.

One-Touch Activation

One-touch activation is critical to emergency notification within the incident management cycle because it empowers staff across your facility, sends critical incident details to stakeholders, and ensures your system is scalable and cost-effective. Panic buttons can trigger emergency notifications from the Alertus System to integrated products, such as PA systems, outdoor speaker systems, VoIP Phones, and more, as well as activate third-party integrations such as text messages and emails. Alertus offers a variety of one-touch panic button solutions, including:

• Alertus Activator (IP Panic Button)

• Alertus Recipient App

• WiFi Panic Button

• USB Multi Panic Button

Incorporating building access control with an MNS creates a mutually beneficial relationship that strengthens the safety and security of any facility. The ability to swiftly identify occupants, effectively communicate an incident action plan during crises, and enhance overall security highlights the importance of this integration in improving situational awareness and safeguarding lives and property.

Alertus integrates with access control systems in many ways. Improve your campus safety and security, corporate solutions, healthcare emergency preparedness, and more, by watching our on-demand webinar on Building Access Control and Mass Notification.

On-Demand Webinar

Building Access Control and Mass Notification

In this on-demand webinar, you’ll explore the benefits of integrating Access Control Systems with the Alertus Mass Notification System to enhance your organization’s overall security and support your emergency mass notification objectives.

Watch Presentation

For over 20 years, Alertus has delivered innovative solutions to help organizations mitigate risk and communicate effectively during emergencies. We believe that, regardless of budget or resources, organizations should have access to mass notification tools that can save lives and protect assets. We are proud to serve more than 2,500 organizations around the world with products and solutions that support inclusivity, risk reduction, reliability, and immediate alerting.

Inclusivity 

In addition to serving customers directly, Alertus works with a deep network of international partners to help bring our mass notification solutions to a broader audience. Through our industry-leading capabilities, we are widely recognized for our innovative emergency notification assistive technologies. Mass notification should be available to all, including those who are hard of hearing or visually impaired. 

Alertus’ Alert Beacon® provides audible-visual alerting through flashing light patterns, on-display text messages, and text-to-speech technology. This device’s versatility allows it to be used in place of a conventional public address (PA) system, so if people aren’t at their desks, they’ll still receive vital information in an emergency. Through self-charging battery backup, the Alert Beacons are always ready when needed, and multiple connection options offer the best chance to ensure people get critical alerts even when the internet is down or the power is out.

Risk Reduction

Crisis communication during and after an incident is critical for mitigating harm. 

In settings such as K-12 schools, where instances of medical emergencies, violence, and external threats are rising, teachers and staff can use Alertus’ WiFi Panic Button to quickly request help and share precise location and user information with security personnel and administrators. From classrooms to cafeterias or anywhere on school grounds, the WiFi Panic Button facilitates a swift response via one-touch activation. These devices are discreet enough to wear on a lanyard or put in a pocket to activate alerts subtly, allowing personnel to keep their students safe in crises without attracting too much attention.

Reliability 

An effective emergency mass notification system should reach everyone in your organization, regardless of their location. 

Desktop alerts are a powerful tool for emergency notification. For example, hospitals and medical centers can notify all or select healthcare personnel for emergency or routine communications using customizable full-screen or partial-screen desktop pop-ups. Alertus Desktop™ Notification is a reliable way to send critical notifications without distressing patients or visitors.

Immediate Alerting

Time is of the essence when your organization faces an emergency. You need to send critical information to your community – and fast.

Alertus’ Activation Buttons allow organizations to set a button to a specific emergency scenario for easy and immediate system activation or to deploy a general emergency alert. Industries such as Industrial Manufacturing require a tailored approach, so when machinery accidents, combustions, or gas leaks occur, employees utilize Alertus’ Activation Buttons. When pressed on the production line, these buttons trigger the Alertus System, activating solutions such as Alert Beacons, High Power Speaker Arrays (HPSA), and Desktop Notifications to disperse potentially life-saving information.

While many companies can offer standalone alerting devices and systems, Alertus connects the dots – offering you
the ability to integrate disparate systems and enhance your existing assets with industry-leading alerting devices, all under one powerful platform. Our passion lies in delivering customizable, scalable, and affordable mass notification solutions because we know even a few seconds of warning can help save lives during an emergency.

We are proud to share that Campus Technology has awarded Alertus' WiFi Panic Button as New Product of the Year (2023). The magazine’s awards program honors outstanding product development achievements of manufacturers and suppliers in the transformation of education technology.

This year, schools and organizations of all sizes have started equipping staff with the Alertus WiFi Panic Button, a new personal device that ensures people can get help when and where they need it. The discreet and intuitive design makes it easy for users to press for help, and the WiFi-enabled button sends location information to responders to make sure assistance gets there faster. 

The Alertus WiFi Panic Button leverages a facility’s existing wireless internet infrastructure to minimize installation costs and can be pre-configured upon order – getting buttons into your people’s hands for simple, rapid deployment.

As the leader in emergency mass notification for over 20 years, Alertus Technologies’ integrated, modular mass notification offerings – including Alertus Desktop™, IP Text-to-Speech Interface for PA systems, and a range of system activation devices – are designed to help schools and organizations across all industries automate widespread, instant alerting in an emergency. The WiFi Panic Button functions seamlessly with the Alertus suite of emergency mass notification products and many third-party solutions. 

Kari’s Law requires that any calling device used by organizations in the U.S. must be able to reach 911 directly when dialing 911 from multi-line telephone systems (MLTS). The law honors Kari Hunt, whose estranged husband murdered her in a Texas motel room in 2013. Hunt’s 9-year-old daughter tried calling 911 four times from the hotel room, but her calls never went through, as the hotel required a prefix to be dialed on outbound calls.

While Kari’s Law was passed by Texas in 2015, it also gained momentum throughout other states such as Illinois, Maryland, and Tennessee. It was officially implemented as a federal law across the U.S. in 2020. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) can penalize businesses and organizations for non-compliance.

Kari’s Law applies to organizations that sell, lease, construct, install, manage, or operate an MLTS that was installed, manufactured, or sold after February 17, 2020. The statute isn’t retroactive, so it doesn’t apply to an existing MLTS installed before that date. Therefore, some locations may still require a prefix to be dialed such as “9” to call 911 until the phone system is upgraded.

RAY BAUM’S Act requires that a dispatchable location, such as a validated street address, hotel room, and floor number, is passed along with every 911 call to a public safety answering point (PSAP) or emergency communications center (ECC), regardless of the technological platform used.

RAY BAUM’S Act impacts MLTS manufacturers, owners, operators, service providers, PSAPs/ECCs, and state and local authorities.

What Types of Organizations are Affected by these Statutes?

• K-12

• Higher Education

• Government Offices

• Hotels

• Retail Facilities 

• Financial Institutions 

• Hospitals 

• Organizations with multiple locations

Since February 17, 2020, all MLTS manufacturers, importers, installers, vendors, managers, and operators must configure all new MLTS systems to meet the requirements of Kari’s Law and RAY BAUM’S Act.

For more information on these regulations, check out 911.gov’s Quick Reference Guide

Alertus VoIP Phone Notification

Alertus VoIP Phone Notification monitors when 911 is called and activates the Alertus System to notify on-site personnel that an individual on the property placed the call. This notification can specifically target a select group of individuals responsible for evaluating the situation, advising them which phone was used to initiate the 911 call and enabling them to determine the next steps. Alternatively or simultaneously, the system can initiate a general emergency alert across the organization without human intervention.

Alertus VoIP integrates with Cisco or Avaya to transform phone systems into paging or emergency PA systems by sending notifications to all or select VoIP phones throughout your facility. When an emergency occurs, on-site personnel can use their MLTS to distribute critical information and alerts. 

Alertus VoIP also integrates with legacy phone systems to send text-to-speech (TTS) notifications to phone page groups and existing paging systems. Contact us to find out more about our integration capabilities. 

November is National Child Safety Protection Month, which recognizes the potential dangers children face and the steps we can take to prevent harm. As a leader in mass notification for over two decades, Alertus has helped thousands of schools deliver widespread, instant alerting in countless emergencies. Mass notification is a critical component of an overall school safety strategy, so we’ve gathered various resources to help protect your students on school grounds.

Resources

Mass Notification for All, No Matter Your Budget

Alertus offers funding for vulnerable communities to help save lives and protect assets. Alertus’ Safe in Seconds Initiative provides Alertus Desktop™ Notification at no cost to schools and nonprofit organizations, and the Alertus Emergency Preparedness Grant Program helps reduce barriers for these organizations by providing hardware and software solutions.

Learn More

Alyssa’s Law Requirements 

Many states have implemented and are proposing Alyssa’s Law, which requires public schools to have silent panic alert systems linked directly to first responders and law enforcement. Alertus offers many solutions for schools to achieve this.

Leading products for K-12 schools include hardwired and wearable, pocket-sized activation devices; attention-grabbing Desktop Notifications; and our IP Text-to-Speech (TTS) Technology, which seamlessly integrates with existing PA systems, fire alarm audio control panels, and outdoor/wide-area speakers.

Learn More

Immediate Incident Reporting 

Time is of the essence during an emergency, so empower your staff with rapid incident reporting capabilities to alert students and district administration of threats. We offer a variety of incident reporting devices, including:

• WiFi Panic Button

• USB Multi Panic Button

• Alertus Desktop Activator & USB Panic Button
  
  
  
  
  

Indoor IP Solutions 

Transform your school’s indoor spaces into a unified emergency communication system with Alertus’ industry-leading speakers and integration solutions. Revamp existing PA systems to deliver clear audible alerts and unique tones to alert teachers, staff, and students. 

Learn more about our:

• VoIP Integration

• IP TTS Interface

• IP TTS Speaker

Contact Us