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Emergency response team launched

An emergency response system, designed to rapidly mobilise an entire response team in the event of a major incident such as a terrorist attack, fire, environmental catastrophe or a chemical spillage was recently launched in South Africa.

C3, a European supplier of NT-based converged communications platforms for call handling and e-business, launched its innovative application at Tel.Com Africa 2002. By sending and receiving phone, e-mail and/or SMS messages, the system assembles a major incident team in less than 15 minutes, instead of having to call team members one by one.

C3's Emergency Response application meets the critical requirements of organisations that need to assemble a major incident team quickly and efficiently. The C3 Emergency Response application is installed in a number of European companies in the oil and chemical industries, as well as the Royal Bank of Scotland.

How Emergency Response works

To use the C3 Emergency Response application when an incident arises, the active duty manager responsible for emergency mobilisation must first compose a message. If the mobilisation is to be carried out by phone, for example, he would simply record a voice message, (in as much detail as required), using a standard telephone handset, press a single button to send the message and then hang up. The Apcentia system will then broadcast a pager alert to all 'first line' team members to phone in and access the message.

If the alert is to be carried out by SMS or e-mail, the active duty manager would similarly compose a message and then hit a single button to send it to a pre-defined list of recipients. The C3 Apcentia system stores contact details of all specialists and can contact them immediately.

The Apcentia platform monitors the emergency situation: if a call is not acted upon, the system will automatically escalate and call alternative contact numbers or team members. The Apcentia Windows workstation displays realtime progress and the escalation will stop only when all team members have responded.

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