Situational awareness

What is situational awareness? (Hint: It helps everyone make better decisions.)

Situational awareness is your knowledge of events and conditions occurring at a given time and place. It also includes your ability to use current information to project what will happen. 

DIR-S (duress) is entirely devoted to boosting situational awareness for everyone involved in emergency situations. One of the most effective tools DIR-S provides to users is an interactive mapping system that keeps everyone up to date on the safety statuses of individual locations within the facility. 

When a DIR-S alert is initiated, all of the users connected to that facility receive a notification on their desktop and mobile devices via the desktop app or DIR-S app available in the App Stores. Upon receiving an alert, you are immediately prompted to indicate where you are and whether you are “Safe” or “Unsafe.”

Depending on your response, the room you are in will show up as green (safe) or red (unsafe). You will then see other users check-in on the interactive map and it will depict with pinpoint accuracy where the safe and unsafe areas are inside of the building(s).

Throughout an emergency situation, if a user’s location changes, they can update/change their location and status in DIR-S in seconds. 

Having clear and accurate information on the DIR-S maps gives base users, administrators, and responders the ability to account for everyone in seconds and immediately locate where the problems might be in the school. Users can then use that information to adapt their response to the situation to maximize both the effectiveness and safety of everyone involved.