Safer Pipeline Operations: Smart Notifications for Faster Incident Response

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1 Brief Safer Pipeline Operations: Smart Notifications for Faster Incident Response 3n Global, Inc., All rights reserved.

2 Safer Pipeline Operations: Smart Notifications for Faster Incident Response Is Your Incident Communication Strategy Endangering Employee Safety? How much time is lost managing incident-specific call lists and using call trees to dispatch the appropriate responders? Do your existing tools automate message creation and identify who needs to be notified of an incident based on incident type, location, and severity? Are you able to audit in real-time every communication sent including who confirmed receipt, on what device, and when? Control centers undoubtedly have well documented response plans and procedures in place to handle daily or routine to emergency business interruptions. However, those same control centers still rely heavily on manual processes to enact them taking focus off incident resolution where it should be and relegating them to phone operators who first must locate who should get the message and what that message needs to say before they begin their call tree. These unnecessary and manual steps to deploy response teams cost Operations time, and time equals employee safety. This brief will discuss how the use of smart incident notifications gives control centers and operations personnel an automated means for efficient, consistent, and reliable communications with response teams during any incident - saving lives, time, and company assets. Smart Incident Notifications Defined When an incident is reported to a control center, coordinators typically refer to a well defined set of procedures or processes. However, execution of the response plan is often manual in nature and requires the coordinator to move focus away from the incident itself to dispatch the appropriate responders. Even when there are tools in place to aid in this process they are typically point solutions that require coordinators to use more than one tool to accomplish the task. The cost of these delays is time, which dramatically impacts employee and public safety. A comprehensive incident communication system automates these manual processes and eliminates the need to use more than one system by centrally automating response plan execution. 2 of 10

3 These automated communication systems include built-in logic that ensures accurate notifications are automatically created and distributed to the appropriate responders based on the control center s response plan for any given incident type, location, and severity, increasing the consistency, reliability, and timeliness of what is communicated to first responders. Incident communication systems also keep control center coordinators focused on the incident itself and drastically reduce the potential for human error. The system initiates burst callouts of these smart notifications via cell phone, , work phone, home phone, pager, text messaging, fax, and more using a configurable escalation process so the right responders get messaged regardless of device or location. A complete audit trail is available for every notification, including who was notified with what message and the result of each broadcast. 3 of 10

4 How Smart Incident Notifications Work How do you respond when a pipeline is struck by a mechanical object? Pipeline damage reported. Control Center responds The Control Center receives an outside call that an area of pipeline has been struck by a mechanical object. Extent of damage is unknown. The Control Center coordinator logs into the incident communication system and captures the caller s location, contact data, and pertinent details. The coordinator selects incident type, severity level, and location from a dropdown menu. The system automatically generates a message and distributes it to a pre-defined list of response team members. Appropriate team members alerted Response team members are notified via phone, pager, , text messaging, fax, and more within minutes. The system will continue to cycle through all contact paths until the team members confirm receipt of the notification. Field team responds Within minutes, the Control Center receives acknowledgement from response team members that they are en route. 4 of 10

5 Field team and management assess the situation Once at the incident site, the response team relays pertinent information to management via an instant conference bridge established by the incident communication system. The response team and management decide the incident does not require involvement of local fire or law enforcement, but does require a new message to be issued with a higher severity level. Status update sent The Control Center coordinator updates the incident severity level, triggering a new predefined message to be distributed to another pre-defined response team. Incident resolved Additional response team members report to the scene to address the pipeline damage, bringing the incident to a close. An incident resolution notice goes out to everyone who needs to know. Control Center reports on incident The incident communication system has logged and timestamped all notes, journal entries and communications (notification attempts, methods, and acknowledgements) from the initial call to incident resolution for reporting and analysis. 5 of 10

6 Why Smart Incident Notifications Work An incident communication system functions as the central notification center for operations-related emergency and routine communications. Automated incident communication systems address many common communication challenges associated with response to and management of incident communications (business interruptions) by automating process and procedures in place today. Incident Communication Challenges Common Communication Challenges Resources Highly manual processes that make human error more likely Executing response plans swiftly and consistently Advantages of Smart Notifications Automated, template-driven messages reduce errors Pipeline control centers select reported incident type, severity, and location from a dropdown menu Speed of notification Messaging effectiveness Reporting and compliance Inefficient call trees that are limiting in how responders can be communicated with Lack of consistency in messaging Knowing who should be messaged when Lack of visibility limited or no paper trail of notifications Manual report creation The appropriate information is sent to a pre-defined list of recipients, eliminating the need for coordinators to write messages and determine who should receive them real-time System contacts appropriate team members simultaneously Messages are sent via any contact path cell phone, text messaging, office line, home line, pager, and more to ensure team members are reached swiftly regardless of location or device type Message templates are pre-built System contacts team members with the same message Resource mapping automates an organization s pre-defined decision process View the status and report on the results of every notification sent Real-time reporting provides the detail required for quick, informed decision-making Audit trail of action, status, and resolution for every incident provides information for trend analysis and satisfies compliance requirements 6 of 10

7 Scalability Inadequate legacy systems or point solutions Reliable premise-based solutions that are costly and difficult to maintain Acts as central notification center for operations-related emergency and routine communications Platform and infrastructure enables usage to scale based on communication requirements SaaS (Software-as-a-Service) delivery model requires no software, hardware, or equipment purchases and no costly maintenance Reliable response plan execution Detailed response procedures and processes require coordinators to work from multiple systems Coordinator inability to focus on incident resolution Completely customizable to an organization s existing response procedure per any given incident Multidimensional matrix system configures to match message and audience based on pre-defined criteria, including incident type, location, severity, or other organizationspecific fields Ability to leverage current response processes make adoption easy Comprehensive incident communication systems provide many benefits across the company: Productivity Reduced incident response time. Respond swiftly and accurately to any incident by automating communications. Customer-defined messaging and responders are mapped per incident type, location, and severity at time of implementation. Resource management. Allocate the right response team in real-time based on incident type, severity level, and location - automatically. Protection Business continuity. Prevent communication mistakes that endanger lives. Disseminate critical information accurately every time regarding incident status, facility availability, and changes to standard operating procedures. 7 of 10

8 Critical operations. Mobilize response staff rapidly. Continuously coordinate with other groups as needed through escalations, both internal and external. Report ongoing status to key managers. Safety. Swiftly disseminate accurate information about the incident to field service personnel and prompt them to respond through two-way communications. The ability for a control center to automate message creation and notification delivery saves time and increases safety. Infrastructure resilience. Eliminate communication failure points through multipronged communication infrastructure and multiple points of broadcast initiation. Accountability Reporting. Ensure real-time reporting for all pipeline operation-related communications. Know who was notified with what message, on what device, and when and whether or not they confirmed receipt. Get clear visibility and audit history results for every notification sent. Recovery operations closure. Bring recovery efforts to an orderly close by sending out an all-clear message and closing out an incident response. 8 of 10

9 Everbridge Matrix: A Win/Win Solution Everbridge Matrix is a matrix-based messaging solution that enables you to quickly and reliably respond to, diagnose, report, and remedy business interruptions based on incident type, location, and severity. Everbridge Matrix automatically generates and sends appropriate message according to your processes per incident and provides realtime reporting of all communications. Highlights: Customizable to an organization s existing response procedure per any given incident Automates incident communications (built-in logic determines who to send the message to and what the message should say) via dropdown menus All communications (notifications and acknowledgements) are time-stamped Real-time journaling as event unfolds so notes can be logged and time-stamped for reporting purposes Centralized reporting on all incidents and communications for audit purposes Multimodal communications (cell, SMS, office line, home line, pager, fax, and more) with the ability to prioritize delivery method per employee 9 of 10

10 About Everbridge (formerly 3n Global) Everbridge, the world s recognized leader in incident notification systems, merges technology with industry expertise to help millions of people communicate in a crisis and connect on a daily basis. The company s notification platform and incident lifecycle communications model make communicating to many as simple and effective as communicating to one. Organizations in more than 100 countries including Salesforce.com, AirTran Airways, the American Red Cross, and Virginia Tech rely on Everbridge for their emergency notification and day-to-day incident communication needs. For more information about Everbridge, visit. Contact Us Everbridge technology + expertise of 10