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5 Ways To Deal With An Aggressive Person During A Response.

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Not all people we deal with will be happy with responders being present at the 'worst moment' of their lives. The anger which can make a person act anyway on the scale of 'Grumpy - Violent' can be hard to narrow down. Common triggers are frustration, humiliation, pressure, concern of privacy, perceived/real judgement from responders or mind altering substances. The list goes on. This article aims to give you some practical advice that you can use with your 'gut instinct' in order to make your responses more effective. 


80% of Communication is Non-Verbal - It is not always easy to get yourself to eye level, set up the scene and use the appropriate body language as you may be are in a dynamic environment where all these are determined for you and the person you are trying to help. Saying that, a warm smile, eye contact and some form of a reassuring posture (hand on the shoulder?) can be a great way to ensure you're using as much non-verbal communication skills to mitigate/de-escalate the situation.

Use your Voice - You would be surprised how speaking slowly, calmly and directly can help focus the person on you. This is also a great way to gauge their mental state to see if they will be responsive to your methods in de-escalating them down to a more manageable state. 

Empathy & Sympathy - The difference in these two points is that one is understanding and the other is acknowledgement. If you can't do one then do the other. Using snippets like 'I understand' , 'I know this is going to hurt so I'm sorry' can be powerful building blocks and can work on making the person feel like they are being understood and respected - thus de-escalating the situation. 

The Who, What, When, Where, Why - Questions, questions and more questions (whether about pertinent information or just 'batting the breeze') can be a great way to calm a person down as they feel as though they are being listened too and respected. You probably have found this out the hard way - ever notice when during a discussion with friends and family - once they start hounding you on questions your brain doesn't have time to still be angry and respond? 

Distance & 'Hands up' - Keeping 'about' an arms/leg reach distance away from a possibly aggressive person is a must. Even better - have your hands up with the palm towards them. This seems like you are being passive. Though in reality, having your hands up means you will be quicker to defending yourself if the needs arise. 

Optimizing your response team is why we created [D4H], find out more about the software that is optimizing response teams in 11 countries. Written by Adam Scott, EMT & Responder. 


Wearable Tech for Responders

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After seeing what’s available as far a ‘Tough tech’ goes at this years Emergency Services Show I thought it might be worth taking a look at some everyday wearable tech with what some tech commentators are calling the ‘Battle for the Body’.


We’ve talked about the many possible uses for Google glass back in April. Google's latest product certainly seems to be packed full of features that would be useful for responders, but what about the smart watch and other wrist mounted tech?

Perhaps Kickstarter’s greatest ever success story, the Pebble E-Paper Watch, started shipping around January/February (depending where you’re from) to the almost 70,000 people who backed the project and had the patience to wait.

Some have argued that the technology in the device has since dated. The pebble can be used as an alert to the wearer for incoming calls, texts or emails with a silent vibration. The Pebble has released it's SDK (software development kit), meaning lots more apps and uses for the E-Ink screen should be coming on scene shortly.


With many feature heavy wrist mounted technology available the wristband dubbed Nymi is a one trick pony, albeit with a pretty cool trick. Nymi confirms a user’s identity via electrocardiogram (ECG) sensors that monitor the heartbeat and can authenticate a range of devices, from iPads, secure access doors, gates and vehicles. 

With the ability to gain access quickly and keep devices secure without the need for keys the Nymi seems a pretty useful device for responders. Developers say the peaks and valleys of an individual’s heartbeat are harder to imitate than biometric systems, like fingerprints or facial recognition.


The rumours are true 'Gear is here' Samsung have beaten Apple to the punch in unveiling a smartwatch. Where the Galaxy Gear differs from the likes of the Pebble and other products is you can make and receive calls from the device, very handy when your phone is buried under layers of protective clothing. With the use of some nostalgia laced advertising its sure to be a hit.


We are saving this space as we wait with bated breath for the release of the iWatch. Lets hope it looks like this. 


Being at the forefront of technology is one of the reasons we built [D4H] - "Discover a better way to manage your response team".

Responder Training - Managing Difficult Students

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At some stage we have either taught, come across or been the student with difficult behaviour. We may have unwittingly been one or even purposely tried to be 'annoying student' - either through a lack or respect for the course, instructor or fellow students. This post hopes to shed some lights on the tips to dealing with persons who are being difficult. 


One of the first points I'd like to make is that we all (at some point) have been the 'Difficult Student'. While we may have had our reasons I would like to assume that most of us are actually pretty decent, nice and courteous people. The title is misleading - there are only students who have difficult behaviours as opposed to difficult students. Saying that, I am sure there are exceptions to this. 

Set Clear Parameters - Set clear rules and guidelines for what you expect from your students. For example; when to ask questions, your rules on mobile phones etc. 

Pathway to Passing - Tell them what they need to do to pass/excel and the most likely route to an easy success.  Don't reiterate this every ten minutes, as a way of controlling a class - this should only need to be communicated once. 

Act Quickly - If you have a student who is manifesting a difficult behaviour - act quickly, sharply but fairly to let them know that the behaviour is not acceptable. This ensures that the other students in your class do not have a huge negative impact on their experience. 

Don't just say 'Stop' - Usually the best method is to talk to the student in a 1-2-1 setting where you notifty them of what the issue is and offer them a plan moving forward. 

Optimizing your response team is why we created [D4H], find out more about the software  that is optimizing response teams in 11 countries. Written by Adam Scott, EMT & Responder.  

5 Applications for Drones in Emergency Response

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The use of drones in the US and across the world has become a contentious issue, with the simple use of the word ‘Drone’ conjuring up some dramatic war like mental images for many.


The technology used in Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) or drones has been around for quite a while, but it’s the combination and application that has caused concern. With the introduction of any great technology there are people who will try and use it's capabilities negatively, this is a fear with drone technology. With this post I wanted to explore how Drone technology could benefit humanity by aiding in emergency response.

While there are dozens of different types of drones, they tend to fall into two main categories: those that are armed with missiles and bombs and those that are used for reconnaissance and surveillance purposes. We will be exploring the latter!

1. Technology is neutral it’s the people behind the machine that dictates it’s actions. Already surveillance and transportation drones are being used in emerging countries to help solve problems facing residents, such as lack of infrastructure to warlords committing crimes against humanity.

2. NASA ‘Global Hawk drone’ has been used to great effect to inspects Tropical Storm Nadine. It released about 35 dropsondes, instrument packets that fall from the aircraft all the way to the ocean surface and measure temperature, pressure and wind speed. These measurements give scientists a detailed portrait of the cyclone. Live Science magazine tells us


3. The Defikopter, a drone that parachutes defibrillators to heart-attack victims and emergency responders. Created by German nonprofit Definetz the Drone is controlled by a GPS-enabled smartphone app, which lets users request an emergency defibrillator.

4. There is certainly merit to the use of Drones for SAR missions as a helicopter is not always available and when available is very expensive. AeroSee being a nice example of an ongoing UK based project. Most Americans support the use of drones for search and rescue missions (83% are in favour) and to monitor illegal immigration (62%).

5. Firefighters in Australia have started a year-long trial of camera-equipped drones. Produced by Australian firm Cybertechnology Melbourne's Metropolitan Fire Brigade will use the drones to monitor fires and incidents.

If properly integrated with other technological systems and supported by political will, perhaps drones will become less known for the lives they take and more for those they save.


To learn more about [D4H] Click here

Marc Healy - Head of International Business Development & Marketing

Do You Have Responder Experience and Knowledge to Share?

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Are you an experienced responder, emergency management professional or someone involved  in the emergency response sector? If you are and you feel that you have knowledge, experience or information about new product that you think the emergency response community needs to know about - keep reading.


The [D4H] Emergency Response Podcast is a regular free podcast (pre-recorded radio show) available on the Apple iTunes Store and our own website that aims to bring together the world of emergency responders through sharing experience and knowledge. 

Some previous [D4H] podcasts included;

Hazmat advice for the non hazardous responder.

Managing risk in emergency response  - on incident.

If you'd like to talk more about contributing to the [D4H] Emergency Response Podcast (including getting free 'swag') Contact adam.scott@d4h.org with a short story about you as a responder and what you would like to talk about. 

We Are Hiring - Customer Success Lead, Emergency Response

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Position Closed. 5th Nov 2013.

We are now looking for another ambitious team member to join our crew in the lighthouse - yes, we work in a lighthouse. You will work closely with the whole crew at [D4H] and be responsible for all aspects of ensuring our emergency response customers and their parent organisations are successfully using our product to capture and analyse the right data for when things go wrong.


Customer Success Lead
[D4H] Technologies build multi-award winning emergency response team management software and have experienced rapid growth around the world. Our international operation has had particular success in Oil & Gas, Coast Guard, Pharmaceutical, Emergency Management, and Local Government - we are firmly committed to growing our team size. We are now looking for another ambitious team member to join our crew in the lighthouse - yes, we work in a lighthouse. This role will give the successful applicant an opportunity to experience all aspects of a fast growing business.

We're still small enough, that as our next hire you will play a core part of our team; becoming a product expert with a wide range of responsibilities and challenges. You will work closely with the whole crew at [D4H] and be responsible for all aspects of ensuring our emergency response customers and their parent organisations are successfully using our product to capture and analyse the right data for when things go wrong.

You will project manage the on-boarding of new customers, ensuring timely roll-outs of their accounts, training, consultation, and configurations. You will consult with senior management in prospective and existing customers' accounts to understand their problems around logistics, equipment, training, incidents, communication, personnel, compliance, reporting, performance, and resource management. You'll analyse this information with your inherent understanding of these real-world problems to recommend and configure their software to provide an exceptional best-practice solution, data-capture, and work-flows.

Day to day you will be managing our Zendesk ticketing system and knowledge base to triage and solve customer success enquiries. You'll be working towards overall responsiveness improvements and identifying and encouraging product changes to reduce support workloads.

You will have the opportunity to influence the engineering, sales, and business teams as the representative of our international customers needs & perceptions. You'll shape our policies and procedures, and design & deliver training workshops both remotely and on-site. You will decide how we interact, educate, consult, and problem solve for our customers around the world.

You'll introduce new functionality developed by our R&D team by interpreting features into tangible benefits for our existing users; educating and informing them as to how they can solve real-world problems. You'll do this publicly by leading and evangelising the international incident response communities - through our blog, podcast, forums, conferences, and social media channels.

This position is based in our office at the Baily Lighthouse, Howth, Co. Dublin, Ireland.

Desired Skills & Experience
Ideally you've experience within at least one of public safety, industrial safety, or emergency management - having worked, volunteered, or studied in the area. A demonstration of the understanding of the culture, language, systems, risks, planning, and reporting within the market is beneficial.

Using a laptop, mobile devices, and the internet, should feel natural to you - you should be very comfortable in an online environment, be aware of the benefits and limitations of the internet, and have used web-based applications for daily work. You will be expected to quickly gain an understanding of our product, and be able to talk knowledgeably as a source of truth about it.

You should posses proven organisational skills and presentation experience. You'll be expected to take control of projects with lots of moving parts, and speak with authority to customers, prospects, and audiences. Candidates should enjoy communicating with people by phone and email every day, designing measurable processes, assisting end users, and continually learning and experimenting to drive us forward.

While not a requirement, there's lots of opportunity for a candidate who knows what looks good and can handle the production of graphics, video, and multimedia. We use screen-captures, screencasts, and video tours extensively throughout sales, on-boarding, and training. The customers' browser window is our shop window, product, and persona.

Our Values

- Outcomes, not incomes: Success is measured by tangible human outcomes. We ship insanely great stuff and expect it to convert to insanely great outcomes.

- Connections, not transactions: We encourage networking, co-creation, and collaboration. We champion the front-line responder by providing an incredibly deep and engaging technology experience for them.

- Creativity, not productivity: We create new value, not shift around the old. We work out of an actual lighthouse in Dublin Bay - come and see our culture for yourself. Don't forget your camera - the sunrise over the bay is awesome.

People, not product: We invest in people and always give real responsibility. Our weekly team sit-down is an open forum for sales, engineering, business, and international contacts to review and question the week's activities.

Company Description
[D4H] Technologies have developed a collaborative emergency response team management tool that helps record and analyze operations, members, equipment, and training. It replaces the widely-used paper and spreadsheet formats and automates the entry of information using internet-connected computers, laptops, and consumer smartphone devices.

The tool uses this data algorithmically to deliver reporting, team management and intelligent information to the field, and information on-demand. Where required, outputs can be formatted for passing on to governing and compliance authorities.

Through intelligent collation of the data from the 'front-line', [D4H] facilitates extensive analysis, monitoring and scheduling of training, targeting of resource allocation and cost control.

Applications
The position is now open for interviews and immediate start, salary negotiable. Applicants should send an introduction email with their CV or other considerations to robin.blandford@d4h.org using the subject line "Application for Customer Success Lead".

Top Five Fire Fighting Videos

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After seeing this amazing Ted Talk given by Mark Bezos, I thought it would be cool to put together my top five fire videos coming from the US and have people share there top five from around the world.  


If you've got 15 minutes to spare site back and take a look.


Volunteer firefighter Mark Bezos tells a story of an act of heroism that didn't go quite as expected but that taught him a big lesson: Don't wait to be a hero.


Nearly 100 firefighters battle a four-alarm blaze that injured several crew members in west Baltimore and turned a lumber company to rubble.


A Marshfield firefighter had to be rescued after becoming trapped while battling a three-alarm blaze in Scituate.


Crews were called to multiple homes on fire around 2am. As firefighters were working to contain the fire a burst hoseline allowed the fire to flameover the crew. Firefighters bailed out of the home and narrowly escaped a deadly situation.


A huge fire that erupted as Sandy ripped through New York City with near-hurricane force winds on Monday night destroyed dozens of homes in one of the city's most remote neighborhoods, officials said.

Want to know more about [D4H] Click Here

Emergency Responders: Dealing With Complaints

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As emergency responders we deal with a wide and varied amount of people. We have direct and indirect contact with many stakeholders from victims all the way to 'Rubber-Neckers' (Onlookers). It's safe to assume that sometimes people will complain about us and our services - either correctly or incorrectly due to ignorance. This post aims to help you deal with the complaints in an amicable way. 


Listen - Let whoever is 'bending your ear' at the time to articulate and finish what they are saying. Actually pay attention to what they are saying and don't spend time thinking about what your comeback will be. You never know - you may actually improve something with your team. 

Flesh It Out - Ask questions on why they are complaining but, more importantly, about the topic they are complaining about. By doing this you will have a chance to process what they are saying and understand it from their point of view. 

Take Ownership - Don't 'pass the buck' to someone else, don't play stupid. A simple 'I'm sorry that you had to experience that' can be a great way of showing the complainer that you care but without taking blame. 

Fix It - Tell them what you are going to do or if you are unsure how to help them you could always ask what you could do for them. If it is something that will take a while to sort out then take their contact details and say you'll follow up. Now comes the hard part - examine everything you have learned from the complaint, make changes/fix the issue if necessary and keep the complainer updated. You can't please 'all of the people all of the time' but you can show them you are listening. 

Optimizing your response team is why we created [D4H], find out more about the software that is optimizing response teams in 11 countries Written by Adam Scott, EMT & Responder. 


Train For What You Know, Not For What You Think.

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Typically emergency response training can be based around what responders perceive as the most important facets of their emergency responses and not what they actually respond to. London Ambulance services knows that 10% of it's calls are cardiac arrest related - this allows them to allocate resources and training in an appropriate manner. This post looks at this common but avoidable error.


As the below infographic shows - as humans we all place more emphasis on perceived threats rather than actual threats. This is a natural issue, but through critical thinking and logging of statistics we can ensure that our training is preparing us for what we are likely to face. 



1) Record what skills you are training your team in and what skills they are using on responses. Individual detailed reports are not important for this stage - what is important is the aggregate over a period of time. The longer the better. 


2) Review what is expected of your team and make changes to your training as you deem necessary. An example of a team that may have trouble on changing it's training schedule would be an Airport Fire Department. By the nature of their role - they train for a rare occurrence - so be aware of the limitations of your assessment/restructure. 

3) Constantly monitor your response area for new hazards or trends of responses. Adjust your training as new data becomes available. Be as proactive as possible. 

Optimizing your response team is why we created [D4H], find out more about the software that is optimizing response teams in 11 countries. Written by Adam Scott, EMT & Responder.   

4 Ways to Lose Respect as an Emergency Responder

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As you know not all the people we are trying to help are in a well lit room, lying in the supine position and A on AVPU. They are usually in the most awkward position imaginable and have other mitigating factors. It can be very hard to build a rapport when they are at the worst moment of their lives - It's even easier to lose respect. This blog post looks at four ways that respect can be lost by an emergency responder. 


Dishonesty - Is potentially the easiest one for even a great responder to unwittingly succumb to. It can be as simple as saying 'This won't hurt at all' as you check blood glucose or move a person with a suspected broken arm. This one mistake can lead to distrust, aggravted people or even being told 'where to go'.

Lazy/ Lacking Motivation - We've all seen this person on our team. They saunter into the response area and everything they have to do is a major inconvenience for them. If you can't find someone on your team who is lazier than you - then it could be you! This type of responder loses the respect of the people they are 'trying' to help almost immediately. 

Know It All - Some one who thinks they know more than everyone, on everything, and can come across as rude, unhelpful and inconsiderate. I remember seeing a responder dealing with an epileptic who refused to listen to them about their particular condition. The responder was quickly told 'where to go' and subsequently left with their tail between their legs. Be open to learning.

Lacking Confidence - A case happened in the UK where a responder broke down while treating an unresponsive child. It got so bad that the parent stepped in to to use a vacuum cleaner in an attempt to clear the airway.  The parent continued to control the situation while the responders couldn't take back control of the situation. If the emergency responder hadn't of broken down then the parent wouldn't have lost respect for them. 

Optimizing your response team is why we created [D4H], find out more about the software that is optimizing response teams  in 11 countries. Written by Adam Scott, EMT & Responder. 

Responders, Spreadsheets Can Actually Kill You

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This is a guest post created by Andrea de Vries, Communications Coordinator at Raven Rescue. Raven have been using [D4H] for a while now and were kind enough to share some of their experiences. 


It’s a medical fact that mindless data entry into spreadsheets leads to a heightened sense of paranoia, and ultimately death. No one really knows why this happens, but ineffective data entry that chews up time has led to the death of one well-intentioned administrator after another.

The cure? Find a system that is actually designed to handle the data with which you are “entering yourself to death.”

As Canada’s largest rescue training, equipment and service provider, we have very unique data to manage. We work with clients in emergency response, industry, resource, and outdoor adventure. Our training courses range from swiftwater to ice to confined space rescue. We operate year-round in every province, sometimes heading overseas to work with an international client. Equipment gear caches and course paperwork are constantly zipping across the country from one instructor to the next, while our three main offices in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario attempt to track the activity.


When we set out to find a more effective data management system, we had three priorities in mind:

  1. Instructor and standby personnel certification and qualification tracking
  2. Course material and gear cache tracking
  3. Incident and near miss report tracking

We’ve been using D4H for about a month now, and have implemented over half of our core goals. In the process, we’ve discovered other features that we’re excited to take advantage of – particularly member accessible instructor-support documents, powerpoints, and PDFs. Our personnel have responded positively to D4H as well. They like the intuitive nature of the software, and the increased sense of connection it creates between instructors and our administrative staff.

The implementation of member certification tracking (and the automatic reminders that are part of the system!) has already increased the inflow of paperwork from our instructors and standby personnel – which means we waste less time chasing from the office. Additionally, the equipment tracking function has saved us from purchasing more materials – instead, we’ve been able to request that instructors ship extra materials from their stockpiled supplies.

Each time we turn the corner in our explorations of D4H hoping to challenge its ability to meet our needs – voila! – the function we need is already in place. We’re looking forward to experiencing more improvements as we continue to implement D4H at Raven Rescue

By Andrea de Vries, Communications Coordinator at Raven Rescue

Collaboration During a Response

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Regardless of the type of team you are on at some point in your career you will have to work with another response team or organization. Depending on past experiences your thoughts on collaboration may be mixed.


In response the question should always be, how can we improve this situation? The answer may not always be obvious, however collaborating with seemingly unlikely candidates can help. Here's my advice for making collaborations work:

1. Stop Talking, Start Listening

No one likes to be lectured particularly while under stress. It puts people on the defensive and alienates potential allies. Typically other parties assisting in a response will have skills you don’t, if time allows let them share.

Efficient use of SMS and e-mailing can encourage good communication.

2. Respect Your Critics

Listen to your critics and embrace transparency. Situations will arise that you haven't dealt with before. When you’re doing something for the first time, it’s unlikely that you’ll get things 100% correct. It’s important to take the lesson and move on to the next task. 

Tracking data on interactions with other agencies can aid these learning experiences.

3. Agree to Disagree

It’s not possible for everyone to agree on all aspects of a response. Think of your partnership as a Venn diagram, and focus on the areas that overlap. Collaboration during an incident can be made easier through knowing what capabilities that are available to you.

Want to know more about [D4H] Click Here

Marc Healy [D4H] crew

Christmas Presents for Responders

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We know that Christmas presents are often about giving something thoughtful, something the person might not buy themselves. So I have compiled a list of gadgets for the outdoors-y responder.


Although we have some time left before the festive season kicks into gear, it's worth getting the creative juices flowing with a few helpful present suggestions. 


The Giant Swiss Army Knife has its very own place in the Guinness Book of World Records, due to its wide array of 87 implements, and unrivalled 141 functions. Do you want one? Yes! Will you ever use it? Questionable at best.


If the BHEESTIE does what it claims, it is a revelation. It is the portable equivalent of the old bowl of rice trick (with some added gusto). The bag contains moisture absorbing blue beads that are promised to revive your water damaged electronics if you administer the treatment quickly enough.


I mentioned the Biolite Stove in last year's Christmas presents post. Assuming you have all gone out and bought a stove, the new portable grill add on might be a nice way to add a little sizzling to your campfire.


I have looked through lots of portable water filtration containers and systems and the one I liked the most was the NDuR Survival Straw. I chose the survival straw as it’s cheap, very portable and allows you to drink from any container.


The Timberland Radler Trail Camper Flats - Timberland are known for their shoes, these aren’t just any ordinary shoes. The shoe is water-repellent, fitted out with a comfortable yet durable rubber sole, and features a zipper that allows the shoe to bend and close up into an easy to transport size and shape.

If you want to look at [D4H] before the Christmas period email marc.healy@d4h.org

Using Volunteer Responders to plug 'The Gap'

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Volunteer responders, in many walks of life, can be seen as place to put the people who couldn't make it to the full time paid services as well as many other derogatory statements. Many private organizations such as pharmaceutical companies use full time paid responders. Depending on various mitigating factors - volunteer responders may help your organization reduce down time, reduce costs and possibly save lives. 


The video below tells a story of how a volunteer organization has reduced response times, saved money and also saved lives. Watch it with a view to learning how volunteer responders could benefit your organization in a multitude of ways. 

Optimizing your response team is why we created [D4H], find out more about the software that is optimizing response teams in 11 countries. 

3 Compelling Facts About Business Continuity Plans

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Putting a Business Continuity Plan (BCP) in place can help organizations to minimise the impact of a business disruption on their daily activities - and an Emergency Response Team (ERT) is an important part to many.


The process of drawing up a Business Continuity Plan can help organizations to realise weaknesses they may not already have been aware of. It is also very important to ensure that any suppliers on which your organization is reliant have plans in place too.

The 3 facts:

  • The Business Continuity Institute’s 2013 report found that the leading impact following a business disruption is loss of productivity, with 55% of businesses who went through a disruption experiencing this.

  • A 2013 Business Continuity Study by the Chartered Management Institute found that 87% of managers whose organizations activated their BCM arrangements in the last 12 months agree it effectively reduced disruption.

  • The study also found that only 17% of organizations require business critical suppliers to have BCM in place.

At [D4H] Technologies we have robust products to ensure your Emergency Response Team is prepared  and informed 24/7/365.



Use Your Past Responses to Prevent Future Ones

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At some point, all emergency responders have muttered these words while back at the station during a quiet shift - "I'd love a good turnout now". Whilst it is understandable that we would like a 'good' turnout due to all the training we undergo, we should use this down-time to plan ways in which incidents can be mitigated so as to reduce down time, cut costs and save lives. 


A great example of using past incidents to mitigate future ones comes from a nursing home in Germany. The nursing home had an issue of patients with Alzheimer's disease wandering off grounds and then having to rely on external resources to help locate the patients. They established a fake bus stop outside their doors which has proven successful in stopping patients from wandering off. Check out the full story here

The first step in starting this process is to start collecting useful data (post incident) using structured reports, where the data can be amalgamated to provide useful information such as common victim statistics, common incident locations, types etc. After the data has been collected and analyzed, a task force can be set up to come up with mitigation solutions and  to start A/B testing those solutions to ensure your team are promoting the most effective ones. 



Optimizing your response team is why we created [D4H], find out more about the software that is optimizing response teams  in 11 countries.

Announcing: Response Team Communications Module

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Decisions [D4H] is now the world's best integrated platform for emergency response team messaging & notification. Send messages across multiple channels including Text Message, Voice, Email and more.


We’ve completely rebuilt our SMS and Email tools and combined them into a single communications platform. You can now instantly bulk-send the same message to the same recipients across multiple channels in a single click. By managing your team in Decisions you have the ability to communicate directly with those on-call right now who possess the skills you require, using the cell phone contact details they control.

What does this mean for your Emergency Response Team (ERT)? This means that you can select a list of personnel, check if they're on-call or off-call, filter them by group e.g. 'Medics' or 'Logistics' etc. and then broadcast a message to them by Text Message, Email, and Voice Call (recorded message). They can reply directly to a shared inbox without leaving the application.


Has a member's training expired? Target your communication directly to those expected to be qualified with the next available date. Did a member miss an activity? Target those who were absent with notes from the exercise. Do you need an on-call Driver? Target your drivers on-site right now.

Bring Your Own Gateway
We have adopted a ‘Bring Your Own Gateway’ model, giving your organization more control, more transparency, and better deliverability. As cloud communications have advanced to present-day, considerable per message price-drops have occurred making this possible.


Automatic Billing Top-Ups
Most providers - certainly Twilio - support Automatic Top-ups or Post-Pay. This means you can forget having to remember to top-up your account credit. It will take care of it all for you. Configure all this within the providers own interface.

Huge Price Discounts
While you may have to purchase a number with some providers (typically $1 per month), you should see per message prices drop down to as cheap as less than 1c in the United States. The UK may see messages as much as x4 cheaper - we know you'll be pleased with this.

Organization-wide Billing Control
We can help you to configure your account so the parent organization pays the bill and controls the costs for multiple teams. This gives both financial and reporting ability across sub-accounts with the potential to pool usage for volume pricing.


More Transparency
When trying to connect lots of pipes together, it's really important to be as transparent as possible. We now display full audit trails of every attempt at delivering to your configured provider. If your provider passes back a receipt to us, we'll also display that. We're trying to help you quickly understand where any difficulties are.

Shared Inbound & Outbound
The inbox and outbox are shared between all team members who have permissions to see that channel to give everyone the same view while planning and managing an activity. As a starting point, we've mapped the legacy system and kept Email available to all members (outbound & sent mailbox) and all other channels are kept restricted Owners, Editors, and Member+ (with SMS). In the future, we'll give you more granular permissions to control who controls each channel.


New Inbound Commands
As every team now controls their own account, we don't need personal pin numbers to identify you. No more PIN numbers, hurrah! Instead just use a 'D' to send a command. e.g. Text in 'D STATUS' to get back the status of your team or 'D TO ALL' to initiate a message to all your users. Read our guide.

Designed For Mobile
We've worked pretty hard to make sure the new communications module works well from your smartphone. We've implemented a responsive mobile design that resizes everything to make it easy to use on a small screen.


Your Own Team Number
Some of our providers support individual phone numbers for each team. When you add the provider, we'll let you purchase a phone number of your choice. Everything sent to that phone number, will appear in your team inbox. Configure multiple numbers with the same provider to have different priority levels and hence different alerting rules on your smartphone such as overriding do not disturb mode. 

Backup SMS
As you can now configure multiple providers, you have the potential to configure both primary and back-up providers incase one gateway is down. Some gateways allow you to sign-in directly and send messages from their interface - this will serve as a back-up to our system in case of emergency. We recommend all teams who use any system for notification in an emergency to have a regularly tested backup. 

What's Next?
Very soon we’ll be adding more recipient options, more channels (Hint: Ring-Ring! Hello?), and announcing a very special premium integration allowing you to communicate with anyone, anywhere, on any device through a special partnership with the U.S. leader in emergency notifications. Before our next feature-set, we'll pause for a while and gather feedback. Your feedback is very important to help us determine what comes next - please send it in to support@d4h.org.

Existing Customers: How Do I Try It?
As Account Owner, visit Settings -> Modules -> Communications to switch on and configure a provider.

Existing Credit & System
Once you have successfully tested the new system, and are ready to switch off the old - take a look in Settings -> Modules -> Communication. You'll be able to switch off the legacy SMS & Email modules when you no longer need them or have spent all your credit. If you still have any credit remaining on them, please contact us and we may be able to arrange something for you.

New Customers: How Do I Try It?
Why not download an information pack and we'll be in touch, call toll free phone 1.800.480.5103, or email info@d4h.org

5 MEME's for Emergency Response

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As everyone in the office already knows and soon you will to, I love MEMEs or MEMEs. So I decided to put my in-depth MEME knowledge too good use.


Hope you enjoy

1) Know your Qualifications


*Bonus pun. 

2) Managing incident reports


3) Create statistics


4) Manage Training exercises


5) Track people involved 


Marc Healy [D4H] Crew

Case Study From The North Pole

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'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house, not a creature was stirring not even a mouse. The stockings were hung by the chimney with care, in hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there.


NORTH POLE EXCLUSIVE - One of [D4H] Technologies' long time customers shares his delight with the new Communications module. 

"We were so excited today to receive word that Rudolph is back to good health, and that Santa Claus himself has offered a case study of the new Voice functionality in the [D4H] Communications Module." said Natalie Marr - Customer Success Lead.

Press play and enjoy:


Have a great Christmas, and stay safe from all the crew at [D4H].

Support, as required, is available throughout the Holiday period over on support@d4h.org or you might be able to find the answer in our knowledge base.

Release Notes: Equipment Dashboard and More

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We've made some updates to the product over the holidays, that includes a new dashboard in Equipment and tweaking of the equipment section.

We've added a new equipment dashboard over the holidays to improve your experience dramatically. Categories now have their own page, and the alerts for expired, to monitor, due inspections, etc. are more prominent. One of our goals for 2014, is to be clearer about exactly what changes every time we release a new version - so here's a start.

Release Notes:

  • Addition of Equipment Dashboard and separate Categories List pages.
  • Page tours for Equipment Dashboard and Equipment Categories pages.
  • Addition of a hierarchical Supplier Reference Number within Suppliers for tracking parts.
  • Ability to edit the name of an existing Equipment Model.
  • Ability to customize the labels for Operational and Unserviceable status levels in Equipment.
  • Ability for customer success to have complete modular control over every component and menu item.
  • Removal of 'Extras' menu and introduction of 'Help' menu item.
  • Ability for customer success to switch off the Dashboard and customize the landing page.
  • Prevented Adding Provider in Communications if Communications Module is disabled.
  • Customer Success has ability to disable self-service module changes.
  • Page tours now with '?' icon instead of sequential number in bubble allowing the same tour to be used for multiple permission levels.
  • Dashboard content boxes handle long text better with ellipses overflows and no word-wrap.
  • Equipment module icons converted to typed 'Glyphicons' to improve load speeds and quality.
  • Glyphicons used for the menu header for Manage Access, Settings, and Search.
  • Bug Fix: Lost/Retired items were being counted under No Location on the Equipment Locations.
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