Intrado Safety Suite Blog Series Part 3: Creating a Smart Campus Leveraging Integrated Safety Solutions

It’s important for schools to have the right communication tools and safety systems to alert faculty, students, security personnel, and visitors in the event of an emergency. Because every second counts, schools should have solutions capable of directly and immediately alerting local PSAPs and first responders to quickly get assistance. In addition, schools benefit from integrating their on-premises devices such as VoIP phones, overhead speakers, digital displays, access control systems, fire alarm panels, strobes and more, with emergency alert processes and incident management systems.

Deploying technology solutions that offer robust integration help schools enhance their physical security and improve day-to-day communication. For example, choosing a solution that provides seamless incident management, 911 integration, unified bell scheduling, district-wide mass notification, one-touch lockdowns, desktop and mobile alerts, live and pre-recorded announcements, automatic weather alerts, and more – all while leveraging existing network infrastructure – but it may be hard to find a trusted solution that checks all these boxes. Intrado Safety Suite provides these solutions and offers years of experience helping schools create a smart campus environment to manage their emergency and non-emergency needs.

Intrado Safety Suite Use Cases:

• In-Building Notifications & Incident Management – Intrado Safety Suite provides a unique and tightly integrated solution for emergency notifications and incident management protocols. With Safety Suite, users can initiate emergency alerts, automated workflows, event-specific checklists, digital reunification, direct emergency alerts to 911 PSAPs, and more.

• In-Building Paging– Broadcast live, pre-recorded or text-to-speech alerts across overhead speakers, digital signage, and more to quickly inform people located within a school building and on-campus.

• Wearable Panic Button – Intrado’s Wearable Panic Button sends alerts to other button users and simultaneously triggers Safety Shield to notify your local 911 PSAP agency. This process transmits the device location and incident details which then get passed to the local 911 emergency communications center (ECC). The Wearable Panic Button helps schools comply with Alyssa’s Law, which requires public schools to implement a silent panic alarm capable of directly alerting first responders during an emergency.

• Scheduled Bells & Automated Alerts– Leverage your existing overhead IP and analog speakers to create unified scheduled bells, announcements, and drills (e.g. routine fire and lockdown drills) across your district. Consolidating bells, clocks and PA systems using scheduling technology helps cut down costs, saves time, and maximizes the use of existing communication equipment.

• Weather Emergencies– Alert students and faculty of severe weather emergencies with real-time alerts from the National Weather Service. Share pertinent information such as where to seek shelter, evacuation procedures, or school closure information with students and faculty located on or off-premises.

• Smart Building Detection– Connect smart-building systems like access control, fire alarm panels, cameras, and more to detect and alert improper building entry, motion detection, unauthorized presence, theft, fire, and other hazardous conditions.

• Dial Monitoring– Notify a person or department when someone dials a specific number, such as 911. In addition, Dial Monitoring helps education customers using MTLS systems to maintain compliance with Kari’s Law. This helps faculty and first responders know exactly which classroom or office the call was placed from and allows users to dispatch an internal employee to respond to the situation before first responders arrive on site.

• Mobile Notifications–An emergency can strike at any time, which is why it’s important to arm faculty and students with a notification tool that allows authorized users to report incidents and receive mobile notifications wherever they may be located. Solutions that support geofencing allow school administrators to send notifications to mobile recipients located inside or outside of the geofence, which ensures they get the right message at the right time.

• Visual Alerts – Visual notifications displayed across digital signage, desktop screens, and strobes help grab attention and inform people where to go and what to do during an emergency. In addition, they help alert faculty and students who are hearing impaired.

Interoperability is critical to saving lives in emergency situations, and Intrado provides the only true end-to-end solution for incident management by offering direct integration with local 911 and law enforcement agencies. Intrado's innovative solutions are designed to create a smart campus by improving safety and communication within the school community. With the aid of Intrado's award-winning solutions, crucial information can be swiftly disseminated to students, staff, parents, and law enforcement, allowing administrators to inform and help prepare all parties for any potential emergency. By leveraging Intrado's Safety Suite, schools can effectively enhance their emergency response capabilities and create a safer, more secure learning environment.

Contact us to learn how to leverage state and federal funding to meet new regulations and create a safer campus environment.