Veoci Blog

The incident command system (ICS), however, was developed in the 1970s, and while it’s been used and occasionally updated through the decades, it’s a good time to ask if we should update it again or if we can identify and address any of its shortcomings.

While emergency managers can effectively and efficiently respond to incidents and disasters, they can’t prevent events from happening. While it’s rare, emergencies can overlap and stress the response infrastructure emergency management teams have implemented at their organizations. What strategies can emergency managers use to respond to these unusual scenarios?

Two of the lesser known operations organizations and state and local governments perform are resource requesting and asset management. While these two operations aren’t well known, they are critical to daily operations for the organizations and governments that employ them, something the COVID-19 pandemic has only made more apparent. The importance of these operations doesn’t mean they come without their challenges. Certain steps in the processes associated with these operations can be bottlenecks, and the organizations running these operations should consider solutions that resolve and break those bottlenecks.

One of the most used pieces of tech in this industry are CADs (computer-aided dispatch systems). However, CADs are often closed systems that capture all the data emergency services need. But there is an opportunity for these systems (depending on how they're built) to integrate with other tools employed by emergency services.

Even after the pandemic is over, it is likely that the healthcare industry will see lasting effects from the challenges its institutions have had to overcome. The financial burden, PPE shortages, and telemedicine are just a few of the changes we can expect to see lingering in the healthcare industry.

As schools open up in the fall, exposure to COVID-19 is a serious concern for staff and the student body. Fortunately, with a solid self-reporting tool, members of the school community have a way to report potential exposure to the organization. 

As more and more organizations make the transition back to a physical workplace, there are many factors to consider to maintain the health and safety of employees. Fortunately, there are some steps workers can take to mentally and physically ease the transition back to work.

Organizations can't rush into the return-to-work process; it will require considerable thought and preparation. Preventing the spread of COVID-19 is a job all of us, not just medical professionals and public health departments, need to step into. As an institution, your organization can actively work towards reducing the likelihood of COVID-19 by catering its return-to-work to preventative measures like social distancing and screening.

Despite thorough emergency and continuity planning and responses, the fall semester is still up in the air. The SARS-CoV-2 virus is extremely infectious, and puts immense pressure on higher education institutions to find a safe approach for educating students in the fall. Some schools have already started exploring the idea, and have come up with a few key points and ideas to consider or include in a return-to-school plan.

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced many of us to completely reconsider and restructure our work lives. Eventually, however, we will return to a form of normalcy. For organizations, this means planning the return to work, and ensuring it goes properly. And because this will most likely happen before the pandemic is truly over, organizations will need to put strict measures in place to contain the spread of the virus.