Dublin technology company Saadian has deployed an SMS technology across the emergency services in the southern regions of Ireland.
The new technology based on Saadian’s PagerSMS software product has already been used in communications surrounding Swine flu.
Saadian has deployed messaging-based systems for numerous emergency services and police forces in the UK, including a prisoner notification system.
Saadian’s PagerSMS is an emergency alert system designed to reach key personnel during a crisis. According to Inter-Agency, the adoption of the technology will reduce administration time by 60pc.
“Saadian’s Business2Mobile Messaging Service works by contacting staff immediately during emergencies, with dates and times logged,” said Cliodhna McGuirk (pictured), managing director, Saadian.
“It is measurable and more cost effective and secure to use this messaging system, which gives greater visibility and reliability to emergency response teams,” McGuirk explained.
This boosts emergency response times significantly and is being used to communicate with and mobilise hundreds of key staff such as the Gardaí, fire and ambulance services and local hospitals in an emergency.
“In an emergency, staff are overworked and under pressure, so this PagerSMS technology helps to reduce their time and administration by 60pc,” explained Peter Daly, chief emergency officer with the Inter-Agency Southern Region.
“Instead of our employees having to phone hundreds of staff to inform them of an emergency, this texting system cuts down on two-way voice conversations, which can hugely delay response times.
“It has also led to greater accuracy of information for staff. We chose Saadian as it is an experts in its field, and this has been borne out by the quick response and expert advice given,” Daly added.
Pager SMS technology from Saadian works by delivering a text message with a distinctive siren that rings continually until acknowledged by the recipient. It removes the need to carry two devices, thereby lowering costs and providing greater convenience and reducing time for emergency response teams.
“We have already used this PagerSMS and Business2Mobile technology for the Swine flu outbreak,” Daly explained.
“This system also ensures that the recipient has actually received the message, whereas in the past this would have had to be confirmed again by phone, which triples the workload. It also alleviates staff from doing more mundane administrative phone calls and allows them to concentrate on more critical work.
“It also allows us to use this technology to contact and mobilise our second level of response teams, which is ideal for GPs and voluntary agencies. It works well when notifying people of a voluntary search that is taking place, and when it has been called off. It also works to notify staff who are not readily on call and allows us to be selective in distinguishing who exactly we are alerting, ie night-shift workers.”
By John Kennedy
Pictured: Cliodhna McGuirk, managing director, Saadian
