KastleAlert For Emergency Mass Communications

This mobile, crowdsourced emergency mass communications (EMC) platform from Kastle Systems provides facility occupants the ability to share information about emergency events.

Kastle Systems International, a provider of managed security solutions and services based in Falls Church, VA, recently launched a mobile, crowdsourced emergency mass communications (EMC) platform — KastleAlert®. This offering aims to help save lives in the critical five to 10 minutes after an emergency incident occurs, but before authorities arrive, by enabling a fast and convenient method for initial emergency reporting and the quick and comprehensive dissemination of critical information (including text messages, photos, and response protocol documents) to all building or facility occupants.emergency communication

KastleAlert is a fast way for a person in a facility to say something — the instant they see something — to everyone else in the space. With Incident Commander (situational emergency manager) controls, users quickly assess the emergency based on multiple immediate reports, issue live updates and direction to everyone affected, receive individual safety status, and control/lockdown building access through integrated access control functions.

Features of KastleAlert include:

  • Customizable message templates for situation-specific emergency notification
  • Configurable communication workflows for multiple event types
  • All-to-all communications, with pictures and highlighted Incident Commander communications
  • Geo-fenced and integrated “last seen” building access awareness to intelligently distribute information to the right people and enable accurate mustering
  • “Safe” vs. “Need Help” polling and self-reporting, with a directory for texting individual end users
  • Emergency document library for easy access and rapid download
  • Incident Commander building lockdown and post-event auditing capabilities

According to a 2017 FBI report, nearly half of all active shooter events occur at commercial/office workplaces, with 2017 representing the highest number of active shooter incidents in U.S. history. Emergency preparedness for commercial environments, including the ability to effectively communicate and share information during an incident, has never been more relevant and important. “Emergency preparedness and business continuity is a core competency for modern facility management professionals, all the more so with the variety of natural and man-made disasters we’ve seen in the past year,” said International Facilities Management Association’s (IFMA’s) then President and CEO Tony Keane. “Innovative solutions like Kastle’s mobile Emergency Mass Communications platform help facility management professionals make people safer and more confident in their workplaces.”

KastleAlert, as a crowdsourced EMC solution, is offered on a per-site subscription basis, rather than the per-user model, with the goal of being a cost-effective method for 100% facility population adoption of mobile emergency awareness and security practices, versus only security personnel. As a mobile platform, KastleAlert does not rely on landlines or desktop-based technologies that are ill-suited for time-sensitive emergency scenarios and eliminates many steps from traditional mass communications systems and processes.

“Kastle is committed to making spaces safer for those that own, manage and occupy them, with the smartphone as a core of our innovations,” said Kastle Systems’ Chairman Mark Ein. “KastleAlert empowers every individual to take a role in their well-being and safety, enabling them to say something — to everyone in a facility — during an emergency situation.”

KastleAlert is being introduced as part of KastlePresence, an intuitive Internet of Things (IoT) Smart Office Platform. Kastle’s security solutions include access control, video surveillance, visitor management and identity management, as well as a suite of mobile security applications, all integrated on an open, standards-based platform and supported by a team of experts 24x7x365.