Using LiveSafe, Hearst Prevents Loss and Gains Competitive Advantage at National Political Conventions

admin — Wed, 19 Sep 2018 15:42:43 +0000

Using LiveSafe, Hearst Prevents Loss and Gains Competitive Advantage at National Political Conventions admin Wed, 09/19/2018 - 11:42

Situation

Hearst Communications Inc., referred to as Hearst, is a leading American Mass Media company based in New York City, New York, with 20,000+ employees, including reporters, journalists and other editorial and broadcast media personnel.

Hearst broadcast media personnel covered the Republican National Convention and the Democratic National Convention in the 2016 presidential election cycle.

Challenge

In a very contentious political atmosphere where it was impossible to know in advance where security issues would arise, Hearst needed a means to anticipate security situations that could potentially impact deadlines for reporting and logistical operations for broadcast media coverage (which in turn could impact ratings and breaking media coverage), as well as communicate situations to broadcast team members.

It was important to Hearst to avoid dedicating resources to reacting to incidents, which could disrupt operations and result in lost media coverage opportunities. Instead, the company desired to leverage personnel on the ground to gain threat intelligence and proactively prevent potential incidents that could inhibit broadcast teams from completing their jobs.

Solution

Using LiveSafe, a leading mobile safety communications platform and risk mitigation tool, approximately 150 company reporters and other editorial and broadcast media personnel assigned to cover the conventions were able to stay connected through a customized mobile application. The solution allowed employees to share risk and security insights they encountered in real time with Hearst security personnel. It also allowed Hearst security to share safety updates, increasing the situational awareness of the editorial teams on the ground.

Using the situational awareness and intelligence gained from LiveSafe, teams were able to navigate around restricted access points, protest activity and changing security checkpoints, and communicate best locations to station trucks.

LiveSafe Force-Multiplied Hearst Capabilities at the Conventions

LiveSafe set up geofenced alerts, notifications and communications around the physical areas involved in the conventions. On-the-ground security updates were broadcast to the employees who were directly impacted within this geofenced physical vicinity.
LiveSafe created a custom user group to connect the 150+ personnel who came together to cover the event, hailing from news operations and organizations across the company and the country.
Hearst security was able to monitor the convention centers, gather insights, and increase situational awareness as a result of using the crowd-sourced intelligence from the LiveSafe user group; and communicate security updates to the group.
The Hearst security team also was able to exchange information with Secret Security and the FBI in real time.

Result

Using LiveSafe prevented issues and enabled Hearst to avoid set-backs at the conventions and help mitigate potential loss. Personnel on the ground and security staff benefited from better communication, and increased situational awareness resulted in the ability to attain more effective media coverage and competitive advantage.

LiveSafe helped on-the-ground teams avoid physical encounters or confrontations and better position for coverage in the right places.
Hearst’s journalists were able to access the convention floor faster than other media companies.
Stories were produced and deployed faster than other outlets, giving Hearst a competitive advantage.
The LiveSafe solution allowed journalists to increase the quantity and quality of stories.

Eve Burton, Senior Vice President and Chief Legal Officer at Hearst, had this to say about the value of innovative security as a primary business objective: “We were able to put the print [media representatives] together with the broadcasters who typically and historically have never seen their worlds as the same [which could be criticized as a contributor to media organization disruption]...here we had, all of a sudden, a business solution that had a security component, that integrated the two—and it actually allowed us to be sure that the number of stories, and the quality of the stories were actually better than the competitors, because they were still figuring out where to get into the convention centers.”

“Whether your job [at Hearst] is to be concerned about the safety of people, the cost of the truck, the insurance that takes care of business disruption, getting ratings on the air, being sure that you keep your towers up so that you’re on the air—that whole group of people came together and began to see that security is actually an imperative to business.”

Tornado Safety

admin — Tue, 30 Jan 2018 20:56:33 +0000

Tornado Safety admin Tue, 01/30/2018 - 15:56

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Nature's Most Violent Storms

Tornadoes can cause fatalities and devastate neighborhoods in seconds. A tornado’s whirling winds can reach 300 miles per hour and damaged paths can be in excess of a mile wide and 50 miles long. Every state is at some risk from this hazard.

Some tornadoes are clearly visible, while rain or nearby low-hanging clouds obscure others. Occasionally, tornadoes develop so rapidly that little, if any, advance warning is possible. Since there is not a lot of warning when a tornado might strike, it is especially critical to act immediately when alerts are issued.

In your Household

Move to the basement as soon as possible and get under sturdy protection such as a table or workbench. Stay away from windows and heavy objects.
If you do not have a basement, move to the lowest possible floor of your home. If there is an interior hallway, crouch there with thick padding over your head, such as a mattress or pillow. If there is not a hallway, find a small room, such as a bathroom and crouch in the corner

Mobile Home Residents

People living in mobile homes, even those with tiedowns, should seek safe shelter elsewhere at the first sign of severe weather.
Go to a pre-arranged shelter or talk to a friend or relative ahead of time to see if you can go to their home when the weather turns bad.
Talk to the mobile home park management about the availability of a nearby shelter.
As a last resort, go outside and lie flat on the ground with your hand over your head and neck. Be alert for flash floods that often accompany these storms.

If you are Driving

Never try to outrun a tornado.
If you see a funnel cloud or hear a warning issued on the radio or by siren, get out of your vehicle and seek a safe structure or lie down in a low area with your hands covering the back of your head and neck. Keep alert for flash floods.

School or Office Buildings

Learn the emergency shelter plans for office buildings or schools that you frequent. If there is no shelter, move to an interior hallway or small room on the lowest level of the building. Avoid areas with glass and wide, freespan roofs.
If you can not get into a basement or designated shelter, move to the center of the lowest level of the building, away from windows, and lie flat on the ground.

Shopping Malls

Go to a designated shelter area or to the center of the mall on the lowest level. Stay away from large, open rooms and windows. Never seek shelter in cars in the parking lot or parking garage.

For more information on tornado safety...

State Farm Insurance
Ready.gov

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