Rave Mobile Safety (Rave) released its 2021 Mental Health and Emergency Response Survey results. The findings show that Americans are concerned about mental health generally and want to see first responders, including 9-1-1 call takers, police, EMS and fire fighters, improve emergency response involving mental health crises.

As we continue into 2021, it's no secret we are still reeling from the aftermath and impacts that 2020 unleashed across the globe. That's why—now more than ever—it is critical that companies prioritize their duty of care plans, or risk falling behind for good. Below, we speak to Hugh Dunleavy, Senior Vice President, U.S. Operations and Chief Security Officer of Crisis24, a GardaWorld company, about crafting a robust duty of care program.

The last year has certainly shown businesses all around the world that they must be prepared for the unexpected. How they manage the unexpected is what separates those that sail through their challenges and those that let them significantly harm the institution. Being prepared starts with establishing an effective incident response program.

As we embark on the long-haul journey to distribute the COVID-19 vaccine to all Americans, addressing the communication challenges of this distribution has never been more vital for safety and coordination, says David Wiseman, Vice President of Secure Communications at BlackBerry. Here, we talk to Wiseman about the need for unified communications as states implement vaccine rollout strategies. 

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), NASCAR, the Talladega Superspeedway, state and local first responders, law enforcement officials, and local businesses recently held a tabletop exercise to test response plans around hypothetical public safety incidents on the day of the GEICO 500. 

Emergency operations centers (EOCs) are critical decision-making environments. It is vital that these centers have effective, reliable, intuitive technology to allow organizations to collate and interpret data, as well as plan and execute an appropriate emergency response to situations that can pose a danger to life, often with multi-agency involvement. So, when carrying out systems integration in an EOC space where the stakes are so high, how do you ensure you make the correct technology choices? Jon Litt, Senior Manager, Business Development, Government Solutions (US) at Christie highlights how the mission of the EOC is the number one factor to keep in mind.

International SOS recently released its Risk Outlook report, unveiling the top security risks for the international workforce in 2021. Here, we talk to Jeremy Prout, Director of Security at International SOS, to discuss how to protect the workforce against the top risks found within the report. 

My experience in the public safety sector has taught me that the only thing you can expect every day on the job is the unexpected. From civil unrest to natural disasters, unexpected events occur daily with little or no warning. When unforeseen or unpredictable emergencies occur, security departments are often called upon to help mitigate the situation. This can cause a sudden and massive surge in demand for additional manpower. So how can a security operation rapidly fulfill excessive labor requirements while synchronously managing the crisis at hand?