Do you have a good cardex?
Do you have a good what, some might say? A cardex? The cardex is the ancestor of your digital contact directory. At the time, all contacts were written down manually on a card and filed alphabetically.
In an emergency situation, it’s important to have a complete contact directory comprising several resources, both internal and external to your organization. It’s a data-gathering exercise that initially takes time to set up, but requires little maintenance effort later on, thanks to REZILIO’s CONTACT tool. Our cardex automatically updates all contacts.
WHAT INFORMATION SHOULD BE INCLUDED?
Internal resources
In terms of internal resources, all employees with a role to play in the event of an emergency should be listed, as well as those who may be called upon to help implement emergency measures during a major event.
At a minimum, the following information should be included: names, job titles, directorates or departments, as well as telephone numbers: office, mobile (business and personal ideally) and e-mail addresses. In addition, their function in an emergency situation, e.g. logistics manager or disaster services manager, if you work in the municipal sector.
Notes that could also be included include special skills such as: interpreter, specialized equipment operator, etc.
External resources
External contacts such as service providers and other external organizations such as a government agency, in addition to information related to the organization itself (address, website, contact persons, etc.), it might be useful to include service or mutual aid agreements in the event of an emergency. It would also be appropriate to know for what type of event this contact might be required.
For example, in the event of a drinking water supply interruption, a comprehensive list of all drinking water suppliers should be included in your contact directory. For example, in the event of an interruption in the supply of drinking water, a comprehensive list of all drinking water suppliers should be included in your contact directory. A simple search for the word “WATER” would bring up all suppliers and their contact details, as well as the supply contract agreed with them, if applicable.
Using an Excel file isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but today technology like REZILIO’s CONTACT makes it much easier to manage, not to mention the fact that this information is updated automatically without any intervention on your part. Imagine the time you’ll save, and the fact that this data is always up to date. So, once entered, you don’t have to worry about it – the system does the work for you.
CONTACT COUPLED WITH COMMUNICATION AND ALERT SYSTEM
When people and organizations are paired with the REZILIO communication and alert module, you will also be able to reach your contacts multimodally (SMS, e-mail, voice call), so you can send them standby messages, alerts or mobilize them, or find out their availability if their services are needed.
This complementarity makes your permanent emergency preparedness station even more robust, and gives you a fairly precise and rapid idea of the resources you do or don’t have available in an emergency situation.
Contacts can also be located by region, so you can use a polygon creation function to reach only people or organizations in a specific region. You can also use the sorting functions to select by job title or skill, if this information has already been entered when setting up your contact database.
READY FOR ANY EVENTUALITY
The contact directory is one of the BASIC elements of minimum preparation for any eventuality. It is essential to the success of an emergency response plan. RETURNS OF EXPERIENCE have often stressed the importance of having a complete and, above all, up-to-date contact directory. REZILIO’s CONTACT module is an essential tool in your response plan. Do you have a good version 2.0 cardex?
To find out more about how CONTACT can HELP you support your emergency response plans, click here.
REZILIO, a solution for all eventualities!
