The United States recently experienced a once-in-a-lifetime weather event, when temperatures dropped drastically to record lows.

The National Weather Service in Chicago predicted it would be the chilliest Arctic outbreak since records have been kept.

Biting winds caused the wind chill to hit life-threatening lows. In Thief River Falls, the AccuWeather RealFeel® Temperature was -77° F!

The real threat of the polar vortex was felt in the workplace as work days were canceled, employees called in, and the post office shut down.

The words “Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds” – but the frigid temperatures did, and as a result, delayed shipping for two days.

Severe weather is becoming a more common risk to businesses worldwide. Houston, Texas has had three 500-year floods in the last five years.

The California wildfires affected the agriculture industry, impacting wine, fruits, nuts, livestock, and poultry production.

The 2011 tsunami and subsequent nuclear event in Japan caused a suspension of production of Toyota, Nissan, Honda, Mitsubishi, and Suzuki.

If there is one thing we have learned from the most recent weather events, it’s that severe weather conditions can happen anywhere, at any time.

No matter the type of event, communication is critical during a crisis. It can be the difference between chaos and clarity.

(When disaster strikes, how will you notify residents of information that will keep them safe? The CodeRED solution from OnSolve provides the easy and reliable notification tools you need to be prepared. Courtesy of OnSolve and Vimeo. Posted Sept 2018.)

The latest white paper from 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Double Winner – OnSolve, titled “The Ultimate Guide to Inclement Weather Planning,” discusses the various types of weather phenomenon and best practices for planning for them.

This complimentary white paper covers response plans for:

• Snowstorms/Blizzards
• Torrential Rain/Flooding
• Hurricanes
• Tornados
• Fires
• Mudslides/Landslides

If you have a geographically dispersed supplier, employee or customer base, this information can be valuable to your overall organizational resilience.

Enhance your organization’s inclement weather plan with more information and critical steps from this guide.

The Ultimate Guide to Inclement Weather Planning: Every Incident Requires a Unique Response

Risk management means you’re prepared for an event and have procedures in place to limit impact, but you have to know what you’re facing and be prepared with a response.

In case of bad weather, risk management is often emergency preparedness. Do you know your severe weather risk?

Here are three ways to assess how severe weather could impact you:

1.    Check location-specific concerns from the past through a Google search.

• If you’re in the U.S. Midwest, you likely know tornado season is March – June.
• Similarly, coastal states should check hurricane and typhoon seasons.
• Make a list of threats and how often incidents occur.
• But don’t forget lesser-thought-of risk events like polar vortexes, severe thunderstorms, dust or hail storms, and blizzards.

2.    Look at your supply chain and their severe weather risks.

• Your office likely isn’t the only one who will face severe weather.
• If you get components or products from another state or country, you need to know what could affect them too.
• By listing risks for your supply chain, you can create back up plans if a crisis happens.

3.     Inventory operations that could be disrupted by a weather event.

• There are many areas of operations that could be affected by severe weather.
• If a power outage hits your call center, you’ll have angry customers on perpetual hold.
• If a tornado hits your distribution center, you’ll be unable to send out packages customers expect.
• Take an inventory of your operations and how severe weather could impact them.
• Then order them by possibility and impact.
• Power outages during storms are more likely than a flood in most cases, but a flood could be more devastating.

Regardless of your location, being prepared for a weather emergency is a crucial part of managing risk.

The threat of severe weather goes beyond just your base and can have long-lasting effects on your ability to maintain continuity of delivery.

The Ultimate Guide to Inclement Weather Planning: Every Incident Requires a Unique Response

Enhance your organization’s inclement weather plan with more information and critical steps from this guide.

OnSolve Takes Platinum in the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program

OnSolve

• Best Handheld Mobile Device Solution

• Send Word Now Direct (SWD) Direct emergency alerting and mass notification platform

• • • Best Mass Notification System-Software

• Onsolve

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards Program is specifically designed to honor distinguished government and vendor solutions that deliver enhanced value, benefit and intelligence to end users in a variety of government, homeland security and public safety vertical markets.

Over 130 distinguished guests representing National, State and Local Governments, and Industry Leading Corporate Firms, gathered from across North America, Europe and the Middle East to be honored among their peers in their respective fields which included:

• The Department of Homeland Security
• The Federal Protective Service (FPS)
• Argonne National Laboratory
• The Department of Homeland Security
• The Department of Justice
• The Security Exchange Commission Office of Personnel Management
• U.S. Customs and Border Protection
• Viasat, Hanwha Techwin, Lenel, Konica Minolta Business Solutions, Verint, Canon U.S.A., BriefCam, Pivot3, Milestone Systems, Allied Universal, Ameristar Perimeter Security and More!

The Annual ‘ASTORS’ Awards is the preeminent U.S. Homeland Security Awards Program highlighting the most cutting-edge and forward-thinking security solutions coming onto the market today, to ensure our readers have the information they need to stay ahead of the competition, and keep our Nation safe – one facility, street, and city at a time.

The 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program was Proudly Sponsored by ATI Systems, Attivo Networks, Automatic Systems, Desktop Alert, and Royal Holdings Technologies.

Early Bird Nominations are now being accepted for the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland SecurityAwards at https://americansecuritytoday.com/ast-awards/.

Comprehensive List of Categories Include:

Don’t see a Direct Hit for your Product, Agency or Organization?

Submit your category recommendation for consideration to Michael Madsen, AST Publisher at: mmadsen@americansecuritytoday.com.

2018 Champions Edition

See the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Champions Edition – ‘Best Products of 2018 ‘ Year in Review’ for in-depth coverage of the outstanding products and services of firms receiving American Security Today’s 2018‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards.’

Enter Early to Maximize Media Coverage of your Products and Services at Kickoff, and Get the Recognition Your Organization Deserves!

And be sure to Register Early for the 2019 ‘ASTORS’ Awards Presentation Luncheon at ISC East 2019 to ensure your place at this limited- space event!

Why the 2018 ‘ASTORS’ Homeland Security Awards Program?

American Security Today’s comprehensive Annual Homeland Security Awards Program is organized to recognize the most distinguished vendors of physical, IT, port security, law enforcement, and first responders, in acknowledgment of their outstanding efforts to ‘Keep our Nation Secure, One City at a Time.’

Why American Security Today?

American Security Today is uniquely focused on the broader Homeland Security & Public Safety marketplace with over 70,000 readers at the Federal, State and local levels of government as well as firms allied to government.

The old traditional security marketplace has been covered by a host of security publications that have changed little over many years.

American Security Today brings forward a fresh compelling look and read with our customized digital publications that provides our readers with solutions to their challenges.

Our Editorial staff provides a full plate of topics for our AST monthly digital editions, AST Website and AST Daily News Alerts.

The editorial calendar and AST’s high drawing website features 23 different Technology and Marketing Sectors such as Access Control, Perimeter Protection, Video Surveillance/Analytics, Airport Security, Border Security, CBRNE Detection, Border Security, Ports, Cybersecurity, Networking Security, Encryption, Law Enforcement, First Responders, Campus Security, Security Services, Corporate Facilities and Emergency Response among others.

These sectors are part of the new integration, where these major applications communicate with one another in a variety of solutions to protect our cities and critical infrastructure.

AST has Expanded readership into vital Critical Infrastructure audiences such as Protection of Nuclear Facilities, Water Plants & Dams, Bridges & Tunnels, and other Potential targets of terrorism.

Other areas of concern include Transportation Hubs, Public Assemblies, Government Facilities, Sporting & Concert Stadiums, our Nation’s Schools & Universities, and Commercial Business Destinations – enticing targets for extremist or lone wolf attacks due to the large number of persons and resources clustered together.

OnSolve is a leading global provider of SaaS-based critical communication solutions for enterprise, SMB, and government customers.

The company’s cloud-based software communications platform provides seamless and easy-to-deploy solutions for the exchange of critical information among organizations, their people, devices and external entities with use cases designed to save lives, enhance revenue and reduce costs.

To Learn More, please visit www.onsolve.com.