Public Comment Submission
All-Hazard Warning – Comment Docket No. 000609173-0173-01

August 18, 2000

I was recently a panelist on "All-Hazard Warning", held at DOC in Washington, on July 17th.

The roundtable brought together numerous experts on Warning, and covered the spectrum from emergency identifications such as Doppler radar, to warning delivery, to warning response.

I would like to comment on the warning delivery portion of the discussion.

Effective warnings must be:

    1. Timely, to allow time to take precautionary action
    2. Targeted to be pertinent to the receiver and to avoid "false" alarms
    3. Delivered with instruction

While no single warning system will cover all bases, the one that seems to be gaining the most widespread use and acceptance is a telecommunications-based system that can be geographically targeted.

These systems, available from multiple vendors, can deliver voice or text messages into a geographically outlined area with thousands of calls per minute. The warning delivered meets all three criteria above, and results in a very high percentage of the population being made aware of the issue with instructions in a very short amount of time. And, as an added bonus, the delivery comes over a medium that they are comfortable and familiar with.

In terms of cost, these systems are very effective in that the majority of the assets used to deliver the warning are already in place. Residences and businesses already have phones in place. Pagers and cell phones are already carried by a large percentage of the population. Billions of dollars have already been spent to assure that our telecommunications system is hardened and dependable.

The most effective warning system is one that relies on things that people already use everyday, such as telephones, pagers and cell phones. By depending on these reliable systems, the warning can be targeted, timely, and cost effective.

There are however two things that government and industry working together can do to improve the effectiveness of this type of warning system.

  1. Since many people are now screening their calls using Caller ID. Receivers of warning calls may not pick up the call because they do not recognize the phone number of the originating device. Hence, the warning goes undelivered.

    2. The solution to this would be for government and industry to standardize a number, such as has been done for 911, that would appear on Caller ID devices indicating that this is an urgent warning call.

  2. When seconds count, it is important that emergency calls be answered promptly. We suggest that a unique ring be created for emergency calls, creating a sense of urgency that the call be answered.

This option may not be technically feasible because many automated answering devices depend on the standard ring, but for residential numbers this may be viable.

Land-based phone lines have the ability to target fixed locations with warnings. However, with an increasingly mobile society, many people are exposed to hazards while traveling.

Cell phones need to be brought into the mix. This is due to the large percentage of people who now carry them 24x7. With cellular technology, it is possible to deliver a geographically targeted voice or text message to all cell phones operating within a cell. This technology is in its infancy and will shortly be available at beta locations.

In closing, the most effective warning system uses devices that are already owned, operated and depended on daily for other tasks. Please see to it that the most pervasive devices in modern culture – the telephone - is a cornerstone of any effective warning system strategy.

Submitted by:

Albert H Langsenkamp, CEO
Sigma/Micro Corporation
714 N. Senate Ave # 200
Indianapolis, IN 46202
www.R911.com
800-227-4462 x 6833
ahlangse@sigma-micro.com