There are many types of facilities which are adapted to accommodate large numbers of people. As examples, many facilities are used as places of employment, schools and gathering halls (among other functions).
During an emergency the operators of such facilities typically need to either get people out of the facility, or into an appropriate location within the facility. Getting people out of a facility, or to an appropriate location within the facility, can be quite difficult, especially when there is no way of determining the location of each individual that is within the facility.
Many of these types of buildings, factories, schools and institutions are required by local ordinances to have some sort of emergency warning system that alerts people to an emergency situation (e.g., a fire, chemical spill, terrorist attack, tornado or hurricane). The appropriate response to an emergency by the individuals that are within the facility will depend in part on the type of emergency. As examples, people should leave the structure during a fire and move to a basement or interior protective area within the facility during a tornado.
Some facilities have different signals to alert people as to the type of emergency. As examples, a continuous siren may indicate a fire while an intermittent siren may indicate a tornado.
There are facilities that include systems for providing response instructions to individuals in the case of an emergency. These systems typically include written messages and/or videos that the individuals read upon entering the structure. Other systems rely on the performance of “drills” to simulate an appropriate response in an emergency.
One unacceptable situation is where an individual is not provided with any type of emergency response instructions. The individual must either find a way to manage alone, or hopefully find another person who knows an appropriate route to take during a particular type of emergency.
There is a need for a system and method that quickly provide individuals within a facility with appropriate response instructions during an emergency. The system and method should be able to account for the locations of individuals within the facility and the type of emergency.