As the name implies, a crisis room is a space solely dedicated to the management of urgent circumstances and emergencies. This room is designed for conducting meetings of key personnel at the time of a security crisis and other similar situations. Here, critical information and tools are accumulated and stored for troubleshooting all the activities that can jeopardize a company’s safety or the safety of people and goods.
The crisis room can take different forms, depending on the size and requirements of the company. It can either be a simple room with a telephone and a computer, or it could be equipped with advanced technological tools like video monitoring equipment, interactive dashboards, encrypted field communication, management of emergency software, and so on.
The core idea of a crisis room is to facilitate a seamless and quick Communication amongst the crisis team, the decision makers (Board members), and external stakeholders like the Representatives of governments, clients, or vendors. It additionally offers a specialised area for receiving and assessing data, determining operational or proactive choices, and carrying out an integrated plan.
What makes crisis room an integral part of an organisation
A crisis room is a place that stores all the necessary data and information regarding people, projects, assignments and supplies. Also, the data collected here are oftentimes sensitive and are only used when it is absolutely necessary to use them for preventing any unwanted circumstances.
Typically, the crisis room is located next to the management or monitoring room. Because it is not appropriate to handle a crisis in the administration room, which ought to stay a cold place dedicated to data appropriation, a crisis room is frequently required. In practice, data and activities handled in the control room have to be presented into the crisis room.
Therefore, it is important to design a crisis room within an organisation. Also, we essentially need to pick up the right set of equipment for setting up the crisis room so that in case of emergency we don’t lack any necessary or required resources.
Characteristics of an ideal Crisis room
If you are wondering what an ideal crisis room looks like, or how you can set up a perfect crisis room, then we have listed down a few checklists which you must go through before designing your crisis room within your organisation.
Location
When we are talking about a crisis room’s location, it is important to keep in mind that it has been designed to handle the crisis situation. Hence, it needs to be easily accessible by the team members and the decision-makers because the organisation can’t afford to delay action in an emergency.
You must locate your crisis room somewhere near the control room or even besides it. In this manner, you will get several advantages, like quick decision-making, seamless communication between the team and stakeholders, recovery and distribution of resources, access to information, reduced time response, and a unified command structure.
Size and layout
A crisis room is supposed to accommodate a complete team, and it is necessary to do more than that. What is the use of a crisis room when it can’t even accommodate a team in an emergency situation? Hence, you need to choose the size of the room according to your team and members of the decision-making panel.
Also, its layouts should be in such a manner that all the equipment installed in the room should be audible and could be easily seen by all the members of the team. To conclude, it needs to be spacious, well aligned, easily accessible for everyone, and should be designed according to the company’s team size.
Communication and Infrastructure
Communication, being an integral part of collaboration, requires a set of robust and technologically advanced equipment. For effective collaboration, you will need both data (real-time data) and visual equipment. It needs telephone conferencing tools, wall visuals, and data sharing tools.
The manufacturer has everything needed to completely equip a crisis room on-site, including robust control room data dissemination technology and a diverse range of video walls. The direct connection to the management room further enables the exchange of ‘perspectives’ (a grouping of resources for data that conceptually correspond alongside), ensuring that every detail is readily accessible.
Ergonomics and comfort
A crisis can’t be identified and handled within a strict time limit. Although the aim of the company should be to handle a critical situation in the shortest time possible and in the most efficient and effective way possible, it doesn’t always have to be. The time period depends on the gravity of the crisis.
Therefore, it is important that a crisis room be designed in such a way that it not only collects and disseminates the data and information but is also comfortable. You need to furnish the crisis room with ergonomic furniture and comfortable sitting options so that even if the team works in the crisis room for prolonged hours, it doesn’t feel exhausted and fatigued.
Technology and Equipment
The crisis room is known for collecting sensitive, important data and information that can be used to troubleshoot a difficult situation. However, these goals can’t be achieved in the absence of equipment that is compatible with the company’s safety and is technologically advanced.
Barco has a range of on-wall controllers, image distributors, and audio distributors. The company needs to have high-quality visual devices that could be used to collect data and present visuals from all around the globe. These tools are flexible, and Barcos’ video wall processors provide unrivalled performance for management rooms, business presentations, command centres, and digital signs that require advanced control.
Information/ Data accessibility
How will you handle a crisis if you don’t have adequate data related to the crisis? Additionally, this data has to be acquired not only on the basis of previously collected information but also on the basis of current information as well.
You have to make sure that your crisis room has all the relevant data available that is necessary for decision-making. Also, you need to collect real-time data to make impactful decisions. These data could be about maps, locations, security camera feeds, weather reports, market data, consumer data, etc.
Emergency power and redundancy
It is impossible to run even a small engine without the help of electricity. Similarly, your crisis room is going to be equipped with a system and technology that largely run on electrical supplies, and a power cut in the middle of a crisis situation is not a very pleasant situation to have.
Therefore, while designing a crisis room, you need to ensure that you have a source of power supply in case of an electricity shutdown or power cut. It will help in continuing your meetings and exchange of information and data with those impacted by the electricity supply. You can use a small generator or UPS for the same.
Security Measures
As we have mentioned before, a crisis room usually collects highly sensitive information that can cause potential damage if it falls into the wrong hands. This information could be about companies’ policies, trade secrets, or even the public domain.
Therefore, it is important to protect this area with advanced security systems to prevent all kinds of malicious activities. You can use surveillance cameras, physical barriers, or even biometric access control to ensure the safety of the crisis room.
Acoustic and Noise Control
In a crisis room, you are required to have a conversational presentation that is clearly audible to all the members of the team as well as the decision-making group. If you fail in this step, then you will only sit in the middle of the chaos with no impactful decisions.
We advise you to design your room so that it remains soundproof and each and every sound gets perfectly heard. You can achieve this by using the right audiovisual product along with a soundproof system within the walls of the crisis room.
Emergency Supplies.
Equip the space with vital supplies, such as medical kits, food, drink, and other necessities, to keep the inhabitants alive during a prolonged crisis. In conclusion, a carefully constructed crisis area can increase the effectiveness and standard of services provided throughout a time of crisis. An efficient crisis room design requires collaboration from healthcare specialists, builders, and disaster recovery specialists.
Hence, it is advisable that you look into these aspects carefully while designing a crisis room. In the absence of these resources, you might not be able to work in your crisis room for long, which certainly is not a very practical thing to begin with.
Tools to design a crisis room:
Here we are listing some of the necessary tools for designing a crisis room.
Video wall
The Video wall is a group of single screens placed adjacently forming a grid on the wall. These screens are used to display different information at once. It enables simultaneous presentation of multiple sources of details, including videos, photos, reports, strategies, and company apps.
Displays must have a brightness level adequate for the content they display. Light and hue should be changeable to accommodate varied degrees of brightness in the space as well as allow personnel to “last” if the situation persists. Barcos’ range for Video visuals includes: TruePix TP0.9, TruePix TP0.9 – Q, TruePix TP1.2, TruePix TP1.5 – E and so on.
Video conferencing system.
Videoconferencing improves cooperation and response in handling emergencies. In a time of crisis, it is much more crucial to be competent to decipher nonverbal cues. It might additionally be required to distribute the material from the aforementioned resources to dispersed parties.
Interactive screen
Interactive screens are necessary in a crisis room because they are important for viewing the content which are required to analyse the real time data: it includes map, plans, image, graphics and presentation.
This enables the crisis room crew to work dynamically by utilising touchscreen functionalities like illustrating, making notes, transferring files, and surfing the internet.
SCADA system
Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) consists of software that is used to collect data by using sensors, actuators, and controllers. ScADA is used in complex industrial and manufacturing infrastructure for collecting adequate data and information.
These companies use sensors for collecting physical factors like temperature, etc. Actuators are used to operate the machines remotely, while supervisory software is used for monitoring these activities.
Conclusion
A crisis room is an integral part of any company because it helps in combating all kinds of emergency situations. It needs to be economical, comfortable, and technologically updated to serve the situation. You need the right equipment for data collection, collaboration, and exchange of information. Here, we have focused on how you can design your own crisis room within your workplace. For more such blogs, follow us.