ESS Crisis(TM) Recognized for Streamlining Disaster Response at Major Exercise
Crisis Management Software Cited as Difference-Maker for Award-Winning Response Team
TEMPE, Ariz., Jan. 24 -- The National Institute for Urban Search and Rescue (NIUSR) will honor ESS Program Manager John Gargett and the 70 members of Team NIUSR as the winners of the organization's annual "Press ON" award for their emergency management best practices executed at Strong Angel III, a major disaster response simulation that attracted many leading global corporations, educational institutions, military and government agencies and nonprofit organizations.
ESS Crisis(TM), the new software solution that is raising the bar for crisis information management systems, was cited by NIUSR officials as the key component that supported the team's successful incident response at Strong Angel III, a major simulated catastrophic pandemic event conducted last summer in San Diego. Event participants included organizations such as Microsoft, IBM, General Motors, Sony Electronics, Intel, U.S. Marine Corps, UK Royal Navy, Google, Bell Canada, Cisco Systems and CH2M Hill.
The "Press ON" award ceremony will take place on Jan. 31 in San Diego.
"In the wake of major incidents like the 9/11 terrorist attacks and Hurricane Katrina, it is more important than ever for responders to have an integrated response tool when disaster strikes," said Robert Johnson, ESS President/CEO. "Our performance at Strong Angel III proves that ESS Crisis is the most effective crisis management tool that helps response teams save lives and protect property by enabling incident commanders to streamline planning and real-time operations."
Team NIUSR was one of several groups at Strong Angel III that successfully executed solutions that addressed several humanitarian relief challenges. Many of those conditions previously had not been overcome in a real disaster relief effort, including redundant power, adaptive communications, austere network communications, cross-organizational collaboration, mesh networking, satellite services, ephemeral workgroups, geospatial information systems, rapid assessment techniques, shared situational awareness, cyber-security, alerting tools, community informatics and machine-based translation for multilingual communication.
"ESS Crisis played a critical role in the overall success of Strong Angel III," said NIUSR President Lois Clark McCoy. "ESS Crisis helped the team to implement its incident command system much faster and more effectively than they could have done otherwise."
About NIUSR
NIUSR is an independent national organization that advocates continual improvement of crisis management systems and capabilities from the field level up through policy and programs. Its core members are chosen across diverse fields of first responders, military, all levels of government, industry and academia. For more information, visit www.niusr.org.
About ESS
ESS is the leading provider of Operational Risk Management software and services for Environmental, Health & Safety (EH&S) and Crisis Management. The company, based in Tempe, Ariz. with offices in Denver, Washington, D.C. and Calgary, Alberta, has provided Essential Suite(TM) and Compliance Suite(TM) solutions to more than 17,000 businesses, government agencies and other organizations worldwide. For information, visit www.ess-home.com.
Media Contact:
Dawn Kehr
Phone: 480.346.5526
E-mail: ess-media@ess-home.com
Source: ESS
Web site: www.niusr.org/
Web site: www.ess-home.com/
