Analysis of Requirements for Notifying, Warning and Alarming the Population and Fire Protection Units in Europe

Recent experiences of intense wildfire events in fire-prone landscapes have sparked interest and investment in the use of wildfire simulation models and other predictive tools to inform the development of effective warning systems. As projections of increasingly intense and frequent wildfires eventuate, there is growing interest in the inclusion of more predictive intelligence in public warnings to mitigate disastrous losses during and prior to fire events. Predictive fire spread maps (FSMs) show the predicted extent of a given wildfire and have occasionally been shown to the public as a form of hazard information in Australia. Existing literature and inquiry recommendations have highlighted a need for evidence-based research to support the translation of such novel technologies into practice. Our research, which involved interviews with 44 sector experts, explores emergency management professionals’ current uses of predictive FSMs, and their views on the potential release of such maps to the public in the future. This article investigates the cultural and institutional constraints underlying the implementation and uptake of predictive technologies and intelligence by its users. Although specific to the Australian context, the findings of this case study offer valuable insights for others considering the integration of novel predictive tools into public warning systems.

With the recent outbreak of COVID-19 and other pandemics, improving the public safety communication is essential for efficient communication in the 5G and beyond wireless communication networks. The key requirements shall be lower delays, improved coordination and efficient resource utilization, to achieve higher efficiency in the network performance in an emergency/pandemic situation. Since deployment costs and scarce resource availability are major constraints in the network functioning, looking forward to a new network solution, a heterogenous network (HetNet) architecture has been proposed in this paper, for an efficient broadcast network set up during emergency situations. This paper proposes a two-tier heterogenous network (HetNet) architecture, with the macro base station (MBS) tier being Tier 1 and the small cell tier (SCT) being Tier 2. Here the SCT is mostly involved in setting up of a public warning communication system. The HetNets also intend to promote device-to-device (D2D) communication links, in case of absence of connectivity to the user via the MBT or the SCT. Use of small cells and D2D links shall improve the overall system performance. Certain research challenges however persist, and are stated in the paper.

In Korea, public warning systems are being actively used to provide COVID-19 information to people to avoid additional infections. The explosion of COVID-19 warning messages has caused redundant and unnecessary transmission of warning messages. This study propose an enhanced public warning system. First, a generation model based on deep learning is proposed for automatically generating the coordinates of the broadcast area. Second, the public warning system is modified to provide additional warning information to the users. Finally, a customization scheme for warning information is presented; therefore, the number of redundant and unnecessary warning messages decreases. The proposed generation model is evaluated by measuring the overshooting area and it is compared with the ground truth image. The output of the polygon generator and the circle generator show an image that is similar to the ground truth. The proposed public warning system was implemented, and a test scenario was conducted for the validation. The results demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed public warning system.

The effectiveness of public warning systems (PWS) can be challenged by federal structures as the failure of the first nationwide German “Warntag” (Warning Day) showed. By designing PWS to address specific challenges of federal systems, the effectiveness of public warning might be improved. In this paper, we derive design principles for PWS which aim to address these specific challenges. Based on a thorough literature review, challenges regarding responsibility, coordination, and interoperability, as well as functional and technical requirements for PWS in federal systems were identified. By applying a design-oriented research approach, 16 design principles in the categories strategy and governance, standards and templates, and technology are articulated. The research provides guidance for responsible authorities in federal systems for the implementation or evaluation of public warning systems.

Digital public warning systems (PWS) are platforms for multichannel emergency communication. Advancements in PWS technological infrastructure—API gateways, among all—transformed them into modular and open systems, thus lowering the barriers for outside actors for (a) integrating national PWS with each other, thereby constituting emergency warning ecosystems, and (b) intersecting emergency warning ecosystems with other data ecosystems (e.g., healthcare, supply chain) to provide emergency-related digital services. This chapter introduces a model of the warning process along four phases, that is, activate, represent, dispatch, and counteract. It furthermore explains how the warning process is supported by the PWS and how warning ecosystems can help provide richer representations of emergencies.

This design fiction re-imagines an important informational element of the flood early warning system in order to unpack some of the questionable assumptions that society makes about disaster. In presenting an updated, ironic, vision of an alternative system, we highlight some of the ways that received ideas about the root causes of disaster, who is responsible for public safety, and the role of private sector innovation, are so embedded in the design of technologies used in crisis management that they have become taken for granted. This work demonstrates the potential for design fiction to serve as a tool in the evaluation and critique of safety-critical information systems and as a communication tool for conveying the complex findings of disaster research. It also points to new avenues of exploration for crisis informatics work on public warning systems.

What drives household protective actions in an industrial crisis? Insights from the East Palestine train derailment

Earthquake early warning (EEW) is the rapid detection of earthquakes underway and the alerting of people and infrastructure in harms way. Public warning systems are now operational in Mexico and Japan, and smaller‐scale systems deliver alerts to specific users in Turkey, Taiwan, China, Romania, and the United States. The warnings can arrive seconds to minutes before strong shaking, and a review of early warning applications around the world shows this time can be used to reduce the impact of an earthquake by many sectors of society. Individuals can use the alert time to drop, cover, and hold on, reducing injuries and fatalities, or if alert time allows, evacuate hazardous buildings. Train derailments can be reduced, chemical splits limited, patients in hospitals protected, fire ignitions prevented; workers in hazardous environments protected from fall/pinch hazards, reducing head injuries and/or death. It is impossible to complete an exhaustive list of applications and savings generated by a warning system in the United States, but the benefits clearly outweigh the costs. Three lives saved, two semiconductor plants warned, one Bay Area Rapid Transit train slowed, a 1% reduction in nonfatal injuries, and a 0.25% avoidance of gas‐related fire damage would each save enough money to pay for 1 year of operation of a public warning system for the entire U.S. West Coast. EEW could also reduce the number of injuries in earthquakes by more than 50%.

The nature of information gathering and dissemination has changed dramatically over the past 20 years as traditional media sources are increasingly being replaced by a cacaphony of social media channels. Despite this, society still expects to disseminate its critical information via traditional news sources. Public Warning Systems (PWS) exist, but concerns about spamming users with irrelevant warnings mean that mostly only life threatening emergency warnings are delivered via PWS. We argue that it is time for society to upgrade its infrastructure for critical information services (CIS) and that a smartphone app system can provide a standardised, less-intrusive user interface to deliver CIS, especially if the traffic for the app is prioritised during congestion periods. Accordingly, we make three contributions in this paper. Firstly, using network parameters from our longitudinal measurements of network performance in Central London (an area of high user traffic), we show, with simulations, that reserving some bandwidth exclusively for CIS could assure QoS for CIS without significant degradation for other services. Secondly, we provide a conceptual design of a 999 CIS app, which can mimic the current 999 voice system and can be built using 3GPP defined systems. Thirdly, we identify the stakeholder relationships with industry partners and policymakers that can help to deliver a CIS system that is fit for purpose for an increasingly smartphone-based society.

The launch of 5G technology based on 3rd Generation Project Partnership (3GPP) Release 15 was completed in December 2018. An open issue with this release of standards is that it supports only unicast communications in the core network and point-to-point (PTP) transmissions in the radio access network (RAN) but does not support multicast/broadcast communications and point-to-multipoint (PTM) transmissions, which are 3GPP system requirements for 5G applications in a number of vertical sectors, including automotive, airborne communications, Internet of Things (IoT), media and entertainment, and public warning and safety systems. In this article, we present novel mechanisms for enhancing the 5G unicast architecture with a minimal footprint so as to enable efficient PTM transmissions in the RAN and support multicast communications in the Release 15 core as a built-in delivery optimization feature of the system. This approach will enable completely new levels of network management and delivery cost efficiency.

Nowadays there are many modern warning and alarm systems that are used for security and safety in industrial systems, factories and facilities in various fields. These systems are based on finding quick and effective means of protecting people and properties from damage or serious loss. One cannot imagine the existence of complete system that works in any field of environmental monitoring or nuclear facilities or even industrial systems without the existence of a warning / alarming system. These warning / alarm systems are mainly used for following up, tracking or checking the operational coefficients at ordinary states. Also, they trace any deviation or diffraction happened at abnormal cases. Furthermore, these alarm systems are used for predicting accidents / incidents and dangerous situations and produce the appropriate audio / visual announcement or alerts. Today alarm systems are the safety valve of any mechanical or electrical industrial system against the conditions of abnormal diffraction or critical situations that may occur during daily operation. Particularly in nuclear power plants (NPPs) we need hands-on large quantities of different systems / process information 24 hour a day, 7 days a week. Also, on the other hand Criticality Accident Alarm Systems (CAAS) are required in nuclear facilities to predict an accidental criticality excursion which could result from many and different operational processes. In this paper we deal with the alarm or warning systems that are used as an important / vital subsystem in nuclear fields and applications. Currently there are many and many techniques of alerting system used in environmental or radiological monitoring but daily new and modern methods are appearing to improve and add enhancements to these vital systems. This paper demonstrates the theoretical concepts and the practical implementation of one of the modernist alarming system or technique applied today in a lot of engineering applications. It is the alarming by benefiting mobile phone calls or Short Messages Service (SMS).

It is shown that construction state identification systems are integral part of public and local warning and security systems. Structure of construction of state identification system is proposed and analysed. It is established that in order to ensure wide usage of such systems it is necessary to solve some scientific problems. A new method for measurement of construction strain is presented. It is based on evaluation of small changes of resistance with balancing currents. Measurements methods of these days are listed and their main advantages are discussed. Structure of strain gauge and formulas for calculating code of resistance changes is presented. Computerized and experimental models are made.

Results of analysis of recent accidents in public buildings are presented. It is shown that construction state identification systems are integral part of public and local warning and security systems. Structure of construction of state identification system is proposed and analysed. It is established that in order to ensure wide usage of such systems it is necessary to solve some scientific problems. Solution for multipoint measurement of strain as one of the most important parameter for construction state identification is proposed. It is shown that measurements of strain by using closed-loop self-balancing system ensure necessary resolution with high accuracy and can be used in multipoint measurements. Two closed-loop selfbalancing systems using digitally balanced Wheatstone bridge and balancing of currents are presented and analysed.

BackgroundHeat wave early warning systems help alert decision-makers and the public to prepare for hot weather and implement preventive actions to protect health. Prior to harmonization, public health units across Ontario either used independent systems with varying methodologies for triggering and issuing public heat warnings or did not use any system. The federal government also issued heat warnings based on different criteria. During heat events, adjacent public health units in Ontario and the federal government would routinely call heat warnings at different times with separate public messages, leading to confusion. This article describes the collaborative process and key steps in developing a harmonized Heat Warning and Information System (HWIS) for Ontario.SettingPublic health units across Ontario, Canada, collaborated with the federal and provincial government to develop the harmonized HWIS for Ontario.InterventionIn 2011, stakeholders identified the need to develop a harmonized system across Ontario to improve heat warning services, warning criteria, and health messaging. Through a 5-year process facilitated by a non-governmental organization, the three levels of government collaborated to establish the Ontario HWIS.OutcomesThe province-wide HWIS was implemented in 2016 with the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care’s release of the harmonized HWIS Standard Operating Practice, which outlined the notification and warning process.ImplicationsThe lessons learned could help spur action in other provinces and jurisdictions internationally in the development of similar health evidence-based warning systems, including in particular those for protecting public health during extreme heat events.

Pollen threshold values used in public warning systems are intended to inform people of the risk of developing allergy symptoms. However, there is no consensus about which pollen concentrations provoke allergy symptoms. The aim of this systematic review was the evaluation of studies investigating the relationship between pollen concentrations (alder, ash, birch, hazel, mugwort and ragweed) and the number of cases in which participants visited a doctor, drug consumption and allergy symptoms. This systematic literature review is registered in PROSPERO (CRD42019112369). A PubMed search was applied and enriched by consultation with experts and a snowball strategy. The included studies were checked for risk of bias (RoB), and extensive data were extracted and compared. Of 511 studies, 22 were eligible according to the previously established inclusion criteria, and 17 from these showed a low RoB. The strongest evidence was reported for ash (Fraxinus) pollen, where an increase of number of doctor’s visits at an interquartile range (IQR) of 18–28 grains/m3 was detected by three studies. Five studies about birch (Betula) pollen showed a threshold value of 45 grains/m3 for increased drug consumption. The evidence of a threshold value was limited for alder (Alnus), hazel (Corylus), mugwort (Artemisia) and ragweed (Ambrosia) pollen. The inconsistent results concerning all types of pollen, except ash pollen, can be the result of multiple factors, e.g., age, gender, allergen content of pollen and individual sensitivity. These influencing factors should be investigated more closely in future research.