Are you ready to issue a warning at a moment's notice?

As I've written about previously, screwing up a warning is the surest way to injure people and get fired. Warnings are very public events, thus I think that is why many emergency managers are shy about issuing warnings. What could possibly go wrong?

• Your equipment won't work
• Staff won't know how to issue a warning--mechanically
• Warnings are prepared--but, not sent
• The wording of a warning is not clear and confuses people
• It is not easy to define the area to be warned
• People not in harms way, are warned
• Not all the warning mechanisms are used
• The warning comes too late
• The system you are using doesn't have capacity to do timely warnings to everyone

I think you can get the picture. 

Now there is some new terminology that is new to me anyway, The National Public Warning System--is a replacement for the term Primary Entry Point, which was the commercial radio station. Do read the article by Antwane Johnson to come up to speed with new terminology now in use...and get help if you need it to "buck up your warning capability."