|
|
Failure to provide E911 protection to employees could result in regulatory fines and expose organizations to large damages from civil and criminal litigation.
|
|
|
The technology that enables organizations to integrate E911 into their communications infrastructure is available and affordable, and solutions like RedSky's E911 Manager make it easy to administer on a daily basis.
With E911 laws in several states and the emergence of national E911 crisis response standards, organizations are increasingly responsible for the safety of employees, vendors and visitors while on their premises. In fact, recent wrongful death awards caution that juries may not be sympathetic to a company that does not protect people within their facilities.
RedSky has worked with Seyfarth Shaw at Work, a training subsidiary of Seyfarth Shaw, LLP, to write Assessing E911 Liability Risk, a white paper that addresses the liability, compliance and risk issues facing business, government, education and other operators of public facilities. Seyfarth Shaw is one of the nation's leading law firms, specializing in workplace safety compliance and has examined the E911 issue in this regard.
Download our E911 Liability white paper
Issues addressed in the white paper include:
- Workers Compensation coverage, or lack thereof
- Gross negligence in states with E911 legislation or in facilities with a known hazard
- The added risk of vendors, contractors and visitors on premise
In each of the situations outlined below, the basic 911 service failed, leaving the business with significant financial liability.
- A young man died from an asthma attack while waiting for an ambulance. The jury awarded $50 million to the family - the largest verdict entered against the city named in this wrongful death suit - for not getting an ambulance to his home on time.
- A woman died in a fire because rescue workers were unable to identify her location in the smoke-infested environment.
- A heart attack victim suffered severe brain damage because her employer's phone system kept co-workers from calling 911 (company policy was to call an in-house emergency number). A lawsuit ensued.
- A woman died of pregnancy complications after a bungled 911 call. Her surviving family received a $500,000 settlement.
- A gunman entered a high-rise building, killed eight people and wounded six others. Police dispatchers thought the incident was occurring in the building next door, and many of the callers hung up because they had been shot, were hiding or were too hysterical to identify their exact location.
- A college football player collapsed during an outdoor practice. Police were not able to reach the individual until too much time had passed. A highly publicized lawsuit ensued.
- A student was threatening suicide and police were unable to locate the individual based only on the phone number. The police had to search the dorms, room-by-room, until the student was found.
