safety lab

In many cases, emergency response is an isolated business in Germany, both in technical and organizational terms as well as within and between public and private decision-making authorities. Therefore, in cases of large-scale emergencies, traditional instruments of emergency response rapidly reach their limits, which will result in bottlenecks concerning civil protection. These facts call for a shift in thinking towards collaborative safety solutions so as to be prepared for future emergencies.

Factors of influence:

Changed threat levels must be continuously analyzed, assessed and responded to at the tactical, operational and strategic level.

The democratic constitutional state lays down the regulatory requirements applying to new safety and security technologies.

The general public requires the planning and employment of safety and security technologies and calls for structured, comprehensible and objective information to be supplied.

Man with his behaviors impacts on the efficiency of safety and security technologies and must therefore be included in the development at an early stage.

A large number of institutions are tasked with providing safety and security at the national, federal and local levels, which requires their activities to be coordinated.

The private sector offers its own safety and security solutions that have to be checked, networked and developed independently.

The safety lab visualizes the challenges and potentials of collaborative safety solutions. On the basis of realistic hazard scenarios, the safety lab presents examples of organizational processes that serve as a central thread cross-linking the systems in control centers and showing their connection to alerting technologies for the population.

Demonstration

The contrast between the actual and the target technological status permits the safety lab to provide its guests with a vivid environment for discussion. At various levels of technical detail, vulnerabilities and approaches to solutions can be shown for specific exhibits or the entire warning process, and legal, organizational, social-scientific, and economic issues can be made a subject of discussion.

Research Laboratory

At the safety lab, common and new technologies are both employed in a manner that does not presuppose a specific solution, besides being subjected to experimental review and further development. In this way, then, the safety lab is a hub of research while, at the same time, representing a focal point for new collaborative safety solutions. The scenarios and the technologies used serve as examples and placeholders for comprehensive collaborative solutions.

The safety lab provides visitors with the unique opportunity to tackle realistic risk situations and to observe organizational processes being initiated when a crisis occurs. Every lab area reflects the ideas, interests and needs of different public safety stakeholders. By demonstrating how various systems and technologies work together, the complexity of the topic collaborative safety can be visualized and made much more comprehensive. As a result of parallel and ongoing works conducted by the safety lab partners, scenarios presented in the lab can be continuously developed and changed.

Hazard Situation

Scenario: A hazard situation, for example extreme weather, causes serious cascading damage such as electricity blackouts and breakdowns in public transport and the mobile phone network. A large number of major incidents occur in a confusing situation.

safety lab: Documentary elements prove that it is possible for extreme weather to bring on such a hazard scenario. However, the disaster warning and communication processes initiated in response to that scenario are also applicable to other hazard situations.

Infrastructure Control Centers

Scenario: Lightning strikes the power supply system of an infrastructure facility, for example a subway power line, resulting in a fire with smoke development. The people on site are affected. Specialized company safety personnel initiate first aid and evacuation measures.

safety lab: On the basis of networked technologies, calls from emergency telephones are aggregated with imaging data and maps, for example for escape route signs on advertising displays or for material on the situation made available to first responders. Networking with civil protection systems permits data to be passed on automatically and simplifies contact establishment by the competent members of staff.

Emergency Control Centers (ECCS) and Resource Planning

Scenario: Emergency calls and damage reports are coming in at the control centers, for example the fire service. They are dealt with in the form of “if/when processes”, and emergency responders of the police and the fire service are deployed accordingly. Extensive spreading of the emergency and the associated rapid increase in emergency calls result in excessive demands being made on the control centers and the emer- gency responders.

safety lab: Integrated system solutions permit incoming messages to be consolidated and evaluated and instructions to be prepared. Existing image files and maps from the danger zones are included for further guidance – also from external systems such as the infrastructure control centers – and, in the event of a crisis, automatically transmitted to the systems of the tactical level.

Emergency Response Management Teams

Scenario: An overload has occurred at the level of the resource planning, and the management teams, for example the technical task force leaders, are summoned. They have to decide which measures are to be taken in view of the require- ments of the situation. This decision calls for an accurate portrayal of the situation to be provided.

safety lab: Data from various sources converge: Maps of the town and its infrastructure, data on any emergency calls received (time, place, content) and open data, for instance public information on weekly markets. A traffic light system (green, orange, red) visualizes the extent of the damage occasioned and the action required. In cases of power outage, the evaluation of social media (twitter) will permit conclusions to be drawn about the situation. Also, automatic evaluations will facilitate communication with the media and the general public.

Warnings to the Citizens

Scenario: The large-scale emergency causes the traditional instruments of emergency response to come up against their limitations. Therefore, to reach the so-called “last mile”, people have to be warned individually, supplied with timely information on the threat and enabled to act under their own steam (who needs to know what and when about the emergency to be able to act?).

safety lab: The focus is on the perspective of the people affected in everyday life situations at home or on the road: Accordingly, information will be provided on TV, on advertising displays or through smart phone apps, and innovative warning technologies such as (digital) sirens with voice output or automatic activation of building equipment and appliances will be used. Networked solutions will afford greater protection in this context than isolated technical solutions.

The safety lab visualizes the challenges and potentials of collaborative safety solutions and provides a framework for discussions, new projects, and future cooperations.

We therefore cordially invite all experts and interested parties from different fields of public safety and civil protection, from politics, industry, research, and public administration to take a tour through our safety lab.

If you are interested in visiting the safety lab, please contact us to arrange the time of your via the contact details on the right side.

We would be pleased to welcome you to our safety lab.

Together with the Fraunhofer FOKUS, the renowned partners of the safety lab offer their technologies and expert advice on adopting and connecting these technologies for the special purposes of public safety. This unique partner model creates new synergies in a competitive market and offers partners the possibility to pursue their own areas of focus within the framework of an overall concept. The constant ongoing exchange with the Federal and regional authorities ensures an opportunity for input derived from practical work and helps to better position new safety solutions in the market.

Comprehensive system development

• Domain engineering with regard to organizational processes
• Systems for tactical, operational and strategic levels
• Integrating different stakeholders with different perspectives

System interoperability

• Integration of private and public system solutions
• Demonstration of system interoperability
• Prototyping of new technologies

Solution-independent

• Neutral demonstration environment for politics, public administration and industry
• Evaluation of existing solutions

The safety lab is going to be continuously updated to keep up with changing technologies, societies, and new emerging threats. It is open to further partners and interested parties who want to introduce and integrate their skills and technologies. To become a partner, a company or an institution must be able to identify with the aims of collaborative safety and be ready to cooperate.

If you are interested in becoming our partner, please contact us via the contact details on the right side.