233870 Using social media in emergency response: Promoting better communication of federal agency safety and health information

Sunday, November 7, 2010

Deborah L. Weinstock, MS , National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training, Washington, DC
Daniel Youhas, BA , National Clearinghouse/MDB, Inc., Washington, DC
As we progress from the Information to the Attention Age, new and accessible technologies provide end-users with an ever increasing quantity of information. These rapid advances in mass communication technologies, such as social media, have allowed people to receive instant updates on events happening all over the world. In recent years, social media has assisted emergency responders and affected citizens with creating order during emergencies, such as: the shootings at Virginia Tech University, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, the Haiti earthquake, the California Wild Fires, Mid-west flood, and Hurricane Gustav evacuation.

When used properly, social media applications can allow federal agencies and non-federal organizations involved in emergency response to improve responder and public communication, increase the efficiency of responder activities, and contribute to the overall responder safety and health at the disaster site. New training tools and protocols must be developed to incorporate social media applications into everyday emergency responder activities to ensure responders are provided with factual on-the-ground hazard information during emergencies. New emergency responder training should also incorporate real-time feeds and proper usage and best practices for using social media applications, like Facebook and Twitter. With these training recommendations, federal agencies, universities and community groups will be able to develop internal social media applications that contribute to the overall safety and health protection of emergency responders during recovery tasks which will result in more efficient and safer management of future emergency scenarios.

Learning Areas:
Communication and informatics
Occupational health and safety

Learning Objectives:
1. Understand what federal agencies are doing to communicate emergency information through social media. 2. Learn which agencies are using social media to communicate. 3. Learn what social media information should be included in new training for emergency responders.

Keywords: Occupational Health, Media

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Deborah Weinstock is currently the Director of the NIEHS National Clearinghouse for Worker Safety and Health Training, which is operated by MDB, Inc. Deborah has nearly 20 years of experience in the safety and health field. Prior to joining MDB in 2005, she spent 7 years as an Occupational Safety and Health Specialist in the AFL-CIO Department of Occupational Safety and Health. Ms. Weinstock holds a B.A. degree in Art History from the University of Maryland and an M.S. in Applied Behavioral Sciences from Johns Hopkins University.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.