UPlikace can now send crisis alerts in emergency situations

Wednesday 27 November 2024, 15:00 – Text: Gabriela Sýkorová Dvorníková

Starting tomorrow, Palacký University’s custom mobile app – UPlikace – will also feature a unique tool for communicating with students and staff in crisis situations. In case of danger or serious events affecting operations, it can send messages containing essential information and instructions on what to do.

Building a mass communications crisis network has been made possible thanks to the university’s UPlikace mobile app, already used by over 90% of students and a number of academics. Now it will also be made available to non-academic workers, including the crisis module.

“It was not only the events of recent months which have forced us, like other universities, to focus on monitoring and improving safety at the university, which includes operational communications with our students and employees. We are now recommending all who have not yet installed UPlikace on their mobile phones to do so,” said UP Chief Administrative Officer Martin Tomášek, leader of the workgroup for improving safety at UP.

Guide helps users with settings

The crisis module will be available in UPlikace starting 28 November 2024. It will automatically show all users a guide which specifies the places and buildings which they use during the semester. Students and academics will see the buildings in which they are according to their academic schedules in the given semester in STAG. However, it is recommended to go through UPlikace and add the places where you often go during the semester – for example, libraries, canteens, or dormitories.

Crisis alerts will be sent to the locations affected by the emergency situation. If the user has the affected building activated on account of classes, work responsibilities, or as a place where they go during the semester, they will get the warning. If the situation occurs at a specific location not activated in the app, they will not get the warning. It is not the goal of the UPlikace crisis module to provide 100% coverage to people at the point of an emergency situation, nor is that technically possible. Nevertheless, the more users who get the warning, the more likely it is that the information will be shared with others in the location,” explained Tomášek, adding that the automatic location identification in a crisis situation can only use the components of the national emergency services [Integrovaný záchranný systém (IZS)]. In the new semester, students’ and teachers’ lists of buildings will be automatically upgraded according to their schedules.


Function covers mainly buildings operated by UP

If the user cannot find buildings and places in the UPlikace crisis module, they are not covered in the system because they are not controlled by Palacký University (UP). The Holice campus is managed as a single location, and users who select it will be notified in the case of events at any of its buildings.

“UPlikace offers the buildings and places from the university systems such as STAG, SAP, and Inet, which is the case of the Holice campus. At the same time, the crisis module in the app cannot offer some buildings in which teaching takes place because they are not managed by the university, and we cannot ensure that we would know about a crisis situation in those places in time. A good example of this case is the Olomouc Winter Stadium,” said Tomášek.

Non-academics and international workers at UP

For the first time, scientists and “other” UP employees (secretarial, physical labourers, etc.) can log into UPlikace, for the crisis module is part of the app. They can also choose the buildings which they are often in. The app also offers news, the UP information service, and a map of university buildings.

Crisis alerts will be sent in both Czech and English, and so UPlikace is recommended for all international students and university employees.
 


Loud notifications in silent mode

In order to send crisis notifications effectively, UPlikace activates loud notifications to users even when the phone is in silent mode. “In order to use this function, we had to request special permission from Apple and Google for emergency alerts, used for example in the case of life-threatening and other emergency situations, which we were able to get,” explained Lukáš Novák from the company beecode, which develops UPlikace, adding that there are two types of crisis alerts. One uses an ordinary notification which operates in conjunction with how the user has set their phone’s vibration/tone and volume. The second is the urgent crisis notification which activates an emergency alert sound, no matter what the phone’s setting is as regards tone/sounds, volume, or Do Not Disturb mode. Details are explained in the FAQ for users.

Listen to a sample of the emergency tone:


UPlikace is not a replacement for emergency services

The new module for sending crisis alerts and operations messages to students and workers at UP in no way replaces the information or warnings from emergency services (fire, police, rescue services). In the case of parallel alerts via sirens, loudspeakers, emergency SMS notifications, etc., instructions from the national emergency services always take top priority. The crisis alerts in UPlikace are in no way a fully-fledged guarantee of safety or help; it is always necessary to act independently, to consider the situation, and react based on the current developments taking place at the scene of an incident.

“The idea behind the crisis notifications in UPlikace is to inform students and workers as soon as possible about emergency events at specific locations or buildings at the university. The messages are sent by selected, trained university employees, but it is however always necessary to use one’s own reason and assess the situation in place. If they decide to use UPlikace due its wide reach to inform people and to send instructions from emergency services, that will be stated in the message,” said Jitka Langová, Head of Safety at UP.

More information on UPlikace can be found on the web.

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