Dallas Fort Worth Airport, Schneider National use Social Media for Emergency Communication
Dallas Fort Worth Airport, Schneider National use Social Media for Emergency Communication
SMEM – Social Media Emergency Management
Are you a Twitter user? Were you at the Dallas Fort Worth (DFW) Airport on Monday, April 3rd 2012. If so, you may have seen messages from the airport via your Twitter stream, requesting all travelers in the airport to seek shelter as tornadoes approached the facility.
The @dfwairport team did a great job of keeping people informed via social media as the storm wreaked havoc on parts of the city, and continued afterward to update travelers on delays and damage;
“We had about 12 tornadoes touch down around #DFW yesterday. 100+ aircraft were damaged from hail,” tweeted @dfwairport. “If you’re in one of our terminals please don’t hesitate to let us know if we can be of assistance.”
For American Airlines, flight cancellations at Dallas Fort Worth Airport have continued however, as dozens of hail-damaged American Airlines planes await repairs.
American canceled 296 arrivals and departures scheduled for Thursday 04/05.
Damage and lost revenue estimates are still being calculated.
Flying Rigs and Employee Safety
The widely seen video of truck trailers and rigs being tossed about at the Dallas Operations Center for Schneider National was true testament to the power of this week’s storms, but also to the power of Employee Preparedness.
Said Schneider on their Facebook page: “We are proud of our associates’ response to yesterday’s tornado: They received alerts of the storm and followed protocol by taking shelter. “
Schneider went on to sum it up on their Facebook page, giving updates on the safety of their team, initial damage assessments, assuring customers that they were responding quickly to ensure no interruption of freight, and to voice the human side of business:
“Equipment and products can be replaced, people cannot.”
Firestorm applauds both organizations for coordinating emergency communications with social media, and communicating transparently with their customers, community and employees to ensure safety. Remember, “Every Crisis is a Human Crisis.”