Unusual Property Emergencies : How to Prepare for the Unexpected

Property managers know that property disasters aren’t always predictable. This doesn’t mean that they cannot and should not be prepared. See an example of a real unexpected apartment emergency and how to safely counteract such an instance.

Your job as the property manager isn’t always an easy one. After all, one of your number one priorities is to keep your property and occupants safe. That often takes proactive and preventative measures to help prevent unsafe practices from occurring. However, with a multitude of occupants on your properties, we are sure that time has taught you that no matter how well you may prepare and plan ahead for the event of an emergency, there is always the opportunity that a disaster can occur that is so outlandish, that there was no way you could have even thought to have prevented it in the first place.

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At Kings III, we like to share actual calls that our Emergency Dispatch Center receives from properties similar to your own like in the video above. We don’t do this to scare you. We don’t do this to brag (well, not for the most part). We do this because we want to keep you thinking about scenarios can and actually have happened. We want you to be putting yourself in these situations and challenging yourself- would your property be equipped to handle this sort of situation?

Now, when you’re taking preventative safety measures for your property, you’re not likely to include a section entitled “The Actions to Take if an Occupant’s Brother is on Drugs and Tries to Bite His Finger Off” within your Emergency Action Plan. However, this particular scenario has elements of both criminal activity and domestic disturbance, both of which as a property manager, you should have some sort of plan set in place regarding. For more information on crime prevention for your building, see our blog post on the subject matter.

However, as you can see in the above video, not all emergencies can be prevented. Furthermore, when these emergencies occur, what starts as a single occurrence can snowball and affect the safety of your entire property, all for which you are liable. This makes not only a prevention method pertinent, but also a strategy in the event that things do go awry, absolutely essential.

In instances like these, you should consider it your responsibility to provide your occupants with the means to access to timely and reliable help. After all, as you heard in this video, as much as you might expect someone to always have their cell phone on them, it is not unlikely that it may be unavailable or inaccessible to them in the event of an emergency. There are some areas on your property where emergency help phones may be required by code, such as in the elevator or by the pool. You may have others throughout the property as a means of safety best practices (and bravo if you do!). No matter what the case is, the most important thing to consider is that they serve as an effective means to getting the appropriate help required.

Think about an occurrence like this taking place on your property. Where would your priorities lie? If we had to guess, we would assume that the safety of your occupants would fall first and foremost. Next would come the wellbeing of your actual property. Finally, you’d probably like to be in the know, correct? You’re not always there when something goes wrong on your property, but as the person in charge, you should know about it as soon as possible in order to correct the current problem and to be aware of any shortcomings on your end that may have contributed to the occurrence.

See our free guide to building a comprehensive Emergency Action Plan for your Property here >>

Kings III emergency operators receive a special training and certification process higher than that in most 911 emergency centers. As you can see in the video, we are dedicated to learning as much about the situation as possible, making the caller feel comfortable in the situation, dispatching out the appropriate help equipped with all important information and providing certified emergency assistance over the phone until that help arrives. Not only this, but once the situation has been taken care of, we make sure to alert you, the property manager, of whatever disturbance has occurred. This is an extra (and important) step that would not take place if you simply connected emergency phones straight to 911 or relied on occupants using their cell phones.

While Kings III does offer all types of emergency phones, including the installation and maintenance of such phones, our unique niche lies in our emergency phone monitoring services. We provide a dedication to both property safety and management liability that is unprecedented in North America. Do scary situations like the one in that video happen? Yes, but we’re here to help when they do. For more information on Kings III, visit www.kingsiii.com.