Navigat ing threats During a crisis, new software tool helps protect Boeing employees and property By Christine Cranston When a deadly EF5 tornado tore through an Oklahoma City suburb on May 20, leaving a lengthy path of destruction and killing more than 20 people, Laurie Willis was some 2,000 miles (3,200 kilometers) away, tracking the massive storm system from Boeing’s Enterprise Crisis Management Center in the Puget Sound region of Washington state. Willis is Boeing’s Emergency Preparedness program leader, and her job is to monitor events that require lifesaving safety and rescue decisions involving Boeing employees during a crisis. And this was one of those occasions. More than 1,400 Boeing employees live and work in the Oklahoma City area. The Boeing site there, near Tinker Air Force Base, supports a wide range of engineering and military and commercial aircraft programs. “We noted where Boeing buildings sat in relation to the tornado and what was happening nearby—like road closures, shelter requirements and power outages,” Willis said. “We were then able to predict its impact on Boeing people and property.” How was this possible? With a Boeing software tool known as ThreatNavigator. Developed by teams from Security & Fire Protection and Boeing Information Technology, ThreatNavigator is used during PHOTOS AND GRAPHIC: (Below) A woman salvages items in Moore, Okla., after a tornado flattened a wide swath of homes and businesses there in May. Asociat ed Pres (Insets, clockwise from top left) A ThreatNavigator screen view. boeing Chris Manning, emergency preparedness coordinator for Philadelphia and the Northeast region. FRED TROILO/boeinG Boeing Mesa firefighters undergo night training. mike goetings/boeing ThreatNavigator team members Radford Sorensen (seated from left), Gary Temme, Dee Dee Haas and Kyle Bowers (standing). jesica oyanag i/boeing 32 BEIO NG FRONTEIRS / SEPTEMBER 2013
Frontiers September 2013 Issue
To see the actual publication please follow the link above