SPECIAL ISSUE: SECURITY
december 2020
Dean Edson of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts: Recovering From an Arson Attack
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CONTENTS DECEMBER 2020 Special Issue: Security
Irrigation Leader is published 10 times a year with combined issues for July/August and November/December by
an American company established in 2009.
STAFF: Kris Polly, Editor-in-Chief Joshua Dill, Managing Editor Tyler Young, Writer Stephanie Biddle, Graphic Designer Eliza Moreno, Web Designer Caroline Polly, Production Assistant and Social Media Coordinator SUBMISSIONS: Irrigation Leader welcomes manuscript, photography, and art submissions. However, the right to edit or deny publishing submissions is reserved. Submissions are returned only upon request. For more information, please contact our office at (202) 698-0690 or irrigation.leader@waterstrategies.com. ADVERTISING: Irrigation Leader accepts half-page and full-page ads. For more information on rates and placement, please contact Kris Polly at (703) 517-3962 or kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.
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Dean Edson of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts: Recovering From an Arson Attack
5 T he Many Facets of Security By Kris Polly
20 K now CPR’s Informative and Inexpensive CPR Training
6 D ean Edson of the Nebraska Association of Resources 26 H ow Assura Software Can Districts: Recovering Increase Data Security, From an Arson Attack Reduce Risk, and Help Maintain Social Distancing 12 How Irrigation Districts Can Improve Security Practices in Every Field
Do you have a story idea for an upcoming issue? Contact our editor-in-chief, Kris Polly, at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.
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Copyright Š 2020 Water Strategies LLC. Irrigation Leader relies on the excellent contributions of a variety of natural resources professionals who provide content for the magazine. However, the views and opinions expressed by these contributors are solely those of the original contributor and do not necessarily represent or reflect the policies or positions of Irrigation Leader magazine, its editors, or Water Strategies LLC. The acceptance and use of advertisements in Irrigation Leader do not constitute a representation or warranty by Water Strategies LLC or Irrigation Leader magazine regarding the products, services, claims, or companies advertised. /IrrigationLeader
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COVER PHOTO: Dean Edson, Executive Director, Nebraska Association of Resources Districts. Photo courtesy of the NARD.
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PHOTO COURTESY OF THE NARD.
Coming soon in Irrigation Leader: January: Milk River Project Ribbon Cutting
CIRCULATION: Irrigation Leader is distributed to irrigation district managers and boards of directors in the 17 western states, Bureau of Reclamation officials, members of Congress and committee staff, and advertising sponsors. For address corrections or additions, please contact our managing editor, Joshua Dill, at joshua.dill@waterstrategies.com.
The Many Facets of Security
S
afety and security are important concerns for any irrigation district manager. A manager must make sure that employees are safe on the job; ensure that operations are carried out in a way that keeps the public safe; and protect facilities from damage, vandalism, or theft. This requires responsible and forward-thinking management and the ability to respond flexibly when unexpected events occur. This year has brought with it two major safety and security concerns: the COVID‑19 pandemic and the wave of rioting, arson, and looting that accompanied the nationwide protest movement that followed the death of George Floyd in May. In this special issue on security, our cover story is an interview with Dean Edson, executive director of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts (NARD). On the night of May 30, 2020, the NARD’s headquarters were destroyed in an unprovoked arson attack, causing $250,000 worth of damage. Mr. Edson tells us about his experience working with the NARD’s insurance company and about his plans for the NARD’s future office space. Next, we speak with Phil Ball, an active police officer who is also the founder of the Situational Awareness Institute, a security training company. Mr. Ball tells us about the importance of crisis communications, emergency plans, and the steps that irrigation districts can take to secure their facilities. We also speak with Don Sussman, the CEO of Know CPR. Know CPR teaches CPR and other first aid
By Kris Polly
skills in a memorable, hands-on manner. Mr. Sussman tells us about the importance of these skills and how his company has completely transformed its business model during the pandemic. Finally, Hamish Howard, owner and founder of Assura Software, discusses how his company’s services are uniquely able to catalog and manage assets while also providing several safety benefits. Assura’s software makes facility information available to all relevant staff and eliminates the need for in-person meetings, which is particularly important during this time. It also securely stores information and images in a digital format that protects them from fire. Many factors contribute to keeping one’s employees, customers, and facilities secure. They include technology, communications, planning, facility design, training, and workflow patterns. I hope that this special issue provides food for thought and helps you to plan for the security of your people and facilities. IL Kris Polly is the editor-in-chief of Irrigation Leader magazine and the president of Water Strategies LLC, a government relations firm he began in February 2009 for the purpose of representing and guiding water, power, and agricultural entities in their dealings with Congress, the Bureau of Reclamation, and other federal government agencies. He may be contacted at kris.polly@waterstrategies.com.
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December 2020 | IRRIGATION LEADER
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Dean Edson of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts: Recovering From an Arson Attack
A fire on the night of May 30, 2020, destroys the NARD office.
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he Nebraska Association of Resources Districts (NARD) is the trade association that represents Nebraska’s 23 natural resources districts (NRDs), local agencies that handle water quantity and quality issues, soilerosion control, flood prevention, and other environmental concerns across the state. On the night of Saturday, May 30, 2020, the NARD’s Lincoln, Nebraska, headquarters were destroyed by arsonists, resulting in approximately a quarter million dollars’ worth of personal property damage. In this interview, NARD Executive Director Dean Edson tells Irrigation Leader about how the organization is recovering from this event and the lessons it holds for other agencies. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background.
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Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the history of the NARD. Dean Edson: In 1972, the Nebraska Legislature merged 154 political subdivisions related to some aspect of natural resource management into 23 NRDs, whose service areas follow river basin boundaries. The NRDs are responsible for managing groundwater quality and quantity. They also work with landowners on soil erosion issues, wildlife habitat, tree planting, and all other natural resources issues. The NARD is the trade association for the NRDs. Irrigation Leader: Please tell our readers about the incident in May when your office was destroyed by arsonists. irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE NARD.
Dean Edson: I grew up on an irrigated family farm in Gothenburg, Nebraska, and farmed on my own after high school for about 10 years. We restructured the farm in 1984, during the ag crisis. I then moved to Lincoln to work for the animal science department at the University of Nebraska. While there, I earned a degree in animal science
and agribusiness in 1986. After that, I went to work for the Nebraska Farm Bureau, serving 11 years as its director of state governmental relations. During my time at the Farm Bureau, I also earned a master of business administration from the University of Nebraska in 1991. For the last 23 years, I have served as the executive director of the NARD. I also currently own and operate the family farm in Gothenburg.
Damage to the exterior of the NARD’s building.
Dean Edson: Our office is located on Lincoln Mall, a fourblock stretch between the Nebraska State Capitol and the City-County Building. There were protests that turned into a riot there late on the night of Saturday, May 30. The rioters broke into the building and started fires in multiple locations. They also broke into other nearby buildings and lit fires. There were not enough police or firemen down there—they were outnumbered and outmanned. The fire in our building got out of control and basically destroyed it. Firefighters were able to extinguish fires in the other buildings before any significant damage was done, but most of the glass doors and windows in the four-block area were broken.
Irrigation Leader: What did you lose in the fire?
Irrigation Leader: How were you notified about the fire?
Dean Edson: We have five full-time employees and one part-time employee.
Dean Edson: One of my employees was watching the late news and sent out a group text. However, I had already gone to bed. When I woke up on Sunday morning, I saw five or so text messages and a couple of phone messages from my employees notifying me that our building had been destroyed. irrigationleadermagazine.com
Dean Edson: At one point in time, we thought we were going to be able to salvage quite a few items. Our insurance required us to hire a certified salvage company to evaluate what we had left and determine what was salvageable. At this point, only about 10–15 percent of the furniture and supplies are salvageable. The salvageable furniture items are pieces of an office set, but not a complete set. Basically, we will end up replacing all office furniture. We were able to save a lot of paper files that were in steel cabinets, but others were destroyed. Irrigation Leader: How many employees work in your office?
Irrigation Leader: Did you lose all your computers as well? Dean Edson: All the electronic equipment was determined to be nonsalvageable. We had two new laptop computers December 2020 | IRRIGATION LEADER
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delivered to the office the Friday afternoon before the fire. We hadn’t even gotten the invoices for them yet. Every piece of electronic equipment in the office, including the copiers, printers, computers, televisions, smart TVs, and even the coffee pot, was destroyed. We purchased new laptops and printers for the employees so that they can work from home. Irrigation Leader: What has the process of dealing with law enforcement been like? Dean Edson: We are cooperating with the Lincoln Police, the Lincoln Fire Department, and the Nebraska State Patrol on their investigations. We’re trying to assist them in whatever way we can. There is an apartment building that is primarily for retired people across the alley from our office, and there were several individuals in that building who were eyewitnesses to the event. They have been cooperating with the police to try to identify the perpetrators.
Damage to the interior of the NARD office.
Dean Edson: We purchased the extra policy coverage for acts of terrorism and riot, so fortunately we have some coverage. However, working with the insurance company adjusters
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Irrigation Leader: What have you learned from this process that you want to pass on to others? Dean Edson: Our office was on the second floor of a building that we leased. We did not have security cameras up there, because never in my wildest dreams did I ever think that something like this would happen to us. We had no security system up there to record who was entering the building. The people who owned the building and had their offices on the first floor did not have security cameras either. That would have been of tremendous value in determining who was responsible for this. Wherever we go next, we will have security cameras. We will make sure that those cameras beam their information off site, so that if someone damages the equipment, we will still have backups of the recordings. I would also strongly suggest that people keep an accurate and up-to-date inventory of office property, purchase prices, and leased equipment, such as copiers and postage machines. I would also suggest going over your policy with a finetoothed comb to make sure you have the right coverage. Even if you have replacement-cost insurance, that does not necessarily mean you will get a check for the replacement value of all items. With the insurance claims process, we first had to hire a qualified salvage company to assist with inventory. We now have over 800 items on that list and are in the process of figuring out when they were purchased and for how much. We will not get an insurance claim check from the insurance company until that is complete on all 800 items. It will be a two-check process. The first check will be an adjusted-cost value, to discount the items for age, and the second check will come after we have replaced the items. Irrigation Leader: Did you lose your computer data, or were you using the cloud? Dean Edson: We had switched over to Office 365 and were saving our new information in the cloud. However, we had a lot of old paper documents that had not been converted to an electronic format and stored in the cloud. When she had extra time, our part-time employee was scanning documents and saving them to the cloud, but we were a long way from
irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF THE NARD.
Irrigation Leader: Does your insurance cover you for damage inflicted by criminal acts?
has given me a newfound sympathy for anyone who has ever been through a fire. The adjusters do not make life simple for you. It gets more complicated when you have leased equipment, such as a copier and postage machine, on your policy. That brings in third parties that you need to negotiate with. We’re having some problems on the insurance side with the adjustment process, even though we are covered. I was told by a friend of mine who experienced a fire at his business to not expect a check for quite a while—maybe a year or more.
getting all of them scanned. Now, it’s too late for a lot of that. My advice for management is to get that stuff scanned and saved in an electronic format, whether in the cloud or backed up on a hard drive off site. Irrigation Leader: Where are your employees working right now? Dean Edson: They are working from home. The real struggle here has been the fact that we no longer have our equipment or office supplies. Just think about the simple, mundane tasks you do at your office. In this situation, a task that normally takes 20 minutes now turns into a trip to an office supply store, a copier store, and the post office. Even if I did get a temporary office, I don’t have any furniture or equipment to put in it. We also don’t want to buy all new or used office furniture for a temporary office, because it might not fit the new permanent location. This is complicated further by waiting on the insurance adjustment process. Luckily, our employees have some experience working from home because of the COVID‑19 pandemic. Our office had been shut down, and we had just come back to work full time the week prior to this event. We had had a month or more of experience of everybody working from home. All the employees are doing their best to keep up with their jobs and responsibilities. We have met at temporary meeting locations or gotten together for lunch at a restaurant and stayed an extra hour to take care of some business. The Lower Platte South NRD has allowed us to use the conference space at its office when we need to hold a meeting. Irrigation Leader: Have you heard from the state legislature or any of the state officials about this? Dean Edson: We have not been contacted by anybody from the state, the city council, or the mayor’s office. Ironically, the mayor of Lincoln participated in a defund the police rally just a block away from our office a couple of days after the fire. That action did not instill confidence that downtown Lincoln is going to be a safe working environment for our employees. Irrigation Leader: You haven’t heard from any of the legislators? Dean Edson: One state senator walked by the building on the way to his apartment building and looked at our burned building for a little bit when I was there. That was the extent of it. He just happened to be walking by when I was standing outside taking a break from doing inventory with the salvage company. Irrigation Leader: What are the next steps for you, your office, and your association?
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Dean Edson: We put together an advisory committee of our executive board and some NRD managers from across the state to start looking at new office locations. Basically, our slate has been wiped clean, so we’re taking this as an opportunity to reevaluate whether we should stay in downtown Lincoln, move elsewhere in the Lincoln area, or move somewhere else entirely. There are a lot of decisions to make—whether to purchase or lease, whether to find a temporary office, where it should be located, what sort of insurance we need, etc. It has been a challenge to get the majority to agree, but we are getting things sorted out. It will eventually turn out fine, but it’s not something I want to go through again. Irrigation Leader: Are you able to put a dollar figure on your losses? Dean Edson: I would estimate our personal property losses at a little shy of $250,000 if we replace all that we lost. I don’t know what the emotional damage is—that’s the thing that I worry about the most. I am worried about the health and well-being of my employees because the office where they have worked for as long as 20 years is gone. They considered it a second home. They have come to the realization that they are starting over. Many of them couldn’t help but wonder, “What would have happened if we had been there on the second floor? What would we have done?” I’m glad it happened when we weren’t there so that no one got hurt. I am trying to address any emotional concerns that they may have. We have talked through the riot event and the office relocation process. We are trying to stay positive and keep moving forward. I am trying to encourage people to think about the future and to use this as an opportunity to grow and to improve things. Irrigation Leader: Is there anything else you would like to add? Dean Edson: The mission of the NRDs and consequently of the NARD is to manage our state’s resources; protect our water quantity and quality; and protect the lives, futures, and property for all Nebraskans today and for future generations. Even though we have gone through this little episode, we will not lose sight of that role and that mission. We will continue to work to protect those resources, the economy, and the future. IL
Dean Edson is executive director of the Nebraska Association of Resources Districts. He can be contacted at dedson@nrdnet.org.
December 2020 | IRRIGATION LEADER
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How Irrigation Districts Can Improve Security Practices in Every Field
Phil Ball and other police officers facilitate a protest march.
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hil Ball is a longtime police officer and the founder and lead instructor of the Situational Awareness Institute (SAI), a security training company. In this interview, Mr. Ball covers the many facets of security preparation that irrigation districts should carry out, including crisis communication training, the installation of security cameras and panic buttons, the preparation of emergency plans, and the establishment of relationships with local fire and law enforcement agencies. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background.
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Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about your recent experience with protests and what it teaches about crisis communications? irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF PHIL BALL.
Phil Ball: I started police work about 27 years ago. Over my career, I have policed in four different states and have worked as a SWAT officer, a school resource officer, an intelligence officer, and an embassy security-personnel trainer for the U.S. Department of State. Today, in addition to being a full-time police officer, I run SAI, which
teaches active killer prevention, personal self-defense, crisis communications, incident command, servant leadership, and other safety-related topics to agents of law enforcement, government agencies, and private corporations. I consider myself a lifelong learner, and I have made a point of gathering information and knowledge that can keep myself and others safe. I became a member of the American Society for Industrial Security (ASIS) years ago because I saw it as the greatest resource of private security information, policies, and practices. Finally, I founded SAI to meet the demand in the private sector for security knowledge. It has been successful in preventing violence, saving lives, and lowering liability for my clients.
get help rather than end up going to jail. Police officers should not look at people as enemies but as people who need their help. Many people with mental illnesses need help but are instead taken to jail. Today, the public is more educated, informed, and skeptical. Before the recent protest, my sergeant told me, “Trust is something we earn in drops and lose in buckets. Let’s not spill this bucket today.” Another of my colleagues pointed out that the legitimacy of the police in the long run is derived from the fact that they have a track record of helping others. That means that a video of a police officer saving the life of a child, feeding a homeless person, or comforting someone who’s lost a loved one can provide others with hope, while a negative interaction that spreads on social media can damage the legitimacy of the police across the nation. If you do have a problem brewing in your area, be the facilitator of an event. The protestors in this instance contacted us because we had such a good relationship and told us they were going to protest. We helped them get their message out by escorting them through town and helping coordinate the use of the amphitheater to address people. There were about 400 protesters in total. As the trusted facilitator, we set up ground rules. Part of that was agreeing on a specific route. We agreed that a message would be more legitimate if no one broke the law. There were no violations of the law, no arrests, and no property damage. Irrigation Leader: How does that apply to irrigation districts?
Phil Ball: We handled a protest in my jurisdiction that ended peacefully, with no arrests and no property damage. It ended with the protestors and us holding a joint prayer in an amphitheater. Many people have expressed interest in how that came about. My sergeant urges us to have a good relationship with our community leaders before a critical event occurs. Many wait until after an incident to try to build rapport with the members of the community who are affected. When you do that, it looks rushed and insincere. It is important to develop rapport before an incident occurs. Then, when there is an incident, community leaders will contact you—not to protest, but to meet with you—and will then forward your message to the community. We also teach a crisis communication and verbal deescalation class that covers how to use words, phrases, and techniques to calm a situation down and ensure that people irrigationleadermagazine.com
Phil Ball: You need to have a strong social media presence that enhances your transparency. When an agency fails to step up to the microphone after a critical incident or it takes them too long to produce a factual statement about what has happened, they leave the microphone available for whoever wants to seize it. Today, social media allows any person to deliver a message to the world, whether or not it is factual. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration regulates what we put in our bodies, but only we can regulate what we put in our minds. With that in mind, every agency has a responsibility to make timely, factual statements about critical events to the media and via social media. Make sure your constituents are informed of factual information by you and not propaganda by somebody else. Hiring a tech-savvy person to administer your website is important as well. Social media is a rapidly moving target, with apps and language changing on a monthly, not a yearly, basis. Your social media person needs to understand search engine optimization and how to engage your audience. My web team teaches that you can increase your engagement with your audience by 300 percent if you send them a video rather than a link. Making that simple change can triple the number of people who see your messages. December 2020 | IRRIGATION LEADER
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Irrigation Leader: What kind of working relationship would you advise irrigation districts or other entities to have with local law enforcement and fire departments?
Phil Ball accompanies marchers.
Irrigation Leader: What can you tell us about communications skills?
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Irrigation Leader: Would you also recommend providing police with a map of the layout of your facilities? Phil Ball: Law enforcement and the fire department should definitely know the layout of your building. Today, digital files often make that kind of information easier to access. Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about the security camera technology that is available to irrigation districts? Phil Ball: The technology today is unbelievable. There are devices called Flock cameras that can read the tag of every vehicle coming in and going out of a city and can locate all the vehicles that fit a certain description—a black Nissan, for instance. For private agencies, there’s a company called Avigilon that leads the way in precognitive intelligence. The irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF PHIL BALL.
Phil Ball: When your staff communicates with a customer, their attitude and mindset are all-important. Your reception person or the person who interacts with the public the most needs to be the most diplomatic person you have. There was a woman at the Quincy–Columbia Basin Irrigation District who had an almost Jedi-like way of handling people. I talked to her at length and generated a memo explaining her perspective. She explained that the people she dealt with weren’t just customers—they were residents, farmers, and eventually friends, since she had known them for so long. Customers would calm down because they knew they weren’t just talking to a person with a company logo—they were talking to somebody who was listening and cared. Many times, when we’re talking to somebody, we’re just waiting to interrupt. We’re not hearing what they’re saying. Crisis communications involve listening with the intent of helping someone.
Phil Ball: Irrigation districts should establish those relationships immediately, before there’s an incident. I remind districts during my active-shooter training sessions that the first time police officers are in your building shouldn’t be when your life is on the line. You could have an event like a law enforcement appreciation day with coffee and doughnuts to give the officers a chance to meet you and tour your building. Make sure they have the proper contact numbers for your district. It can also be helpful to assign a contact person at the district to interact with the police. You may want to have a security site assessment in which we come out to the facility, look at your configuration, review your operating procedures, and interview your employees. We offer a package in which I come out, take photos of the interior and exterior of your buildings, and then sit down over several days and use ASIS standards to provide recommendations for costeffective ways in which your facilities can be improved. There’s a school of thought called crime prevention through environmental design that argues that building design can psychologically deter violence. Many criminal acts are opportunistic, taking advantage of something that looks easy to steal or break into. A building that has been tightened up may seem too difficult to break into. Prevention and deterrence are key. One of the most cost-effective ways to strengthen a building is to use 3M film on exterior glass. It will take several minutes for someone to kick, hit, or shoot their way through 3M film–reinforced glass. That gives people in the building time to escape or get help. The difficulty of breaking the 3M-treated glass may make an intruder or vandal give up and move on to another building. An assessment by the fire department is also important. It can point out that you have gas but no carbon monoxide detector, for instance. Many fire departments have a formal assessment report that they can fill out and give to you.
Phil Ball teaches a class at Kennewick Irrigation District.
stadium in Seattle, for instance, has every seat covered by video surveillance. Of course, it would take dozens of security officers to monitor those cameras full time. However, Avigilon has software that watches all the people and alerts a security guard when someone is acting in a suspicious or agitated manner. A system like that can also be set up to watch your business and alert you when there’s a vehicle backing up to your dock at an unusual time. In the past, camera systems were used forensically after a crime happened to uncover who did it. Now, they’ve shifted to prevention: The system interprets the data it’s receiving and can tell you about a suspicious situation before a crime happens. Irrigation Leader: What is the benefit of having a visible security camera monitor in your office? Phil Ball: It’s a frontline deterrent. When people see the camera, they know that they can be held accountable for their behavior. Agencies with cameras have noticed a decrease in hostile interactions at the front desk. Irrigation Leader: Would you tell us about panic buttons and how they should be installed? Phil Ball: Today, physical panic buttons are frequently being replaced by panic button apps. Due to the fact that irrigationleadermagazine.com
everybody has a mobile device, the apps allow employees to call for help or alert other employees to a danger no matter where they are. Some of these apps can automatically contact the police department and forward a copy of your floor plan. This feature is often included in civilian-use tasers—when they are fired, they automatically call 911 and provide police with your coordinates. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the importance of emergency plans and your past work on developing them. Phil Ball: I’ve got a repository of different policies and plans that we have helped different companies and agencies develop. I use that as a resource. One of the worst things you can do is not to have a plan. During a crisis situation, we go into fightor-flight mode. You can’t develop a plan and implement it under those conditions. The best emergency plan I’ve seen is a color-coded flip chart in a binder. People can grab that binder and quickly flip to the page for a fire, natural disaster, or active shooter and see the recommended steps. If you are developing a plan, ask your employees for input. They know the building and the operating procedures the best. When I do a site assessment, I generally interview each employee for several minutes and draw up an anonymized list of all the things that employees think an employer could do to improve safety December 2020 | IRRIGATION LEADER
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Phil Ball demonstrates a gunman takedown method.
and operating conditions. You can decrease turnover if you improve the working conditions for employees and they feel safer when they work. You want to be able to produce a document, training, and a procedure to show that you were taking diligent efforts to try and keep your employees and clients safe. In addition to potentially saving lives, having a plan in place helps with liability and insurance. Irrigation Leader: What sorts of drills should irrigation districts carry out?
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Irrigation Leader: What other sorts of training should every office have its people do? Phil Ball: In the active killer class, we go over the preattack indicators that people manifest when they’re considering coming in and harming their fellow employees. There’s a workplace violence component. Crisis communications are also effective in reducing workplace violence. We want to make sure that employees talk to the public in a way that will lower the chances that an agitated customer becomes a physically violent customer. We touch on mental health; we also cover verbal techniques, words, and gestures that are proven to deescalate situations. We also have a physical self-defense class where we learn the physical and verbal preattack indicators. We also go over basic physical defensive tactics. I also suggest having all your employees trained in basic CPR and automated external defibrillator (AED) operations. irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF PHIL BALL.
Phil Ball: You can prepare for an incident by running a tabletop drill or a live drill. We have done active-shooter drills for some water districts, like the Desert Water Agency in Palm Springs. I played the bad guy, and we had loud sound effects to simulate gunfire. Everybody learned how to barricade and practiced their escape routes. At the end of the day, we came up with a list of ways that security could be improved. You don’t want a parachute that may or may not work. Treat your security plans and training the same way: You should know that they are
operationally safe and effective. Through testing, you can find vulnerabilities.
Phil Ball presents to a group of realtors in Las Cruces, New Mexico.
Irrigation Leader: Is there any medical equipment districts should have on hand? Phil Ball: One of the medical items I suggest every agency have is a cat tourniquet. They’re black tourniquets with Velcro that can slide on an arm or leg and quickly stop the bleeding from a wound. You can be trained in just a few minutes on how to apply one; they’re wonderful, inexpensive, life-saving devices. Today, with COVID‑19, everybody needs hand sanitizer and N‑95 masks or other masks. We owe it to our families and fellow employees to make sure that we don’t spread any diseases. First-aid kits should be easily identifiable and located in a fixed, public location—not stored where they are hard to access. Those kits should include all the things we talked about, including a cat tourniquet and latex gloves.
post embarrassing e-mails on the internet. Backups don’t help with that, and that could damage your company and represent a huge liability. IL
Irrigation Leader: Is there any other field of security that we have not discussed yet? Phil Ball: Something that’s becoming a big threat today is cyberthreats and ransomware. We have met with some large corporations in Atlanta that have been affected. It used to be that hackers would get information and demand a ransom to get it back. Companies got smart and learned they just needed to back up their data off site. However, when the companies say they have a backup and won’t pay the ransom, the hackers say, fine, I’ll sell all your client information and irrigationleadermagazine.com
Phil Ball presents to a professional group.
Philip Ball is a police officer and the cofounder and lead instructor of the Situational Awareness Institute. He can be contacted at saitactical@gmail.com. For more about SAI, visit activekillerexpert.com. December 2020 | IRRIGATION LEADER
| 17
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Know CPR’s Informative and Inexpensive CPR Training
A Know CPR client takes a remote class.
20 | IRRIGATION LEADER | December 2020
tells Irrigation Leader about his company’s services and how it is successfully adapting to remote classes in the COVID19 era. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your background. Don Sussman: I have a master’s degree in international finance. For the last 20 years, I have owned and managed Know CPR. irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF KNOW CPR.
D
on Sussman founded the company Know CPR after participating in a CPR course he found to be overly expensive and ineffective in imparting the knowledge and skills that can be essential to saving the life of a family member, friend, colleague, or even a stranger. Some 20 years later, Know CPR is successfully providing CPR, automated external defibrillator (AED), and first aid skills to people around the nation in an informative and affordable manner. In this interview, Mr. Sussman
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about the history of Know CPR and why you started it. Don Sussman: I started the company in response to my own experience in a CPR class. Earlier in my professional life, I was a tennis instructor, and I wanted to ensure that I was trained to prevent anyone from dying on my tennis court. However, I really didn’t like the way the CPR class I took was taught, and I also thought it was too expensive. Basically, the class consisted of an instructor turning on a video for us to watch while he headed off to Starbucks. When he returned and asked if anyone had questions, I said, “Yes, lots of them!” The bottom line was that I immediately realized I could learn and teach these skills better than he could, so that’s what I did. The whole concept behind my approach is to make CPR instruction affordable; interesting; and, most of all, informative. Irrigation Leader: How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your business? Don Sussman: It has made us completely rethink and reconfigure our business. Our former model was to teach groups of three or more people on location at their places of business. With COVID-19, people don’t necessarily want us coming to their locations. We also can’t gather too many people together or have too many people sharing the same equipment. Because of all that, COVID-19 caused our sales to drop more than 99 percent, almost overnight. We had to rethink our model, and what we’ve done is to pivot toward remote training. Remote training is not online training. Online training is when people go online and watch a video about CPR. Remote CPR training involves using technology to teach live classes via Zoom, Microsoft Teams, or other two-way audiovisual platforms. We take it one step further by actually mailing customers a training mannequin ahead of the class session. They use that mannequin in front of the camera with a live instructor watching and coaching them from the other end. It’s as if our instructor is right there with them. Customers are still getting hands-on training and immediate feedback on ways to improve their skills. Now, about 85 percent of our business is remote. The positive result of this is that we are now able to do business nationally rather than just regionally. Irrigation Leader: Please tell us more about the mannequin you send to your customers. Is it the standard CPR mannequin that people are familiar with? Don Sussman: That was one of the stumbling blocks in the transition to remote classes. A typical CPR class costs less than $50, but a fully functional adult CPR mannequin with moving lungs costs $100–$150, an infant mannequin costs $100, and an AED trainer costs $100. I was faced with the question of how I would get this expensive equipment to irrigationleadermagazine.com
someone and ensure that they would either pay for it or pay the expensive cost of shipping it back. A secondary question was whether we would even want to reuse equipment, given the risks of transmitting the coronavirus. Ultimately, we came up with the idea of creating single-use mannequins. They’re primarily made out of out of sponges and light wood. We can have an entire packet of infant, child, and adult mannequins plus an AED trainer shipped to someone for $10 plus shipping. The customers can keep the mannequins. Irrigation Leader: So they are standard-size mannequins made out of more cost-efficient materials? Don Sussman: Correct. Hands-on, mannequin-based training is designed to simulate the depth and rate of effective chest compressions and ensure that the student can successfully open the airway and administer rescue breaths to a victim. Our mannequins include a sponge core to achieve the resistance and depth needed for students to perform compressions correctly and confidently. A plastic lung is attached to the mannequin’s airway so that its chest will visibly rise if the student correctly administers the rescue breath. We have also developed a free app that, when used with our mannequins, provides the student immediate feedback on whether they are providing compressions too slowly, just right, or too fast. Irrigation Leader: How many remote trainings have you done? Don Sussman: The number is continually growing as people become aware of the availability of our remote classes. We have quickly gone from zero to 50–60 per month. The effort is gaining traction. Our business is headquartered in Virginia, but just today I have set up remote classes and sent our training equipment to customers in Boston; Florida; Seattle; and Washington, DC. Irrigation Leader: What kind of lead time do you require to ensure that the mannequins and other equipment arrive ahead of the training sessions? Don Sussman: Typically, the shipping of the mannequins takes 3–4 days at the more affordable $12–$15 shipping rates. We have had customers request overnight shipping, which usually costs them an additional $15–$20. Irrigation Leader: How are the remote training sessions priced? Don Sussman: We’ve always tried to keep our training affordable—that has been a hallmark of my business throughout its history. A basic CPR and lifesaving skills class for a small group of four or more people runs $39 per person. If first aid training is included, the price is $57 per person in a small group setting. If a customer is considering a solo, one-person remote class covering infant, child, and December 2020 | IRRIGATION LEADER
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Know CPR’s single-use CPR training mannequins are sent to customers for remote classes.
adult CPR and first aid, the price is $77 plus the $10 cost of the mannequins and related shipping, which brings the total to about $95. Irrigation Leader: How often should people have their training refreshed?
22 | IRRIGATION LEADER | December 2020
Irrigation Leader: Please tell us about your first aid training. Don Sussman: In addition to CPR, we teach first aid. CPR is what you do when you encounter a person who shows no obvious signs of life and is not breathing normally. Basic first aid, on the other hand, is what you do if someone has a broken bone, broken nose, bloody nose, cuts or abrasions, or something like that. Most people are more likely to encounter situations requiring basic first aid intervention than they are to need to perform CPR, so it is an important skill to have as well. We offer and encourage people to take advantage of both kinds of training, but we do not require customers to take both in combination. Many employers today require training in both skills, either of their own volition or because governmental regulations require it. Even if it is not legally required, businesses like restaurants often want their personnel to have these skills in case they need to help a colleague who has cut themself with a knife or something of that nature. We’ve also trained farm employees who work around big machinery. We aren’t training customers to be doctors and irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTOS COURTESY OF KNOW CPR.
Don Sussman: CPR is one of those skills that a person hopes they never need to use, but that everyone should have. You can never predict when or where you might encounter a situation requiring CPR and lifesaving skills, so people should be aware of what they can do to help. CPR can increase a person’s chances of survival if it is started shortly after their heart has stopped beating. If no CPR is performed, it only takes a couple of minutes for the person to become brain-dead and for vital organs to fail due to a lack of oxygen. CPR isn’t going to fix the underlying problem that is affecting a person, but it buys precious time for advanced medical care to arrive or for an AED to be used. Because CPR is a skill that is not used routinely by most individuals, it is recommended that it be refreshed every 2 years at minimum. Some jobs require training every year. The key is that everyone who has never taken a CPR
course should do so and that they should regularly refresh those skills thereafter.
nurses, but we’re trying to empower them to know how to react in the case of an emergency. Prior training is not required to participate in either class. Generally, the CPR training runs 1–2½ hours, while the first aid class runs 1–1½ hours. Times vary depending on the size of the class and previous experience of the students. As I mentioned, the classes do not have to be taken in tandem, though they often are, and both can be taken remotely. Irrigation Leader: Do you provide or recommend people keep first aid kits on hand? Don Sussman: Sticking to our objective of keeping things informative and affordable, we generally suggest that people put their own kits together based on their interests and occupations. The problem with buying ready-made kits is that they are often oriented toward a specific activity, such as camping or sports, or toward a certain profession, like auto repair, and as a result they are often quite expensive. Our recommendation is to seek out a kit that matches your interests or occupation, look at the label to see what’s included, and then go purchase those items independently and build your own kit. That way, you’ll save money and get exactly what you need, and you can put together multiple kits for your home, vehicles, and travel. Irrigation Leader: How accessible should first aid kits be? Don Sussman: They need to be accessible. If your first aid kit is not accessible, it’s as if you don’t have one. The same is true of allergy medications and anything else that needs to be used quickly in an emergency situation. Irrigation Leader: Do you provide any other kind of healthrelated training? Don Sussman: CPR training today includes AED training. An AED device evaluates a victim’s heart rhythm and determines whether an electrical shock may be necessary to help reset their heart. If so, it delivers a shock. Years ago, CPR and AED trainings were usually given separately, but because the two really go hand in hand, AED use is generally included in CPR training today. As I mentioned earlier, CPR buys time until help comes, but alone, it typically doesn’t fix the underlying problem. What can help temporarily fix the problem is the shock delivered by an AED. For every minute that passes before a person receives AED assistance, their chance of a full recovery decreases by 10 percent. In a perfect world, everyone would be walking around with their own little AED just in case they happen across someone requiring its use. Of course, that’s not realistic because of cost and convenience issues. But as the cost of AEDs continues to drop, they have become far more widely available and are common in high-traffic areas such as schools, libraries, airports, buses, and even office lunch irrigationleadermagazine.com
or conference rooms. However, just like first aid kits, AEDs need to remain obvious and accessible if they are ultimately to help save lives. Irrigation Leader: What is the cost of an AED today? Don Sussman: I have seen AED devices range from several thousand dollars on the high end to closer to $1,000 on the low end. I don’t sell AEDs, because I don’t want anyone to think that receiving CPR, AED, and first aid skills are in any way tied to their purchase of an expensive AED machine. Irrigation Leader: Tell us about your trainers. Don Sussman: Right now, all our trainers have at least 10 years of experience teaching CPR. We have found that there are several attributes that our successful trainers demonstrate. They are friendly, caring, and helpful; they are knowledgeable on the topic; they understand and believe in the importance of the information they are imparting; and they recognize that every student has a different way of learning, so they adapt their teaching to ensure that everyone leaves our classes with a sense of accomplishment. Most of our instructors also currently work as teachers or have been teachers in the past. It’s important that our instructors are able to teach in a way that people can easily understand. Irrigation Leader: Do your students receive a certification after successfully completing the training? Don Sussman: Yes. Once someone has successfully completed the remote or in-person mannequin training and the cognitive learning section, they receive a certificate that is valid for 2 years. Irrigation Leader: What should everyone know about your company, Know CPR? Don Sussman: CPR is an essential lifesaving skill that could be necessary at any time. Everyone should want to be prepared to save a family member, friend, or professional colleague. Know CPR makes it simple, easy, and affordable. It doesn’t take much time to learn this essential lifesaving skill, and if you ever have to use it, you will always be satisfied to know that you were well prepared to help someone in need. IL Don Sussman is the founder and CEO of Know CPR. He can be reached at info@knowcpr.com or (703) 528-7045. For additional class information and pricing information, visit www.knowcpr.com. December 2020 | IRRIGATION LEADER
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How Assura Software Can Increase Data Security, Reduce Risk, and Help Maintain Social Distancing
Assura's software being used in the field on a mobile device.
Assura’s software can be used in the office or in the field.
A
ssura Software, based in Christchurch, New Zealand, aims to help businesses automate their everyday manual processes. Its software platform combines the configurability of a bespoke solution with the ease and assurance of an off-the-shelf product. In this interview, Hamish Howard, Assura’s CEO and managing director, speaks with Irrigation Leader about how the company’s solution can increase data security, reduce injuries, and help maintain social distance in the workplace. Irrigation Leader: Please tell our readers how your software is used to manage assets and keep track of inventory.
Irrigation Leader: Exactly how does your system work? Hamish Howard: Assura is all about making sure that the right person is doing the right thing at the right time. For example, a pump may need to be inspected every 3 months
26 | IRRIGATION LEADER | December 2020
and have some parts replaced every 6 months. The software will alert the relevant people about these tasks and ensure that they are competed. Unless that is evidenced with a photo and signature, it is escalated. Assura is an application that can be accessed via a browser on your PC or laptop or via an app on your smartphone. The data are held on a relational database and the solution is hosted on the Microsoft Azure cloud platform. The software itself is a configurable workflow engine. This means we can change it to reflect your language, your processes, and how you work. The technology may also enable you to make your processes more efficient. Irrigation Leader: What kind of information does your software store? Can it store photos and video? Hamish Howard: In addition to the information you choose to enter in the fields, you can also attach any type of file. These could be files from your PC or laptop, or images, videos, or voice recordings taken with your smartphone in the field. The program also has an image field that allows you to capture signatures or even draw pictures, if that is useful and you aspire to be the next Da Vinci. Irrigation Leader: Are the data stored in a secure way? Hamish Howard: There are all sorts of geeky things I could say here about SSL certificates, two-factor authentication, and enterprise-grade firewalls, but this isn’t meant to be an interview to help insomniacs. While Assura does provide all of the above, a more practical way to view it is that you have far more control over who can access your information if it is stored in Assura’s solution than if it is on paper or in a spreadsheet. irrigationleadermagazine.com
PHOTO COURTESY OF HYDROSIDE.
Hamish Howard: Assura software allows staff to record and track the assets and inventory of a business, so that they know what they have, what maintenance has been performed on it, and what maintenance is due. Recording an asset can be as simple as taking a photo or video with your smartphone and filling in a few fields with information about it. The system will then categorize it for reporting and kick off the appropriate associated actions, such as determining when maintenance and inspections should take place. This tracking and reporting can be done at a granular level if required, and because the system is a workflow engine, it will provide alerts when maintenance is due. The escalation rules will also provide alerts to the appropriate people if this maintenance work is overdue, so you’re only managing by exception.
Compatible with mobile devices, Assura’s software can be used anywhere.
There are multiple levels of security that give users the ability to control who has rights to see and do what in the system, right down to view, read, and edit rights on the field level. Compared to pieces of paper sitting on desks or lost in vehicles or spreadsheets that are difficult to share securely, Assura is a far more secure way to store data about your assets and your customers. Irrigation Leader: How does your service enhance employee safety? Hamish Howard: There are a number of ways in which using Assura can help keep staff safe. The obvious ones concern the reduction of paper and the need for papers to be passed from one person to another, potentially transporting germs and viruses like the coronavirus. Being able to record your work and updates remotely on a smart phone, rather than on paper, reduces the need to be close to another person or to share a common space with them. In the current environment, being able to do your work and keep people informed while maintaining physical distance is really important. The solution also keeps everyone informed. The information is visible and accessible without relying on people having to have a specific piece of paper or access to the right Excel sheet. Assura will let you know if you need to know. Irrigation Leader: Is your software system designed primarily for large entities with lots of people and things to keep track of, or is it scalable to small irrigation districts with few employees? Hamish Howard: The solution is not priced at an enterprise level or restricted by the number of users, whether with a minimum or maximum number. The benefit of the solution has more to do with the value it can add to an organization by increasing efficiency and visibility. To date, organizations of many different sizes have found a lot of value in using it. As a practical example, the New Zealand irrigation entities using our software vary from 4–9 staff members, but we also have government-based entities with many thousands of staff using it. Because the solution is configurable, it can be as simple or as complex as required and can evolve with you as your needs grow and change. Irrigation Leader: If someone is interested in learning more, what are the steps? Hamish Howard: The first step would be to take a look at the MHV Water case study on our website to get a bit more background and to hear from a user of the solution. That can be found at www.assurasoftware.com/portfolio/ mhv-water/. Then pick up the phone or drop me an e-mail. I can be contacted at (480) 477-9283 or hamish.howard@ assurasoftware.com. Then we can have a conversation irrigationleadermagazine.com
where I try to explain rugby and why our national team is called the All Blacks and you try to explain American football. Then we talk about the issues you’re trying to solve or improve and we can arrange a demo to see if Assura is something that could help. Irrigation Leader: Keeping in mind that Assura is a New Zealand–based company, where are your customers? Are you working with any U.S. irrigation districts or agencies? Hamish Howard: We have a range of customers down here at the bottom of the world. Most of them are in New Zealand, but we also have customers in Australia and Fiji. Our water and irrigation customers include MHV Water and Ashburton Lyndhurst Irrigation Limited, which are 143,000 and 74,000 acres in size, respectively. In the United States, we provide a solution to Roosevelt Water Conservation District, based just outside Phoenix, Arizona, in Mesa. The general manager there, Shane Leonard, has been a fantastic supporter of ours, and all the evidence points to the fact that we’re providing a lot of efficiencies and cost savings that will see this faith repaid rapidly. We’re talking to a number of other entities, but the situation created by the COVID‑19 pandemic has delayed planned visits to the United States to further these relationships and better understand how we can help. Irrigation Leader: What should everyone who manages an irrigation district, organization, or business know about Assura? Hamish Howard: I guess it’s important to point out that New Zealand has no community transmission of COVID‑19, so we’re safe to talk to, especially at a distance of nearly 7,500 miles. The other things I’d like people to know are these: Assura can be implemented remotely, and we have done this a number of times, but we do promise to turn up in person as soon as we are able to travel, break bread together, and give you a chance to laugh at our accent. The return on investment is rapid in terms of the gains in efficiency for users and preventative maintenance savings. Our system is configurable, so we can use your language and follow your processes. Support is only a phone call or e-mail away, and we know that our success is built on the success of our customers. That’s about it. We’d love to hear from you if you have any questions. IL Hamish Howard is the CEO and managing director of Assura Software. He can be contacted at hamish.howard@assurasoftware.com or at (480) 477‑9283.
December 2020 | IRRIGATION LEADER
| 27
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Upcoming Events December 1–3 Oregon Water Resources Congress, Annual Conference, Hood River, OR December 2-3 Association of California Water Agencies, Fall Conference & Exhibition (virtual) December 2–4 Washington State Water Resources Association, Annual Conference (virtual) December 8–10 National Ground Water Association, Groundwater Week, Las Vegas, NV (virtual option) December 8–11 North Dakota Water Users Association, 57th Annual Joint North Dakota and Upper Missouri Water Convention and Irrigation Workshop (virtual) CANCELED: December 14–16 Colorado River Water Users Association, Annual Conference, Las Vegas, NV January 6–7 Idaho Irrigation Equipment Show & Conference, Idaho Falls, ID January TBD National Water Resources Association, Leadership Forum, TBD January TBD Irrigation Leader Operations and Management Training Workshop and Tour, TBD January TBD Groundwater Management Districts Association, Winter Conference, TBD January 13–15 Four States Irrigation Council, Annual Meeting, Fort Collins, CO January 18–21 Idaho Water Users Association Annual Convention, Boise, ID January 25–28 Nevada Water Resources Association, Annual Conference (virtual) January 27 Nebraska Water Resources Association, Legislative Forum, Lincoln, NE January 27–29 Texas Ground Water Association, Annual Convention and Trade Show, San Marcos, TX January 29–31 Colorado Water Congress, Annual Convention, Aurora, CO
Past issues of Irrigation Leader are archived at irrigationleadermagazine.com @IrrigationLeader
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