Mustering

The process of accounting for all personnel during emergencies by gathering them at designated assembly points. RTLS-enabled mustering automatically detects when personnel reach muster points, identifies missing individuals, and provides accountability. Dramatically faster and more reliable than manual headcounts. Critical for emergency response and safety.

Emergency procedure gathering personnel at designated assembly points for headcount and accountability, automated and accelerated through RTLS. RTLS-enabled mustering provides: (1) Automated headcount - system immediately identifying all personnel currently in facility (within seconds of emergency declaration), comparing against expected roster. (2) Assembly point monitoring - geofences at mustering points automatically detecting arriving personnel, updating accountability status. (3) Missing persons identification - system listing individuals who haven't reached assembly points within expected timeframe (typically 5-10 minutes), showing their last known locations for rescue efforts. (4) Real-time status display - dashboards showing mustering progress (percentage accounted, time since evacuation started, missing persons list). (5) Historical playback - reconstructing personnel locations immediately before emergency for investigation. Mustering configuration: defining assembly point geofences (typically 10-30 meter radius circles at designated outdoor locations), expected evacuation times (facility-dependent, typically 3-10 minutes), and alert escalation (when to notify emergency services about missing personnel). OSHA, local fire codes, and industry standards (NFPA) often mandate evacuation and accounting procedures. Mustering performance metrics: time to 90% accounted (target 5-10 minutes including evacuation and detection), false negative rate (system thinking person present when actually absent, should be <1%), false positive rate (system thinking person missing when actually safe, should be <2%), and rescue guidance accuracy (last known location accuracy enabling responder navigation). Studies show RTLS mustering reduces: accounting time 70-85% (from 15-30 minutes to 2-5 minutes), missing person identification time 85-95% (immediate vs. delayed discovery), and rescue response time 60-80% (last known location guidance vs. searching entire facility).