Emergency dispatches

sim2335

I just wonder how emergency disoatches deal with normal call centre situations.

If the line cuts off and a new call comes through what can they do.

Don’t there systems ever go down, how do they stop that.

What if they don’t have a answer, how can they ask someone, as they can’t waste any time.

How can they avoid giving wrong advise, you can’t really compensate anyone after that.

MalMonroe

Are you asking because you are thinking of applying to be an emergency call handler/dispatcher?

If so, there is some helpful information in this link - https://www.healthcareers.nhs.uk/explore-roles/ambulance-service-team/roles-ambulance-service/emergency-medical-dispatchercall-handler

Such workers are trained in what to do and say and are tested to ensure that they are suited to the job. Before they are allowed to handle calls on their own, they have to shadow an experienced call handler. They have to be prepared for all kinds of emergency and such training continues throughout their employment. 

If their systems do ever go down, they have emergency systems in place so they can still be available to the public.

nyermen

Not sure about since the pandemic, but when I worked at IBM placement year in 1998, they had pretty modern systems (virtual telephone system accounts, etc etc) that did the whole company (345,000 today, not sure back then) and it never failed that I remember.

I suspect that if you get cut off and call back, there's a recognition of the same number and at very least, the notes are brought back up for the new call handler?

sim2335

Nope too stressful to apply for just asking out of intrest and curiosity.

they must overhire too, I would have thought it’s better for a advisor to sit and do nothing for even 50 minutes. 

Then a person calling to be on hold.

Sandtree

sim2335 said:

I just wonder how emergency disoatches deal with normal call centre situations.

If the line cuts off and a new call comes through what can they do.

Don’t there systems ever go down, how do they stop that.

What if they don’t have a answer, how can they ask someone, as they can’t waste any time.

How can they avoid giving wrong advise, you can’t really compensate anyone after that.

In a normal call centre as soon as a call ends either intentionally or due to it being cut off the phone goes into "wrap up" and so it wont be the case of another call coming straight through.

I've worked in many call centres but never a 999 one so cannot say what their procedures are explicitly. With all the phone systems I've used it will show me the number the caller had dialled from, assuming it wasnt withheld, and so I can make a choice on if to call the person back or not.

When I worked for the water authority our systems did occasionally go down at which point when someone called to say there is a 30' geyser of water coming out the middle of the road we had a massive map on the wall which you had to go to and look up the location of the issue. That then showed you which of the 30 or so areas it fell in and you either fax or telephone that area office to advise them of the issue depending on the level of the emergency. It was similar when I worked for a breakdown company other than there the map of Europe had numbered pins and you had to work out which pin was closest and then look up the details of that pin number in a paper directory (someone knocked the map off the wall once... people were not happy trying to put the pins in back in the right place)

I imagine if you cannot get through when calling back it will depend on what information was gathered before the call was cut... if its a certain emergency then they may have a route to geolocate the telephone to dispatch someone depending if it was a mobile, landline or VOIP but this can lead to false results... my mobile number is attached to my VOIP so could be making a call miles away from my mobile but they'd think it was my mobile.

Unfortunately as litigations show, you can compensate people but it is still best to get it right first time. Ultimately it will be a stressful job and I am sure there is plenty of work done on ensuring the right sort of people are selected and the right support is given for dealing with the situation. It wont be for everyone though

mcpitman

They have thorough Disaster Recovery plans in place, which includes specific contracts with system and telephony providers for down time and recovery service levels they also have the ability to "trip over" systems so that Glasgow calls could be routed to Manchester or East Midlands call centers, for example.

For staffing, humans are incredibly predictable by nature, so they will staff 3am on a Wednesday morning, different to Midnght in a Saturday evening using historic forecasting and different assumptions for unusual events and other impact factors.

They will operate with tight(ish) staffing schedules and shifts and using queuing probability theory to determine wait times and answering times at different rates of arrival of calls.

Sandtree

mcpitman said:

They have thorough Disaster Recovery plans in place, which includes specific contracts with system and telephony providers for down time and recovery service levels they also have the ability to "trip over" systems so that Glasgow calls could be routed to Manchester or East Midlands call centers, for example.

The water authority's DR plan wasnt great... the call centre during the day operated from a 10 seat call centre but there were an additional 4 seats in a full on bunker with blast door etc because in the evenings the call centre took over monitoring telemetry equipment which ensures the water supply hasnt been tampered with and that kit had to be there (if someone wants to poison the watersupply, easiest to first take out the monitoring stations).

In the event of a fire, bomb threat etc the bunker door self closes and locks, anyone outside the bunker had a 30 minute SLA to get to the DR site, which was hot, and get systems back up. Seemingly however no one thought about the fact that over half of us caught a bus to work and the DR site wasnt on public transport route.

Never had a drill whilst I was there but company myth was that during a previous drill the bunker door malfunctioned and wouldnt unlock after the all clear signal was given. Took the firebrigade 6-8 hours to get them out. Thankfully it has a filtered air supply, water (no toilet) and some snacks etc in there so all ok if you can hold it, not claustrophobic and not a smoker

Savvy_Sue

Sandtree said:

In the event of a fire, bomb threat etc the bunker door self closes and locks, anyone outside the bunker had a 30 minute SLA to get to the DR site, which was hot, and get systems back up. Seemingly however no one thought about the fact that over half of us caught a bus to work and the DR site wasnt on public transport route.

Surely in that situation you'd get a taxi, even if the place WAS on a bus route???

getmore4less

Savvy_Sue said:

Sandtree said:

In the event of a fire, bomb threat etc the bunker door self closes and locks, anyone outside the bunker had a 30 minute SLA to get to the DR site, which was hot, and get systems back up. Seemingly however no one thought about the fact that over half of us caught a bus to work and the DR site wasnt on public transport route.

Surely in that situation you'd get a taxi, even if the place WAS on a bus route???

Or car share with those that did come by car.