Neighbourhood Watch: STN 1 South YarraRegion 1 Division 2 Stonnington, Victoria, Australia.
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Neighbourhood Watch: STN 1 South Yarra
Region 1 Division 2
Stonnington, Victoria, Australia.
You are here: Home>Newsletters>August 2001
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August, 2001 Emergency service calls What happens when you ring 000 In Australia, dialling 000 will connect a caller to emergency assistance – Police, Fire or Ambulance. 000 can be dialled from any phone, fixed or mobile. The 000 service is operated by Telstra whose role is to connect callers to the appropriate emergency service organisation. When calling 000, you should be aware of the procedure that is followed to get maximum benefit from this vital service. When you dial ‘000' the call is given priority carriage on the telecommunications network. It is transmitted to a call centre where Telstra's agents answer the call. In 85-90% of cases, calls are answered within 5 seconds. Major events like bush fires may lead to an influx of calls and slower answering times. The Telstra agent who answers the call will say "emergency" and ask "Police, Fire or Ambulance? At the same time as they answer the call, the location from where you are calling is displayed on the agent's screen provided you are calling from a fixed phone. When a call is made to ‘000' from a mobile phone, the Telstra Call Centre only receives the number of the mobile phone and the network to which the phone is linked. The agent will, therefore, ask the caller where they are calling from. The agent then accesses an alphabetical listing of towns and the call is transferred to the relevant emergency service organisation within that area. When the caller answers the question – "Police, Fire or Ambulance?" the agent is able to appropriately direct the call by automatically matching the postcode of the caller's location to that of the required emergency service. At the same time, this information is passed on a data line to that emergency service. The Telstra agent then provides the job number to the emergency service officer who checks the location information they have received and begins to talk directly with the caller. In reality, the transfer of the caller from the Telstra ‘000' agent to the emergency service officer is generally so quick that the caller does not even realise that this has all occurred. At this point, the Telstra agent disconnects from the caller and the emergency service officer. The emergency service officer talks to the caller and determines the best course of action. A group from Neighbourhood Watch recently visited the Intergraph Communications Centre at Police Head Quarters in Flinders Street and observed the procedures for dealing with emergency calls when they are transferred from Telstra. This is what happens. The job number and callers location (if calling from a fixed phone) are displayed on the Intergraph Call Receiver's computer screen together with a street map of the area. This information is automatically transferred to the screen of the Call Despatcher for your area. As the details of the emergency are typed into the computer by the Call Receiver, the Call Despatcher communicates with the emergency response units which are free to take the job. The units available in the area - Police, Ambulance, MFB, CFA, SES - are all listed on the Call Despatchers screen. Do not worry about the number of questions you are being asked. The person you are talking to does not communicate directly with the emergency services. That is the job of the Call Despatcher who, as you talk, is being constantly updated with the information you are providing to the Call Receiver and passing on that information to the services responding to your call. In effect there are two people who are responding to your call in the Intergraph Communications Centre - the Call Receiver and the Call Despatcher - as well as a member of the Victoria Police who oversees operations. The important things to remember when calling ‘000' are: - State whether you want Police, Fire or Ambulance assistance; - If calling from a mobile phone, give as much information about the location of the emergency as possible; - Stay on the line until connected with the emergency service operator; and - Provide all information requested by the emergency service operator and stay on the line for as long as possible. Non-Emergency Calls To ‘000' The ‘000' emergency service has a high incidence of unwelcome calls. Of the nearly one million calls made to ‘000' every month, only about 25-30% are forwarded to an emergency service organisation. The remaining 70-75% are inappropriate or ‘nuisance' calls and do not result in an emergency dispatch. This is a significant problem and has the potential to delay emergency assistance to those in genuine need of help. 112 – The digital alternative 112 is the GSM international standard emergency number, which can only be dialled on digital mobile phones. It cannot be dialled from the fixed network or from new technology such as CDMA. The advantage of 112 is that it can be dialled anywhere in the world with GSM coverage and automatically translated to that country's emergency number. 112 can also be dialled in any network coverage area (for example, in Australia, it could be dialled on a Vodafone mobile out of coverage and connected to 000 by MobileNet where there is Telstra coverage) and without the presence of a SIM card or having to key in a security-protection PIN. Mobile users should refer to their mobile phone instruction manual for more information. How you can help The following will help reduce the number of non-emergency calls to ‘000': Dial 000 only for a Police, Fire or Ambulance Emergency. Such an emergency is a life threatening or time critical circumstance for which rapid response is required. Be aware of other numbers you might need for less serious (but still urgent) situations. For example, your local Police Station, hospitals, electricity, gas, water, poisons information, RSPCA, State Emergency Services, Lifeline etc. These numbers are found in your local telephone directory. ‘000' is only for emergencies to Police, Fire and Ambulance services. Think again whether you really need to program ‘000' into your telephone' autodial. This could lead to accidental dialling. Make sure you count the correct number of zeros before dialling or faxing international numbers. It is common practice for many office workers to dial ‘0' to access an outside line and, therefore, a ‘0' is often inadvertently dialled from the home telephone. This results in dialling ‘0' and then ‘0011xxxx' which is interpreted by the switch as a call to ‘000'. Supervise your children and explain to them the importance of the ‘000' service. Many hoax and nuisance calls to ‘000' tend to occur between 3.30-4.30pm on school days. Make sure your mobile phone is not inadvertently dialling ‘000' or ‘112' while in your handbag, briefcase or pocket. If necessary, use a keypad lock (consult your mobile phone instruction manual for details). Deaf, hearing or speech impaired service 106 provides the same service as the 000 emergency service but is only for people who are Deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment. You can use either your TTY or computer with modem to call 106. This is a toll-free number. A Relay Officer will ask if you want Police, Fire or Ambulance. The Relay Officer will dial the correct service and relay the conversation. 106 can be used by callers who prefer to use Hearing Carry Over and Voice Carry Over. Speech to Speech Relay callers must call 000. If you want more information on how to use the 106 Emergency Relay Service please contact: VOICE: 1800 555 660 TTY: 1800 555 630 FAX: 1800 555 690 EMAIL: feedback@aceinfo.net.au POST: PO Box 473,Stones Corner, Qld 4120 Next Meeting
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Last modified 7 September 2003.