State of California OES ACS Newsletter
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State of California OES ACS Newsletter
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April 28, 2003
Published weekly (except for vacations and emergencies) by the Auxiliary Communications Service, State of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services.
Articles in this Issue:
What happens if you dial 9-1-1 from a satellite phone?"
(Nancy Ballard, Emergency Manager, Modoc County (CA) Sheriff's Office)
Answer: According to Global Star, if you are using their system, you will reach a Global Star emergency communications center in SAN JOSE, California. From there, they want your LOCATION. If you don't know your location, they want your satellite phone number. Then they will ATTEMPT to transfer you to the nearest 9-1-1 landline system.
On the Iridium system, NO-ONE WILL ANSWER. They (Iridium) state that the call is placed as an International call, and would have no automatic way of knowing where it should be routed. (Editors comment here: Although they have no way of AUTOMATICALLY knowing where to send it, they should implement a system similar to Global Star.)
On the Inmarsat system, the customer service rep stated that no-one would answer, because the satellite would not know where you were.
Now, there was an interesting article on the Web, that states the following:
PSC SAFETY ALERT 911 EMERGENCIES ON SATELLITE PHONES
Recently a serious accident occurred on a remote drilling location in Alberta. The company's on site consultant involved used the latest technology; his satellite phone to call 9-1-1. The operator who answered knew nothing about their location or how to find them in order to send assistance. How could she, she was in the 9-1-1 emergency response center in Toronto, Ontario.
How could something like this happen? It was explained to the PSC this way. All landline 9-1-1 calls are routed to the appropriate 9-1-1call centre based on the physical location of the landline. Cell phone calls are routed based on the wireless service provider's interconnection point to the public switched telephone network not the wireless caller's physical location. 9-1-1 calls placed on a satellite network are routed based on the satellite service provider's network and where their network interconnects with the public switched telephone network, in this case Toronto. It could have gone to almost any city in North America. The local telephone system would then identify it as an emergency call and link it to the nearest emergency response center. These centers are not linked to each other and most likely would not even know where to transfer the call if asked to direct it back to Alberta or anywhere else.
A number of important lessons can be learned by all of us from this Incident .
A number of important lessons can be learned by all of us from this Incident .
1. Ensure we have a complete Emergency Response Plan (ERP) established for our organization.
2. Train all personnel to implement the plan through education and practice.
3. Upon arrival, test the system to ensure phones; phone numbers and other contacts work from that location.
4. Develop a checklist for emergency calls, including preliminary questions to ensure the center reached can respond to your emergency.
5. Have backup and contingency plans that are tested during practice drills.
The importance of practice, drills and checklists cannot be over emphasized. All employees must know and be familiar with all aspects of the ERP. They must know their own and each other's responsibilities in order to ensure the emergency is dealt with effectively. A phone checklist will be helpful to the individual assigned to make calls, but it will be invaluable to an 'alternate' who has to call for an ambulance if the injured worker is the person who was assigned to do the phoning in the ERP.
The accident that brought this problem to light was a fatality. The confusion with the 911 System did not contribute to the severity in this instance. However, had the accident resulted in serious injury with response time being of prime importance, the communications problems could have been disastrous.
If you plan to use a Satellite Service Provider ask if they provide an emergency response service for directing 9-1-1 dialed calls to appropriate emergency centers for the satellite caller's physical location. If it is not available make other arrangements to ensure that proper assistance is just a phone call away.
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California OES ACS HQ facility contact information: Auxiliary Communications Service Program, Room A-139 Governor's Office of Emergency Services P.O. Box 419047, Rancho Cordova, CA 95741- 9047
Copyright 2003 by State of California OES ACS. All or any part of this publication may be reproduced, transmitted, or quoted, provided that credit be given to this issue of the State of California "ACS Newsletter."
Opinions expressed in articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of State of California OES ACS. State of California Office of Emergency Services and its "ACS Newsletter" editor, Gary Crowe, Ph.D. KG6HIM, do not assume and hereby disclaim any liability to any person for any loss or damage caused by errors or omissions in the material contained herein, regardless of whether such errors result from negligence, accident, or any other cause whatsoever.
73, Gary Crowe, Ph.D. "ACS Newsletter" Editor State of California Governor's Office of Emergency Services Operations Support Branch Auxiliary Communications Service Tel: (916) 489- 8709 Fax: (916) 488-0148.