Old 911 Tech Presents Safety Issues on Campus

Most often the PSAP operator doesn't know how many buildings or floors there are, and the operator also doesn't know the best routes of access.

April 4, 2011 -- On K-12 and college campuses, people expect that emergency responders know exactly where in the building they are when they call 911 for help.

But if their campus only has conventional PBX technology, they don't. And that's a major safety issue.

When someone on campus calls 911, the call goes to the PBX, which then sends information to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). Most often the address the PSAP operator sees is the mailing address or the main address of the campus. The operator doesn't know how many buildings or floors there are, and the operator also doesn't know the best routes of access.

Typically, the police show up at the front office or building closest to the entrance of campus and ask the staff members who called 911. They're often shocked because they didn't know about the call, and sometimes they literally call every room to find out who called.

In a building with multiple stories and lots of classrooms, finding out where the 911 call came from takes away precious time in a critical situation.

“There’s really no reason for this situation to be as it is any longer,” said Thomas Beck, director of marketing and business development at the telecommunications company Teo. "We’re pushing this big awareness campaign because it is a public safety issue.”
 

Enhanced 911 technology pinpoints call locations

This problem can be solved with Enhanced 911 technology, which connects to the PBX. The system knows where every class and phone number is. And it includes information about people who have medical conditions in certain classes, detailed maps of how to get to the room, emergency procedures and contact numbers.

In the same scenario, someone from a class calls 911. People on the site automatically see an alert pop up on their computer or smartphone that has all the necessary information. They can listen in to the call, see who else has been notified, who has acknowledged they've received the notification and have an emergency plan in front of them.

On the other end, the operators have more detailed information so they can direct emergency responders to the closest access point to the room. And off-site and on-site first responders can meet each other there and resolve the situation quickly.
 

40 percent of campuses in survey use E911 system

In a survey commissioned by Teo and conducted by an independent market research firm, 65 percent of respondents said they had a comprehensive emergency communications plan in place.

But less than half of them have the ability to pinpoint locations of 911 calls. Forty percent of K-12 and higher education institutions are using an enhanced 911 system. The survey included 100 IT decision-makers who are responsible for telecommunications from K-12 and higher education institutions.

Of those who don't use an E911 system, 45 percent cited lack of awareness, and 27 percent cited lack of need as the reasons why they don't use a system.

Many people don't realize that when they work in a large building or campus environment, their phone system PBX sits between them and regular 911-making calls, Beck said. They've come to expect emergency responders to know exactly where they're at, which is why more people don't know about the technology.
 

How to provide the best information to dispatchers

By adding E911 technology, campuses will give emergency responders that information. Decision-makers should take a campus map and highlight where the points of access are from the street and find out the fastest points for every room.

“If you do that, you’ll radically improve emergency response because now people won’t be going to the wrong entrance or the wrong building or the wrong side of a gigantic building," Beck said. "They’ll be coming right to the best point of access.”

The most time-consuming part of the system is figuring out what type of information people should know. For example, a university might have volatile chemicals in a lab. That's important information that should be in the E911 system in case of a fire.

Do you use E911 technology? Why or why not?

Source: Converge