Having worked in the emergency services for a number of years I noticed a serious lack of understanding from people about how the whole 999-Emergency thing works. It makes things harder for us, but also harder for the people calling & wouldn’t take much to rectify. Here’s a quick guide.
You’ll be connected to the first Emergency operator available. This may be in a distant part of the country like Milton Keynes, Bangor, Blackburn, Glasgow & so on. This has no effect on how quickly any help is getting to you, in fact it makes it quicker.
- Operator: Emergency Operator, what service do you require?
- You: Get me the police, ambulance, fire. Hurry up
The operator knows where you’re calling from & will connect you to the local services you request, in the order you request them. So, if there’s a fire ask for fire first. If somebody has been stabbed the ambulance is the best bet (although you might want the police too, unless you did it). That said, all the services talk to one another & constantly exchange relevant information.
The operator will start to connect you. Usually, you will be connected immediately, but you may be in a queue. Your call is important to us, we’re just busy dealing with that 20th call for the same traffic accident, or the drunk person who’s lying sleeping in the street. Yes, we’d rather not be doing that too, but we have to because it could be something more serious.
If you have to wait, use the time to do something useful.
If the operator cannot connect you to a particular centre after a certain time, they will try & pass you elsewhere (we occasionally take calls for the other side of the country). Do not get annoyed with the operator, the wait is not their fault (I refer you again to the drive-by callers & drunks).
- Your connected….
- Operator: name of exchange connecting, your telephone number
Pssst… They’re talking to us. Your telephone number may seem irrelevant, but its the most important piece of information available to us. If the line drops, or you collapse, we can use it to trace your location. Without it we can do nothing. Be patient & be silent. If you don’t interrupt it will take approx 5secs to pass. If you do it’ll delay help to you.
- Us: Whats the address of the emergency?
- You: That hill, you know, with the 3 bushes on it, yeh? Near that. Come on!
Tell us as if we don’t live in your town. Because we don’t. We don’t know the hill where Jimmy snogged Sharon last Saturday. At the very least a street & a town, a postcode, a landmark, or a grid ref is needed. Thats the best way to get help on its way to you immediately. This is your responsibility.
Providing you have given a decent location, the information is passed automatically to dispatch & the help you requested is on the way. Nothing said after this point (apart from a change in address at confirmation) is speeding up or slowing down anything. We’re not driving the vehicle, we’re on the phone to you.
- Us: Confirm the telephone number…
- Us: Confirm the address…
Tell us what you just said before, again. This is not a trick question. Making sure help is heading to the right location is important & we’d rather find out now than once the ambulance is at the wrong address.
Now we’ll ask some questions to find out exactly what’s going on and ensure you are getting the right help. If you don’t know the answer say “I don’t know”. This is quicker than starting an argument as to the reason for asking the question. It won’t make any difference to how fast anything is coming – because it’s already coming as fast as it can. Have you ever seen anything with blue lights & sirens not driving fast? No. But delaying your answer will delay us moving on to help someone else. Remember when you were in the queue?
Talk to us, not the people in the room with you. We’re trained to help, but unless you actually talk to us & tell us what’s happening there is nothing we can do to help you. Listen too. There will be people with you who think they know what to do – that uncle who did a first aid course in 1973 or that retired firefighter from next door. That’s fine, but things change & people forget. On the end of the phone is someone who is trained & (most importantly) kept up to date. Incorrect 1st aid can do more harm than good, listening could save a life.
Helpful Tips
- Dont put yourself in danger
I’m going to rant shortly about people who don’t help, but it’s just as important not to try and be Rambo (he killed people mostly). You are not invincible & under no circumstances are 2 dead people better than one.
- Before you start dialling, say clearly “I’m calling 999″
Do this & everyone around you knows you’re taking control & they don’t need to call themselves. There is nothing worse than two people standing next to one another and calling at the same time. Because we can’t take your word for it that someone else is making a call, all you are doing is keeping another emergency call from getting through.
- If it’s taking a long time to get through to a service, use the time to do something useful. Here are some ideas.
- Find out where you are.
This is very important in getting to you. If you don’t know where you are what chance have we?
- Find out whats going on.
Ask someone. If someones sick, are they conscious & breathing? If it’s a crime, who did it? Where are they? Just why are you calling anyway? This information is very useful.
- Calm everyone down.
We can’t hear a damn thing when everyone is screaming. If we can’t hear you, we can’t help you. You dialed 999 so get some attitude & take control. We need to be able to act through you.
- Seen a road accident? Driven past? Then why are you calling? Unless you know what’s happened you’re not of much use and simply clog up the lines for people trying to get through who do. I appreciate you want to help but half-assed help helps nobody. Either go the whole way, stop & actually do something, or drive away. You shouldn’t be on the phone while you’re driving anyway. Tut.
- We can’t tell you how far away help is
Sorry, but if it’s any consolation we don’t much like this either. It’s something to do with stopping us getting sued if the vehicle on its way breaks down or gets diverted. Who would do such a thing? Well someone tried to sue the ambulance service for burns recieved from a defibrillator when they were resuscitated, so who knows. What I can tell you is…
- The nearest help to you set off as soon as you gave your location
- Unfortunately (or should that be fortunately), we’re not expecting you to die, so we don’t park outside your house.
- It’s coming as fast as humanly possible
- There’s nothing you, I, or anyone can do to make that any faster
- If we tried to the chances are it would crash, kill even more people & you’d have an even longer wait. First rule of emergencies – don’t make them worse
- We can tell you what to do in the meantime. Only you can make a difference before the help gets there. Up to it?
Oh, you still on the line….?
- Did you ask for more than one service? Stay on the line..
- Operator: Connecting…
All comments, suggestions and hilarious stories welcome.
Note: I’m in the UK so this is all UK-centric, but generally the principles are the same. At our control we use a US system anyway, go figure…
