000 (emergency telephone number)

Last updated

Triple Zero or 000 logo 000 Emergency Logo 01.jpg
Triple Zero or 000 logo

000 Emergency, [1] also known as Triple Zero [1] or Triple 0, [2] and sometimes stylised Triple Zero (000), [1] is the primary national emergency telephone number in Australia [1] and Australian External Territories. The Emergency Call Service is operated by Telstra, and overseen by the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA), [3] and is intended only for use in life-threatening or time-critical emergencies. [1]

Contents

Other emergency telephone numbers in Australia are 112 for GSM mobile and satellite phones, which is answered by a Triple Zero (000) operator, and 106 for telecommunications device for the deaf (TDD) textphones. [4] Calls to the emergency telephone number can be made even if a mobile phone is locked, no SIM card is required, and calls must be forwarded by network service providers even if the subscriber is barred from making calls due to billing issues. [5]

It is important to note that whilst dialling international emergency telephone number 112 from a mobile will connect to the Triple Zero operator, dialling 112 from a landline will not access the Triple Zero operator; 000 must be used from landlines. Furthermore, the 911 emergency telephone number as used in North America will also not gain access to the Triple Zero operator, either from mobile or landline telephone. [4]

For calls to the State Emergency Service (SES) about non–life-threatening situations, the Australia-wide telephone number 132 500 can be used. [1] For non-emergency calls to the police in Australia, 131 444 should be used. [1]

000 was also the emergency telephone number in Denmark and Finland until the introduction of the 112 number in 1993, and in Norway until 1986, when the emergency telephone numbers diverted to 001 for fire brigade, 002 for police and 003 for ambulance. Those Norwegian emergency telephone numbers changed in 1994 to 110, 112 and 113 respectively.

History

Before 1969, Australia did not have a national telephone number for emergency services; the police, fire and ambulance services had many telephone numbers, one for each local unit. In 1961, the office of the Postmaster General (PMG) started introducing the 000 telephone number in major population centres, and during the 1960s, extended its coverage to nationwide. The number 000 was chosen for several reasons: technically, it suited the dialling system for the most remote automatic exchanges, particularly outback Queensland. These communities used the digit 0 to select an automatic trunk line to a centre. In the most remote communities, two 0s had to be used to reach a main centre; thus dialling 0+0, plus another 0 would call (at least) an operator. Zero is also the closest to the finger stall on rotary dial phones making it easy to dial at night or in smoke. [6] It is now well established nationally throughout Australia that persons requiring emergency assistance dial 000.

Calling 000

Within Australia, 000 is a free call from most telephones. Dialling 000 (or 112) on most Australian GSM mobile phones will override any keypad lock, and if the caller's home network is out of range, the phone will attempt to use other carriers' networks to relay the call. A SIM card is not required to connect a mobile phone to the emergency numbers. Interpreter services may be available once connected to emergency services.

Due to special configuration in their firmware, some 3G or GSM mobile phones sold in Australia will redirect other emergency telephone numbers, such as 911 and 999, to 000. These calls are sent out by the handset as an emergency flag to the network, and as such, are treated in the same way as a call to 000.

Answering

Calling 000 greets the caller with a recorded message stating "You have dialled emergency Triple Zero, your call is being connected", then connects the caller to a Telstra operator who will then connect the caller to the emergency service organisation call taker. Telstra operators will ask the caller which specific emergency service they require by saying: "Emergency. Police, fire, or ambulance?", along with asking for their location if not calling from a phone with fixed location (landline). The caller is then connected to the emergency service requested by the caller.

As soon as the emergency service call taker answers the call, any available caller location information, ascertained by automatically accessing a special database from the calling line identification (CLI) data that is provided with all emergency calls, is transferred to the emergency service; however, the emergency service call taker will still question the caller to obtain correct location details to dispatch the correct response.

The caller's address is usually available to Telstra operators for fixed services in Australia even if the number is "private". However, emergency service organisation call takers will always ask for the address of the emergency to be stated whenever possible to ensure an accurate location is provided [2] – this is especially relevant in the case of "third-party" callers who are not personally on the scene of the incident (e.g. relatives, or alarm monitoring corporations). When calling from a telephone not at a fixed location (mobile), it is necessary for the caller to specify the location.

Victoria

In the state of Victoria, emergency service dispatch and call taking for Victoria Police, Ambulance Victoria, the Country Fire Authority, and the Fire Rescue Victoria, is handled by Triple Zero Victoria. They operate three State Emergency Communications Centres, located in Williams Landing, East Burwood, and Ballarat. [7]

When a person calls 000 for emergency response within Victoria, the call will be answered by Telstra who determine the service required. The call is then directed to the relevant Triple Zero Victoria facility where it will be answered by the next available trained call taker, who will collect information from the caller, and enter this into the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system. Using this information, a dispatcher will identify and dispatch the appropriate emergency services or resources. Emergency crews are often already being notified by the relevant services' dispatchers while the call taker is still obtaining further information or giving advice, such as guiding the caller through cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), obtaining details of a possible offender, or receiving further details about the exact location or situation - an initial response may be made to details as vague as a town or suburb, while the call taker continues to get more specific location information. [8]

Triple Zero Victoria is also responsible for Victorian State Emergency Service (SES) call-taking and dispatch, although this service cannot be contacted by dialling 000, as SES calls are not considered to be life-threatening. The number for SES calls is 132 500, but police or another service dialled inappropriately will notify SES.

Many Triple Zero Victoria practices and protocols are standardised across all emergency services agencies, and all agencies use the same computer network. The result is complete and instantaneous information sharing between emergency services. [9]

Emergency+

Fire and Rescue New South Wales have produced an app which can aid 000 callers in providing accurate information to dispatchers or proper first aid to victims on scene. Videos in the app include instructions on CPR, as well as emergency first aid. The app also contains What3Words functionality, allowing users to provide quickly and easily provide accurate location details to a 000 dispatcher. [10]

Issues

2003 overload in Melbourne

On 3 December 2003, floods and storms in Melbourne, Victoria, caused "an extremely high number of calls to the 000 emergency call service", which prevented some calls from being answered immediately. This delay was compounded by a software upgrade on the emergency call handling system used by the Victorian emergency service organisations (ESOs), meaning that Telstra (the national 000 call operator) encountered severe delays in handing over emergency calls to the relevant ESO. This caused some users interviewed by authorities to believe that they may have accidentally dialled the wrong number. A subsequent investigation recommended that a temporary recorded announcement be implemented during extreme events to assure callers that their calls were being connected and a delay may occur. [11] This is not to be confused with the standard "You have dialled Emergency Triple Zero, your call is being connected" recorded voice announcement (RVA), which was introduced in 2008. [12]

2009 Victorian bushfires

On 7 February 2009, catastrophic bushfires occurred in Victoria, otherwise known as Black Saturday bushfires. Over 18,000 calls to the Triple Zero Emergency Service on that day were left unanswered, and the majority of calls took much longer to be answered than usual. Owing to the unprecedented numbers of calls coming through, Telstra decided to isolate all Victorian emergency calls which were answered by the Melbourne emergency call centre, with all the remaining calls answered by the Sydney emergency call centre. Telstra also activated the generic extreme event recorded voice announcement "You have dialled Emergency Triple Zero. If you require police, fire or ambulance, please stay on the line. If you require your local State Emergency Service please hang up and dial 1223 – that's 1223 – as this service cannot be connected through Triple Zero", which temporarily replaced their front end announcement. [13] While Telstra records show 95 emergency call centre employees rostered during the 24-hour period on 7 February 2009, call pick up delays were evident due to lengthy delays at the SECC level, being ESTA. Telstra agents were left tied up on phone calls with callers, waiting for emergency services to answer, thus calls in the 000 queue were unable to be answered. Callers in a queue waiting for a Telstra agent to answer the phone were played an RVA every 30 seconds in the following terms, "You have dialled the Emergency Triple Zero number. Due to an unprecedented high volume of calls being received by Triple Zero, we are experiencing short delays in answering. Please stay on the line and you will be answered by the next available operator". This reassures callers that an extreme emergency was occurring, and their call would be answered. [14]

Nickname

Emergency services and Australia's communications regulator prefer the phrase "triple zero" over "triple oh" because of potential confusion and misunderstanding over keying the number when using alpha-numeric keypads, on which the letter 'O' is typically located on the same key as the number '6'.

Remote locations

One major obstacle in earlier 2009 [15] is that operators of triple-0 could not use global positioning system (GPS) data within GSM or CDMA telephone systems to accurately locate distressed or injured persons using mobile phones visibly away from roads. Instead, emergency operators must ask the caller exactly where they are. The answer to this may need to correspond to an existing road name (which may be practically impossible for distressed person(s) some kilometres away from a road), until the emergency service organisation operator can dispatch an emergency service vehicle. In 2010, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) began researching options that may provide improved location information for mobile services when dialling 000.

In 2013, an emergency service smartphone app was produced and developed by Fire and Rescue NSW and the Triple Zero Awareness Working Group. [16] Australians in remote locations are encouraged to use this app to contact emergency services, as it uses phones GPS data to display the caller's location on the screen. This allows the caller to read their location aloud to the operator, so they can be found by emergency services when they are far from roads. [17]

In 2017–2018, ACMA stated in their annual report that both Industry and Government had begun to make considerable investment to communications infrastructure. [18] This includes a privacy report for implementing the Advanced Mobile Location (AML) standard for Triple Zero calls. The system will automatically provide location data (including GPS, Wi-Fi positioning system, and mobile phone tracking) from the caller's device, to the Triple Zero operator automatically. These new arrangements were due to be implemented and operating by May 2020. [19]

Failures by 000 operators

The New South Wales State Labor Government has admitted to failings regarding the death of David Iredale, a high school student who died of dehydration in the bush near Katoomba, New South Wales, in late 2006. [20] [21] Iredale called 000 several times for help before he died. [22] Emergency services, specifically the NSW Ambulance Service Triple Zero call centre, were accused of inappropriately handling Iredale's calls; he was not given any medical advice, and operators were accused of being "preoccupied" with obtaining a street address to send help to, although Iredale was in the bush. An inquest set up to investigate failings in the 000 system as a result of his death identified serious issues in the practices used by 000 operators. [23]

Another case of 000 operator failure was reported in The Daily Telegraph in 2011. Joanne Wicking had called for police assistance, but the 000 operator chose to believe her killer, who had assured the operator everything was fine, despite repeated calls by Joanne. [24] In another incident six months later, when 000 staff were insistent about needing a street address for a remote country farm, the man needing help died. [25]

Denial of access to 000

In April 2014, telecommunications company TPG was fined A$400,000 for withholding access to emergency numbers where customers had failed to pay their bills. Federal Court Justice Mordecai Bromberg found that TPG failed to provide access on over 190 occasions between March and September 2011, and the company did not ensure that almost 6000 lines had emergency access. [5]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">911 (emergency telephone number)</span> Emergency telephone number

911, sometimes written 9-1-1, is an emergency telephone number for Argentina, Canada, the Dominican Republic, Fiji, Jordan, Iraq, Mexico, Pakistan, Palau, Panama, the Philippines, Sint Maarten, the United States, and Uruguay, as well as the North American Numbering Plan (NANP), one of eight N11 codes. Like other emergency numbers around the world, this number is only intended for use in emergency circumstances. Using it for any other purpose is a crime in most jurisdictions. Penalties for abuse or misuse of 911 can range from probation or community service to fines and jail time. Offenders can also be ordered to undergo counseling and have their use of telephones restricted or suspended for a period of time as a condition of probation.

Enhanced 911 is a system used in North America to automatically provide the caller's location to 911 dispatchers. 911 is the universal emergency telephone number in the region. In the European Union, a similar system exists known as E112 and known as eCall when called by a vehicle.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emergency telephone number</span> Telephone number that allows caller to contact local emergency services for assistance

An emergency telephone number is a number that allows a caller to contact local emergency services for assistance. The emergency number differs from country to country; it is typically a three-digit number so that it can be easily remembered and dialed quickly. Some countries have a different emergency number for each of the different emergency services; these often differ only by the last digit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">999 (emergency telephone number)</span> Emergency number in several countries

999 is an official emergency telephone number in a number of countries which allows the caller to contact emergency services for emergency assistance. Countries and territories using the number include Bahrain, Bangladesh, Botswana, Cook Island, Eswatini, Ghana, Guernsey, Hong Kong, the Republic of Ireland, the Isle of Man, Jersey, Kenya, Macau, Malaysia, Mauritius, Niue, Poland, Qatar, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Trinidad and Tobago, Seychelles, Uganda, the United Arab Emirates, the United Kingdom, and Zimbabwe.

Operator assistance refers to service provided by a telephone operator to the calling party of a telephone call. This can include telephone calls made from pay phones, calls placed station-to-station, person-to-person, or collect, third-number calls, calls billed to credit cards, and certain international calls which cannot be dialed directly. The telephone operator may also be able to assist with determining what kind of technical difficulties are occurring on a phone line, to verify whether a line is busy, or left off the hook, or to break in on a live call to ask the caller to clear the line for an incoming call. The latter service is often utilized by emergency police. In addition, operators are often a first point of contact for the elderly wanting information on the current date and time.

A collect call in Canada and the United States, known as a reverse charge call in other parts of the English-speaking world, is a telephone call in which the calling party wants to place a call at the called party's expense.

A toll-free telephone number or freephone number is a telephone number that is billed for all arriving calls. For the calling party, a call to a toll-free number from a landline is free of charge. A toll-free number is identified by a dialing prefix similar to an area code. The specific service access varies by country.

In telecommunications, directory assistance or directory inquiries is a phone service used to find out a specific telephone number and/or address of a residence, business, or government entity.

111 is the emergency telephone number in New Zealand. It was first implemented in Masterton and Carterton on 29 September 1958, and was progressively rolled out nationwide with the last exchanges converting in 1988.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in Australia</span>

The Australian telephone numbering plan governs the allocation of telephone numbers in Australia. It has changed many times, the most recent major reorganisation by the Australian Communications and Media Authority taking place between 1994 and 1998.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Public safety answering point</span> Type of call center for first response

A public-safety answering point (PSAP), sometimes called a public-safety access point, is a type of call center where the public's telephone calls for first responders are received and handled. It takes calls from any landline, mobile phone line, or VoIP line. It can also happen that when 112 is dialed in then a logic is implemented by mobile or network operators to route the call to the nearest police station. Such call centers exist in most countries to answer calls to an emergency telephone number. Trained telephone operators are also usually responsible for dispatching these emergency services. Most PSAPs are now capable of caller location for landline calls, and many can handle mobile phone locations as well, where the mobile phone company has a handset to location system. Some can also use voice broadcasting where outgoing voice mail can be sent to many phone numbers at once, in order to alert people to a local emergency such as a chemical spill.

An intercept message is a telephone recording informing the caller that the call cannot be completed, for any of a number of reasons ranging from local congestion, to disconnection of the destination phone, number dial errors or network trouble along the route.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">106 (emergency telephone number)</span> Australian national emergency telephone number for textphones

106 Text Emergency Call, commonly known as simply 106, is the Australian national emergency telephone number to be used in life-threatening or time critical situations for those with a speech and / or hearing impairment who use telecommunications device for the deaf. It is run by the emergency telephone operator for the National Relay Service (NRS); formerly the Australian Communications Exchange (ACE), a non-profit organisation that provided the relay services component for the NRS. 106 can only be used by people with a TTY / textphone, or a computer with terminal software and a modem. 106 calls are given priority over other calls handled by the National Relay Service. 106 is a free-to-call number.

119 (one-one-nine) is an emergency telephone number in parts of Asia and in Jamaica. From May 2020, 119 was introduced in the United Kingdom as the single non-emergency number for the COVID-19 testing helpline in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. From January 2022, 119 was introduced in Romania as the single non-emergency number for reporting cases of abuse, neglect, exploitation and any other form of violence against the child.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone numbers in New Zealand</span> New Zealand numbering plan

The New Zealand telephone numbering plan describes the allocation of telephone numbers in New Zealand and the Pitcairn Islands.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phoneword</span> Alphanumeric equivalents of telephone numbers

Phonewords are mnemonic phrases represented as alphanumeric equivalents of a telephone number. In many countries, the digits on the telephone keypad also have letters assigned. By replacing the digits of a telephone number with the corresponding letters, it is sometimes possible to form a whole or partial word, an acronym, abbreviation, or some other alphanumeric combination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Former Australian dialling codes</span>

The format of telephone numbers in Australia has changed over time to allow for the expansion of the subscriber base as technology has improved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pocket dialing</span> Type of accidental phone call

Pocket dialing is the accidental placement of a call on a mobile phone or cordless phone located in a person's pocket or handbag. The recipient of the call typically hears random background noise when answering the phone. If the caller remains unaware, the recipient will sometimes overhear whatever is happening in the caller's vicinity. A pocket-dialed call can continue for many minutes, or until the recipient's voice mail system ends the call.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Telephone number</span> Sequence of digits assigned to a telephone subscription

A telephone number is a sequence of digits assigned to a landline telephone subscriber station connected to a telephone line or to a wireless electronic telephony device, such as a radio telephone or a mobile telephone, or to other devices for data transmission via the public switched telephone network (PSTN), or other public and private networks. Modern smart phones have added a built-in layer of abstraction whereby individuals or businesses are saved into a contacts application and the numbers no longer have to be written down or memorized.

Advanced Mobile Location is a free-of-charge emergency location-based service (LBS) available on smartphones that, when a caller dials the local short dial emergency telephone number, sends the best available geolocation of the caller to a dedicated end-point, usually a Public Safety Answering Point, making the location of the caller available to emergency call takers in real-time. AML improves the time taken by emergency call takers to verify the location of callers and can improve the time taken to dispatch an emergency response.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Triple Zero home page". triplezero.gov.au. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 27 July 2010. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  2. 1 2 "Calling Triple 0 – Frequently Asked Questions". www.ESTA.Vic.gov.au. Emergency Services Telecommunications Authority (Victoria). Archived from the original on 10 October 2007. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
  3. ↑ "The ACMA & emergency call services". ACMA.gov.au. Australian Communications and Media Authority. Archived from the original on 23 April 2017. Retrieved 23 April 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Using other emergency numbers". triplezero.gov.au. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 22 July 2022. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  5. 1 2 Patrick Caruana (16 April 2014). "Telco TPG fined for denying 000 access". theage.com.au. The Age. Archived from the original on 6 November 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  6. ↑ "History of the Emergency Call Services". acma.gov.au. Australian Communications and Media Authority. 27 August 2007. Archived from the original on 15 May 2009. Retrieved 19 November 2007.
  7. ↑ "About Triple Zero Victoria". Triple Zero Victoria. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  8. ↑ "Making a triple zero (000) call". Triple Zero Victoria. 18 December 2023. Retrieved 7 May 2024.
  9. ↑ "Centralised service for triple-0 calls". abc.net.au. ABC Online. 29 November 2012. Archived from the original on 29 November 2020. Retrieved 21 December 2020.
  10. ↑ "Smartphone applications". TripleZero.gov.au. 6 September 2024. Retrieved 6 September 2024.
  11. ↑ "Telstra's handling of calls to 000 on the morning of 3 December 2003 – Preliminary Report – Investigation into the delays experienced by callers to the national 000 emergency call service in the early morning of 3 December 2003 as a result of severe storms in Melbourne". www.RoyalCommission.Vic.gov.au. Australian Communications and Media Authority. December 2003. p. 28. Archived from the original on 12 January 2014. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  12. ↑ "Emergency Calls" (PDF). www.RoyalCommission.Vic.gov.au. 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. p. 288. Archived (PDF) from the original on 23 September 2010. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  13. ↑ "Emergency Calls" (PDF). www.RoyalCommission.Vic.gov.au. 2009 Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission. p. 293. Archived from the original (PDF) on 5 March 2017. Retrieved 12 January 2014.
  14. ↑ "Victorian Bushfires Royal Commission". www.DPC.Vic.gov.au. Victoria Department of Premier and Cabinet. Archived from the original on 21 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  15. ↑ Overington, Caroline (25 April 2009). "Biker mates rue calling Triple-0". theaustralian.com.au. The Australian . Retrieved 7 July 2013.
  16. ↑ "Emergency Plus - Apps on Google Play". Archived from the original on 23 January 2021. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  17. ↑ "Calling the emergency call service from a mobile phone - FAQs". acma.gov.au. Australian Communications and Media Authority. Archived from the original on 27 July 2019. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  18. ↑ "Communications report". acma.gov.au. 17 February 2019. Archived from the original on 27 April 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  19. ↑ "Privacy impact assessment". communications.gov.au. Department of Communications and the Arts. 21 May 2019. Archived from the original on 6 December 2019. Retrieved 6 December 2019.
  20. ↑ Jones, Gemma (23 April 2009). "Triple-O operators admit failings over David Iredale". www.News.com.au. The Daily Telegraph. Archived from the original on 25 April 2009. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  21. ↑ "John Della Bosca admits Triple 0 failings following David Iredale death". aap.com.au. Australian Associated Press. 7 May 2009. Archived from the original on 22 September 2009. Retrieved 10 May 2009.
  22. ↑ Kontominas, Bellinda (25 April 2009). "A mother's hope: it never happens to anyone else". smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 27 April 2009. Retrieved 25 April 2009.
  23. ↑ Kontominas, Bellinda (8 May 2009). "Triple-0 review urged by coroner as Iredale inquest ends". smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. Archived from the original on 24 November 2020. Retrieved 19 December 2020.
  24. ↑ Moor, Keith (8 December 2011). "How 000 failed murdered mother Joanne Wicking". news.com.au. Herald Sun. Archived from the original on 7 December 2011. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
  25. ↑ "Triple-0 bungle over lack of street address - again". smh.com.au. The Sydney Morning Herald. 25 November 2009. Archived from the original on 22 January 2019. Retrieved 21 January 2019.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.