As Canada Day's long weekend approaches, a warning was issued by a union representing experts inB.C. emergency contact.
BC emergency communications experts notify the operator of a serious staff shortage from E-Comm, the agency that handles 9-1-1 calls in most of the state. He said he received an alert.
"We're in a crisis," said Donald Grant, British Columbia's emergency communications expert.
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"This year we lost 20% of the rest of the team. We're entering a long weekend of Canada Day with some of the dispatchers needed to meet expected demand. With the current solution , The dispatcher has to work far beyond the usual four-day 12-hour shift schedule, which is simply unsustainable. "
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E-Comm 9-1-1 Dispatchers are responsible for calling and responding to 33 police and 40 fire departments in the state.
Unions of the system The level of staff resulting from challenges in recruiting and retaining staff who said they were "significantly affected" by inadequate responsiveness.
Read more:Change to B.C. The procedure for 911 is "temporary" and the union issues a warning, so E-Comm Clarified
Price Waterhouse Coopers commissionedfrom E-Comm to2021 report concludes that the organization cannot succeed overtime or staff breaks We are using a understaffed system that relies heavily on lack of time or simply abandons efforts to meet service levels. The
report suggests that the current roster of 153 full-time workers needs to be increased by 125 to meet operational demand.
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"We are answering a record number of calls," Grant said.
The E-Comm call taker answers the 9-1-1 call within 5 seconds, answers the police on the emergency line within 10 seconds, and within 3 minutes. Is supposed to respond to non-emergency lines. Less than that, according to the union.
Over the past year, a serious shortage of personnel has led to police emergency line waiting times of more than 10 minutes and, in some circumstances, non-emergency waiting times of more than 2 hours, the union said.
E-Comm has been contacted for comment, but has not yet responded.
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