Call Center Management Featured Article
Call Centers Can Mean the Difference Between Life and Death
My husband won’t go to the dentist unless he has a serious toothache. I kept wearing my old boots until I was on top of mountain and my footwear started to fill with rocks. And sometimes important assets and infrastructure like airplanes and bridges don’t get proper attention until some gets sucked out the window of a Boeing (News - Alert) 737 or crushed by a steel beam.
It doesn’t have to be this way, of course. And oftentimes it isn’t. After all, it’s amazing how often things go right.
But people and organizations are not always great about being proactive to prevent problems. Instead, they tend to focus on more immediate concerns, and deal with problems as they arise.
When that results in a sore mouth or an uncomfortable hike, that’s no big deal. But when life and limb are at risk, it becomes a real problem.
That’s why anyone who’s in charge of a 911 emergency response call center needs to be sure all their people, processes, and technology are ready to meet the needs of their citizens.
Cincinnati had unaddressed problems with its 911 center. And they reportedly contributed to the death of Kyle Plush. The 16-year-old became trapped by a seat in his minivan and called 911 twice for help as he was suffocating.
But call center personnel either wasn’t able or simply did not get the information needed to dispatch emergency personnel to Kyle’s location in the school parking lot. Kyle’s father found his son dead from asphyxiation in the vehicle after a friend called to say he wasn’t at a school function. So the dad used a cellphone app to track his son’s location.
A police report indicated inadequate supervision of the emergency communications center and the 911 operator’s inability to hear Kyle contributed to this outcome. Media reports said that Cincinnati’s 911 effort over the years also had staffing, inadequate training, and unanswered call problems.
In an effort to address this tragic event and prevent additional ones like it, Cincinnati recently put a city technology department leader in control of the 911 center, which had previously been managed by the police department. The city also earmarked $454,000 to improve the 911 center.
Edited by Maurice Nagle