Call Center Scheduling Featured Article
Houston's New 911 Call Center Can Withstand Major Hurricanes
When Hurricane Harvey hit Texas and surrounding areas in 2017, it eventually left behind more than 27 trillion gallons or rain and caused damage in excess of $125 billion. During any emergency situation, 911 call centers are typically running at overflow capacity, so when Harris County’s primary call center was flooded, operators had to be relocated and calls rerouted, causing much longer wait times as agents were handling 3,000 emergency calls per day.
To avoid similar situations in the future, Harris County built a new call center in northeast Houston that was brought online today. County officials say it will be able to withstand even the worst weather incidents, being elevated and designed to withstand Category 4 hurricanes with winds up to 155mph. Not only did the location not flood during Harvey, but in the event power goes out, the site is supported by three backup generators and two UPS units. It even includes laundry and sleeping facilities for operators, if needed.
“We won’t lose operations for just about any disaster,” said Harris County Sherriff Ed Gonzalez said. “Obviously, there’s always that one that is unforeseen that we just didn’t think about, but by and large, with anything that we would see, storms or anything, we should be sustainable.”
The new facility also features a next-generation 911 system with VoIP phone system, a significant upgrade from the old analog system, which will allow calls to be routed more efficiently. It will also enable better collaboration between emergency services teams.
While Harvey was an unprecedented situation, smaller disasters and more frequent and power outages are a regular occurrence for any number of reasons. Harris County has taken preventative measures to avoid business outage and making sure its call center remains operational.
While scheduling for emergencies can’t be planned – it’s going to be an all hands on deck scenario – the new facility ensures that staff are at least able to rest and get into clean clothes with long shifts or when travel is dangerous. However, the expanded space, redundancies, and business continuity planning ensure that however the center needs to schedule its staff, it will have the capacity to handle all situations.
Edited by Erik Linask