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Dispatch centre getting urgent upgrades Old equipment outdated and not maintained, dispatcher tells city council
Myles Dolphin
Northern News Services
Published Monday, July 29, 2013
IQALUIT
Several much-needed improvements to Iqaluit's department of emergency and protective services (EPS) dispatch system were approved by city council on July 23.
Dispatcher Steve Allen was part of a three-member committee that made recommendations to city council for upgrades to the dispatch centre. - Myles Dolphin/NNSL photo |
A presentation made by a three-member committee - dispatcher Steve Allen, acting deputy fire chief Barry Rogers and information support specialist Brian Witzaney-Chown - highlighted several dispatch centre components requiring urgent upgrades.
A total of $190,000 was approved to cover the improvements.
The centre can finally get rid of its floppy disks and makeshift workstations in September or October, which is when the components should be fully implemented.
"These improvements are a long time coming," Allen said, who had been researching the costs and equipment since February.
With a new voice-recording system, calls and radio transmissions will be preserved on a separate server, vastly improving the quality of those recordings.
The current recording system - the Panda Playback Black Vox - is almost 10 years old, Allen said, and greatly outdated.
The new one, called the Eventide Voice recorder, is used by the RCMP in their dispatch centres across the country, according to the EPS proposal documents.
Allen said it will allow dispatchers to have more convenient access to recordings.
"They'll be able to access playback from their workstations," he said.
The centre's current alarm system, a discontinued model, hasn't been maintained in a number of years, with some of the buttons not working properly. It will be replaced with the model's current version.
The workstations being used are a composite of older ones. They cannot be moved or adjusted, thus making it less practical for dispatchers of different heights who work there 24 hours a day.
The new desks will be height-adjustable, allowing dispatchers to sit or stand while working.
New software will present dispatchers with a set of "standardized key questions used to streamline the process of call taking in emergencies, also giving key pre-arrival instructions to the caller and providing a proper response of resources," according to the proposal.
As it stands, there is no standard for call taking information within the current system, which means dispatchers don't answer calls the same way.
In addition, a new station alarm system will be implemented, linked to the new software. As soon as a call is received, pertinent information, such as maps, will be displayed simultaneously on screens throughout the Arnaitok complex, where the department is housed, and via speakers.
Response times will be cut down significantly, Allen said.
"Right now, when we receive a call, we have to put the caller on hold in order to relay information or wait until the call is finished," he said.
"With the upgrade it will happen in real-time."
Finally, the dispatch centre will receive a new telephone system, which will allow calls to bypass hardware and go straight to the dispatch centre.
Emergency calls made now will ring two or three times before ringing once at the dispatch centre.
The total cost for these improvements is approximately $113,500.
The director of emergency and protective services, Luc Grandmaison, said he was grateful council approved the funds.
"We're very happy they decided to invest in dispatch services," he said.
"The $190,000 will suffice in meeting our needs. There are still a few more recommendations to make in August.
"I'm also grateful that Steve, Barry and Brian accepted the challenge of putting this proposal together, which allowed us to make these recommendations to council in order to better serve our citizens."
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