Photo by Petros Kremonas (EENA)
I NEWS
Estonian Emergency Response Centre bags the ‘European 112 Award’ The European Emergency Number Association (EENA) has presented the Estonian Emergency Response Centre (EERC) with its prestigious European 112 Award. The EERC won the award for the successful implementation of the project of transitioning to a single emergency number, 112, for the whole of Estonia, together with a great dedication to saving lives and for creating a safer society.
number 112. A new program in vocational education for call-takers was prepared, and there were several in-service training groups for existing calltakers, dispatchers and supervisors. ICT devices and systems were improved to be more reliable, which involved a new operational voice communication system, a new information system for processing of emergency messages (including GIS112), and a new alarming system over the TETRA network.
The selection of the European 112 Award took place over two stages of the competition. A committee of experts, drawn from all the rescue services, selected two or three nominees in each category, and a survey of the members of EENA then chose the winner in each category. The Estonian project of transferring to the single emergency number 112 was selected as the winner in the category of Outstanding Change Management Initiative.
Instead of the eight centres previously the case, emergency messages are answered and operational units are dispatched in four EERC regional centres which all have voice and data interconnection. People in need only have to remember the one number, calls are answered faster, the caller location information is more accurate, information exchange (both inner communication and information sharing with cooperation partners) and alarming units operate faster, and operational units are used in a more effective way.
The EERC is a rescue organisation within the jurisdiction of the Ministry of the Interior, responsible for the 112 service all over Estonia. It answers approximately 1.4 million calls per year and dispatches fire and rescue teams, EOD squads and ambulance teams. The actual transition to a single emergency number 112 took place on 11 February, 2015. In 2010, when the project of transition in Estonia started, there were two emergency numbers in use: the common European emergency number 112 for ambulances, and fire and rescue, and the national emergency number 110 for the police. Since 2010, more than 80 different subprojects were carried out in order to transfer to a single emergency
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General Director of EERC Janek Laev with Demetrios Pyrros, President of EENA and Dieter Nuessler, Vice-President of EENA
LIFE IN ESTONIA #42
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2016 SUMMER
In conclusion, one of the biggest internal security projects to have taken place during the last few years in Estonia has ensured that it is now much easier to call for help and quicker to get it as well. The arrival of the emergency services to the scene is swifter, which in turn means more saved lives and less damage to property as well. EENA is a Brussels-based NGO set up in 1999, dedicated to promoting high-quality emergency services as reached by the number 112 throughout the EU. The EENA memberships include more than 1 200 emergency services representatives from over 80 countries worldwide.