112.fi

The development of emergency response

center services in Finland

Marko Nieminen

Director of ERC Services

Emergency Response Centre Administration

Finland

EENA conference 2016

112.fi

Artic Circle

ERCA´s area of responsibility:

Finland

• 5,4 M inhabitants

• Geographical area: 338.000 km²

• Official languages: Finnish and Swedish -recognised regional language of Saami

• Member of EU: 1.200 km Schengen border with Russia

• One emergency number 112

• One separate and independent agency managing 112 services: ERCA

112.fi

The special features of Finnish 112 model

COMPREHENSIVE CO-

OPERATION BETWEEN

ALL AUTHORITIES,

JOINT ERC ICT

SYSTEM AND FIELD

COMMAND SYSTEM

A SEPARATE AGENCY

HANDLING ALL 112-

CALLS AND A LAW

ABOUT 112-SERVICES

COLLEGE-LEVEL

DEGREE FOR CALL-

TAKERS /

DISPATCHERS

ALL AGENCIES

USING THE SAME

TETRA RADIO

NETWORK WITH

NATIONWIDE

COVERAGE

112.fi112.fi

Oulu ERCPrimary area of operations Northern Finland and the region of Lapland

Vaasa ERCPrimary area of operations Pohjanmaa and Central Finland

Pori ERC Primary area of operations Pirkanmaa and Satakunta

Turku ERCPrimary area of operations Finland Proper and Häme

Kerava ERCPrimary area of operations Uusimaa

Kuopio ERC Primary area of operations Eastern and South-Eastern Finland

ERC reform 2011-2014:

From 15 centers to 6 - new ERC

regions and locations

Pori

Vaasa

Oulu

TurkuKerava

Kuopio

In 1991 there were altogether 133 separate PSAPs for police and EMS / Fire&Rescue.

112.fi

The tasks of ERCA (Act on Emergency Response Center Services 692/2010)

• produces emergency response center

services (call taking and dispatching)

• gives urgent support for police, fire and

rescue and social security and

emergency medical services related to

the emergency response center services

• development and supervision of

emergency response center services

112.fi

PSAP model now and in the future

• All centers are using the same ICT system and same radio system

• Centers can support each other in case of problems in the system, but do not have a nationwide

database of units etc. yet

• Total interconnection of PSAPs is under construction and will be implemented 2016-2017

• Official languages are Finnish and Swedish

• In 2014-2015 112 calls have been handled in English, Chinese, Arabic, Bulgarian, Daria, Japanese,

Spanish, Persian, Polish, French, Romanian, German, Somalian, Swahili, Albanian, Russian and

Estonian languages with a help of an interpreter service.

112.fi

ERC operator (call-taker and dispatcher)

• Qualifications are set in the Emergency

Response Centre Act

• Emergency Response Centre Operator

Diploma 90 cu / 1,5 years

• Bachelor in Police Studies 180 cu / 3 years

• ERC operator course: Basic studies 23 c +

vocational subject studies 67 c

• Work training

• ERC orientation 1 week

• Field training 2 weeks (EMS, police,

fire&rescue, emergency social services)

• ERC training 3 (4) weeks

• Personnel with police background is given at

least a 6 week introduction before being able

to work independently as a call-taker or a

dispatcher. The training continues normally

alongside the basic work for 6-12 months.

112.fi

Call taking

Risk

assessment

Response

determination

DispatchingTask

monitoring

Situational

awareness

Reporting and

analysing

Co-operation &

communication

DISPATCHERS CALL-TAKERSOWN FINNISH

PROTOCOL

EACH AGENCY

UPDATES AND

CONFIRMS

112.fi112.fi

Key figures for 2015

Total number of received calls*: 3 690 000

Emergency calls: 2 780 000

Calls resulted in the mission being dispatched to authorities:

*Including spontaneous police missions, hospital transport and

testing of automated fire detectors.

Answering times (under 10 sek / 30 sek):

1 733 000

92% / 94%

Personnel (manyears; total / PSAP personnel): 597 / 500

False calls / HOAX calls 538 000 / 100 000

112.fi

Distribution of dispatched tasks 2015

POLICE

EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES

FIRE AND RESCUE (INCLUDING FIRST RESPONSE IN

EMS TASKS)

EMERGENCY SOCIAL SERVICES

BORDER GUARD (=MISSIONS WHERE BORDER

GUARD UNITS HAVE PARTICIPATED TO ERC

SERVICES UNDER THE COMMAND OF OTHER

AGENCIES)

112.fi

• Caller location can be located– Fixed line (address)

– GSM positioning system

– Smart locator (SMS with a link to smart phone)

– Caller giving coordinates in different forms

– 112 Suomi apps (the most accurate, few meters)

• 112 Suomi has become very popular in a short time– It includes also number for maritime rescue, public service info,

child and youth phone, poison information center

– Within first six months almost half a million users (10% of the

population)

• AML is under discussion

WGS84 format: DD°MM.mmm'

112.fi

Finnish

Meteorological

Institute (Security

weather unit)

Finnish Transport

Agency

(Traffic centers)

Finnish Environment

Institute

(Flood monitoring)

Maritime

Rescue

Co-ordination

Centre

Aeronautical

Search

and Rescue

Forest fire

monitoring

flights

Media

Public

warning

STUKRadiation and

Nuclear Safety

Authority

(Radiation

monitoring)

+ Duty officers in the

MOI

+ State Council

Command and Control

Center

+ Field command systems

+ Registers, databases

International

co-operation,

Barents

rescue

Sharing data about emergencies

Cyber

security

center

Finnish

broadcasting

company

TETRA radio

network and

telecom operators

Forest fire

monitoring

flights

112.fi

ERC Administration

strategy 2016-2020

Animation video

112.fi

112 services in Finland in the future

• A new ERC ICT system, new

technology and new services taken into

use

• Networking of ERCs into one virtual

PSAP

• one national call queue

• one nationwide database of

resources

• both call taking as well as

dispatching can be handled

anywhere from/to everywhere with a

• One national command and control

room for coordination of the network of

ERCs

112.fi

Emergency response centers

• Call taking & dispatching

• Shift management

Command and Control Rooms

• Police

• Fire & Rescue

• Emergency Medical

Services

• Border Guard (maritime

rescue)

Portal users/management

• Statistics

• Operational data

• Management data

ERC IT SYSTEM

Portal users

ERCs and CC rooms of various agencies

Field commanders and units

ERC IT system ERICA

Field command

system KEJO

TUVE VIRVE

Users of ERC IT system

112.fi

+ map

features in

the second

screen

112.fi

Hätäkeskuslaitos

PL 112, FI-28131 PORI

Nödcentralsverket

PB 112, FI-28131 BJÖRNEBORG 112.fi

Further information :

EMERGENCY RESPONSE CENTER ADMINISTRATION

P.O. Box 112, FI-28131 PORI

Official e-mail: hatakeskuslaitos@112.fi

firstname.lastname@112.fi

ERCA´s youtube channel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=clZAj7APsY4

https://www.youtube.com/user/hatakeskuslaitos

112 Suomi apps: www.digia.fi

Network magazine "Häläri": http://www.112.fi/halari

THANK YOU!

More info about ERCA: www.112.fi