Each year, the 112 Awards reward outstanding individuals and organisations particularly engaged in improving and promoting the European emergency number 112. In 2017, the winners were honoured at the 112 Awards Ceremony organised in conjunction with the EENA Conference in Budapest, on 5 April 2017.
Emergency services and citizens from all over Europe embraced the challenge and participated in the competition in order to bring to the limelight their major contributions to saving lives.
Winners of the 112 awards 2017
Extraordinary citizen
Laura Mannes & William Harrison
Extraordinary Citizens Award
Outstanding citizens rush to help during the Paris terrorist attacks
Winner: Laura & William
Laura and William, two Australian paramedics working in London, were on holidays in Paris when the Paris terrorist attacks took place. They were having a coffee when suddenly all hell broke loose. In the midst of it all, what they did is admirable: they rushed to the scene to help the wounded and contribute any way they could.
Remarkable Crisis Communication
Team D5, CrisisCentre
Belgium
Remarkable Crisis Communication Award
Social media management during the Brussels terrorist attacks
Country: Belgium
Winner: Team D5, CrisisCentre Belgium
During the Brussels terrorist attacks and the subsequent lock-down of the city, the Team D5 did an exceptional job on social media, helping the “Crisiscommunication cell” of the CrisisCentre Belgium composed by all Spokespersons of Ministers and Authorities: not only by sharing information and updating the population, but also by actively cooperating with everyday citizens under the most difficult circumstances. The Team D5 is rewarded for their outstanding contribution and for demonstrating the power of social media in times of crisis.
Remarkable PSAP Achievement
Azores Regional Civil Protection and Fire Services
Azores, Portugal
Remarkable PSAP Achievement Award
Oustanding achievement of a Public Safety Answering Point
Country: Azores, Portugal
Winner: Regional Civil Protection & Fire Brigade Service of Azores
An upgrade of the emergency call centre took place, namely:
- Centralisation of the 112 call centre in just one island;
- Implementation of a Triage system for all emergency calls;
- Acquisition and development of integrated system advice and dispatch;
- Elaborate reports and statistics;
- Implementing the electronic sheet of all EMS;
- Aeromedical evacuations management;
- Maritime evacuations management.
All has been implemented on SIAD (Sistema Integrado de Atendimento e Despacho). The system uses a Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) software where all events are registered and managed on a centralised database. SIAD integrates with the telephony system to identify the caller’s number and query for existing or old calls from that number. All calls generate events that are then characterised according to the Triage module that enables a standard and optimised procedure to characterise the event, and provide a standard dispatch to all events. The SIAD operators manage the events and dispatch the recommended units from the triage, and manage the events and units registering event information, until the event is closed SIAD also integrates with a reporting tool that allows the exploration of the recorded data of the events. SIAD also integrates with the new telecommunications mobile and fixed network that is based on the ETSI European
standard DMR. This network infrastructure comprises 27 sites for the mobile coverage working. All these sites are equipped with batteries and 80% of them are also equipped with emergency generators.
Honorary 112 Award
David Ginola
Ambassador of ‘Adoptons les comportements qui sauvent’, the French first-aid awareness campaign
Honorary 112 Award
Honourary award to David Ginola
Winner: David Ginola
David Ginola has made it his mission to help educate people on first-aid and the value of defibrilators. It’s not often that someone experiences a miracle. But he has. After suffering from cardiac arrest, he was dead for 8 minutes. Luckily, a witness knew how to perform CPR, and kept on trying until the ambulances arrived on scene. It is a miracle that someone did that. But David is trying to make this knowledge the rule, and not the exception. David will be awarded because of his role as Ambassador of the ““Adoptons les comportements qui sauvent” campaign (first aid campaign) in France.
Call-taker of the Year
Ildikó Zsófia Koncz, National Police Department
Hungary
Call-taker of the Year Award
Emergency call-taker helps woman to safety
Country: Hungary
Winner: Ms. Ildikó Zsófia Koncz
On 25 May 2016 at 04.05 a.m. the caller spoke in Romanian. The emergency call was answered by the Szombathely Call Center, Hungarian National Police Department of Duty Service. An emergency call was received in the early morning hours of 25 May 2016. The caller was speaking Romanian so it was transfered to Ms. Ildikó Zsófia Koncz, who spoke the language. Ms. Koncz set up a conference call with the respective police branch and remained in the line to facilitate communication.
The caller was distressed with and said her clothes were torn as she was raped and threatened with a knife by a man. She had escaped to the street and was hiding by the railways near a cemetery. The address and the caller’s description of the area did not match, but the desperate woman could not clarify the information. The call taker repeatedly questioned the caller to clarify the details and established that the woman had named the incorrect street (a street whose name was similar to the one she was actually at); as a result the dispatched patrols found her. Ms. Koncz contributed to the success of the intervention and the further effective investigation by staying in line untill the arrival of the patrols and helped the police officers to question the woman on site.
Young Superhero
Nojus , 8 years old
Lithuania
Young Superhero Award
Boy saves his father thanks to 112 & life-saving technology
Country: Lithuania
Winner: 8 year old boy
On 10 January 2017, an emergency call was received in Lithuania.The caller was a 7-year old boy, who had found his father unconscious or dead. He informed the operator that he didn’t know his address or the telephone number of any of his relatives. Cell-ID location information received by the emergency services had a radius of 14 km. Fortunately, a few seconds later, the operator received the location via Android Emergency Location (Advanced Mobile Location), with a radius of 6 metres. The police and ambulance services were dispatched to the location. The emergency responders provided medical care to the man who had an epileptic seizure. The man has now fully recovered.
Lifetime Achievement Award
A surprise award to creator of Advanced Mobile Location, John Medland