All public safety answering points (PSAPs) have to be available or reachable 24 hours a day, all year long. However, they may become partially or totally unavailable due to all kind of different reasons such as technical failures, epidemics or natural disasters. Emergency services need to be prepared to react when situations like this occur. Consequently, PSAPs have to ensure that people who are in life-threatening situations and need urgent assistance are able to contact emergency services, calls can be handled and first responders can be dispatched. This can mean the difference between life and death for someone in an emergency.
This document will give an introduction to measures that can be taken to respond to potential disruptions and to recover from these business disruptions and system failures. Also it will give examples in the different areas where these threats can occur. This document is not meant to give a complete implementation guide and give all the in depth possibilities but it tries to give a clear overview of potential measures such as the relocation of staff, use of information technology systems on secondary locations and even fall back to the use of manual procedures when automated systems fail.
To read the 'Contingency Plans' document please click here.