112. Worth Knowing

[Bearwood]

Our woods are often located in areas with poor mobile phone signal, or indeed the woods themselves may cause you problems in this respect. Having heard a few stories from my colleagues in cave and mountain rescue recently, not to mention instances of chainsaw-related 'self surgery', access to the emergency operator may be a matter of life or death.

This video may be of use to those who are unfamiliar with 112, or those who are aware but may be interested in maximising the likelihood of rescue and assistance in the event of an emergency.

http://youtu.be/XPZv_8dABfU

[MattF]

Thanks for posting this Bearwood well worth knowing

Regards Matt

[Chunkymunky]

This is totally true. As part of confined spaces training and rescue learnt it.

When you call 999 it goes through a call centre and is redirected so can't be triangulated. If you use 112 it's a direct number so can especially useful if you use chainsaws etc and might lose a lot of blood.

[Rich]

Thanks Bearwood,
That's just what I need. I usually work alone but in the same place most days so it's good to have instructions and a grid reference drafted and ready to send should the worst happen. Strangely enough I was thinking of this a year or so ago, I thought there's bound to be some kind of pre-registration or loneworker system set up, so I spent about an hour on the phone to the emergency services trying to find out, but no one I spoke to had heard of anything like this. I eventually gave up and memorised the grid reference. Your post has just reminded me that I'd forgotton it!
cheers
Rich

[davetb]

Hi,
Great post / video.
If you dial 112 or 999 from a mobile, in the UK, you will get through to same person in a remote call centre and redirect the call depending on your location. In the UK everything mentioned about 112 in the video also applies to 999. Most UK police forces recommend dialling 999.
I work alone in my woods with a patchy mobile signal.
I have pre registered with the emergency text service.
I have a pre written note on my mobile that says," ambulance needed, lone forestry worker severely injured, then a clear location with name of wood / nearest postcode / nearest place / OS coordinates. I finally have name, address and landline number of the nearest neighbour to my woods, and the phone no. of my wife"
In a true emergency I plan to copy and paste the note onto a text to 999/112, if I have time.
It should be manageable in 10 - 15 seconds.
I also carry a few combat tourniquets as used by our military, just in case.
I should say my normal job is an anaesthetist so preparation for the worst and always having a plan B is part of life.
I have been carrying 2 mobiles, on different networks, up to now but after watching the video realise that I don't really need to.
I absolutely hope I never need it, or if I do I'm conscious long enough to send it.
To quote Hill Street Blues, "Lets be careful out there".
Cheers.

[Chunkymunky]

Also if you call 112 you don't need a signal on your own network. It operates as an emergency roaming enabled number

[davetb]

It appears that lots of 'Pseudo Authority' websites are promoting the idea that dialling 112 rather than 999 is preferable in the UK from a mobile.
It's all utter nonsense.
Dialling 112 in the UK causes the call to be redirected to 999.
There is NO other difference.
Mobiles will use any available signal in an emergency whether you dial 112 / 999.
The only advantage to 112 is its a Pan - European emergency number.
If you're not sure which country your wood is in, then perhaps 112 may be better.

Here's a copied answer from another forum:


It's nonsense, I'm afraid. 112 is in fact re-directed to the same Operator Assistance Centres (OACs) as 999, and the Enhanced Information Service for Emergency Calls (EISEC) or its Cable and Wireless equivalent (ALSEC) works exactly the same. For mobile phones in this country, GPS from the phone is never used for positioning, just the cell(s) the phone is registered with. The data is provided by the mobile phone company to the EISEC or ALSEC service, from where the emergency service you call (providing they have a suitable interface - Police and Ambulance almost all do, Fire much less so), retrieve the data and their Call taking system then plots it on a map. The information is delivered as an ellipse (sometimes this is a circle) of varying size, but out in rural areas sometimes 5 miles across, with a confidence factor in percent, as to how likely the phone is to be actually within the plotted area.


You can find web sites that tell you otherwise, but none are official.
Do you not think that the ambulance / police would promote 112 if all this nonsense were true.
They recommend 999.

Rant over, I hate Pseudo Authority......

[Chunkymunky]

This was told to me by fire services. Not a website. It is actually true. If you call and drop phone from that number it'll be traceable. You cannot be traced through 999 because its sent through a computer redirect.

[davetb]

I find it completely unbelievable that all the emergency services are trying to keep it as their 'little secret'.
I can't find any official emergency service website that recommends 112 as better than 999.
Do you not think they'd be the first to tell us ?
It's obvious (to me) that its all nonsense.

Classic Pseudo Authority, everyone 'taken in' defends their opinion, even though it can't be officially backed up.

However if you choose to believe otherwise let's at least agree that dialling 112 confers NO disadvantage.
Dialling 112 may save your life.

I work in the NHS covering emergency surgical theatres and my world is full of this type of rubbish.
When challenged, no official evidence can be found, someone semi important told me, and I believed it and now swear it's true.
I plan to say no more about it, and would like everyone out there to at least critically think and dial whatever number that they think is better......hopefully none of us will need it.

Be Safe.

[Jackdaw]

Thanks for that, we have a emergency service phone mask at the back of our woods.
I will get my marker pen out tomorrow and write the number on the chainsaws just in case. It will also make me think twice if 112 is staring back at me the next time I line up a dodgy hung up tree !!. JD