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London Borough has every contingency covered with the O2 Airwave service
Mike Long and Joe Halanen are, respectively, Contingencies Manager and Assistant Contingencies Manager with the London Borough of Richmond-upon-Thames. They report that the Airwave service has more than lived up to its initial promise and is now embedded as a critical component of their response to major and minor incidents alike...
The London Borough of Richmond Upon Thames has put public safety first by implementing O2 Airwave to respond to major and minor incidents alike.
Equipping its Contingencies team with the purpose built radios - replacing the organisations previous communications system which was dependent on commercial mobile phone use to keep residents safe. Mike Long, Richmond’s Contingencies Manager says that currently they have “...30 members of the team in total trained up to use the service, spanning across the emergency control centre, CCTV centre and council depot.”
The radios will provide users with a secure and dependable network, through which information cannot be intercepted and can be transmitted to the most remote areas of the country and even underground. The service, available to small local organisations is termed Airwave Direct - the off-the-shelf version of the safety communications network which is currently being rolled out across the UK’s Ambulance Trusts, Fire & Rescue Services and Police Forces - is ideal for small but critical situations.
The need for a robust and resilient public safety communications service was highlighted by the 7/7 bombings and the consequential London Assembly Report, which stresses that organisations preparing to respond to major incidents “...cannot rely upon mobile phone communications.” Mike Long comments that “commercial mobile networks are not resilient enough, they easily fail when networks become overcrowded and in areas of poor signal.”
Communal operation
A significant feature of the Airwave service is that all radios are linked up and can operate communally, allowing one message to be heard by all radios - a time saving attribute. The radios also cut down on the administration of the original mobile system helping to improve response time, as Mike comments “the CCTV operator no longer needs to look up the duty officer’s mobile number and call it up. He or she simply press a button on the Airwave handset and they are instantly connected to the officer of shift.”
Commenting Long said, “The borough used to have an analogue radio communications system, but that was way before my time and long since defunct. When I arrived here, we were totally reliant on mobile phones.
“That situation was unacceptable, because commercial mobile networks are not resilient enough for our requirements. The report on the London bus and underground bombings made that abundantly clear, it stressed that local authorities should stop relying on mobile phones for emergency communications.
“Which is why we placed an order for the Airwave service at the earliest opportunity, primarily because it is guaranteed to keep on working in the immediate aftermath of major incidents, when other networks tend to fall over through congestion.”
Joe Halanen, Assistant Contingencies Manager, agrees stating, “I knew about the Airwave service from my previous local authority – the London Borough of Waltham Forest – where we were already using it; albeit a version tailored towards slightly larger organisations than Richmond.
“I applied for the appropriate licence from the Office of Communications. As soon as we received it and were officially accredited as a public safety organisation, it only took a couple of phone calls to O2 Airwave and we were up and running with Airwave Direct. This is a fully-managed service, so we don’t have to worry about a thing. If a radio goes on the blink, for example, O2 Airwave replaces it the next day.
“We’ve got 30 members of staff trained up to use Airwave Direct and six Airwave service radios. The CCTV centre, the duty officer, the local authority liaison officer, the council depot and the borough emergency control centre each have one radio. The sixth is a spare.
“The fact that the Airwave service actually works in our emergency control centre – which is located in a bunker one floor below ground – is a bonus, as we really didn’t really expect it to.”
Continues Long, “Of course, resilience isn’t the only benefit of the Airwave service. The radios themselves can double up as mobile phones, so we still have that option for getting in touch with the general public and them calling us.
Confidence in communications
“As importantly, we have the confidence of knowing that all existing and future communications over the Airwave service, whether by voice or data, will be conducted in a highly secure manner. No would-be eavesdroppers can listen in to conversations or decipher information, however hard they try, as all transmissions are encrypted.”
“One of the most useful features of the Airwave service is the fact that all our radios operate over a single talk group,” says Joe. “This means that we can say the same thing to everyone at the same time, which avoids having to make separate calls.
“The situation within the borough is constantly monitored by staff in our CCTV control room. If they get wind of an incident, they will use their Airwave service radio to alert our duty officer. It is then the duty officer’s decision whether or not to escalate.
“They might direct the local authority liaison officer to the scene of an incident, cascade using set procedures, or simply co-ordinate the response from where they’re sitting, as one duty officer did recently when a water main burst in the middle of a busy road intersection.
“The Airwave service also reduces response times, because the CCTV operator no longer needs to look up a duty officer roster, pick out their mobile number and then call them. They simply press a button on their Airwave service radio to be automatically connected to the duty officer and convey the information they need to convey.”
Interoperability
In the event of an emergency the same radios can be linked up to the primary emergency services - the Ambulance Trust, Fire & Rescue Service and the Metroploitan Police Force, furthering Richmond’s ability to reduce response time and provide first rate safety communications.
The devices work on the Airwave network and are fully managed, and therefore if faulty are guaranteed to be replaced next working day. There is a one off connection charge and each radio has an individual subscription. The radio’s are connected to an expert helpdesk, and can also double up as mobile phones.
Concluding Long said, “Yet another major benefit of the Airwave service is radio interoperability. It’s going to give us the flexibility to talk directly with the representatives of the emergency services and other public safety agencies, including other London boroughs. We’re already in discussions with the Metropolitan Police, the local Primary Care Health Trust and the London Fire Brigade about the potential for doing this.
“To us, the Airwave service spells resilience, heightened security and an ability to respond in a timely and appropriate manner. We are delighted with the service and the level of support we receive from O2 Airwave.”
Airwave Direct service
The fully-managed Airwave Direct service has been specifically designed to satisfy the diverse mobile communications requirements of smaller public safety agencies and authorised professionals (e.g. General Practitioners); be they local or national; for voice, or a combination of voice and data. The service includes:
Hand-held Airwave radios that can double up as mobile phones.
Local or national Airwave network coverage.
Access to the Airwave Telephony service, which provides breakout access from the Airwave network to landlines and conventional mobile phones.
Predictable budgeting – a low one-off connection charge and a subscription for each radio user, which includes Airwave and conventional telephony call allowances
Maintenance within the tariff, with next working day replacement of faulty radios
User support and fault reporting via a dedicated helpdesk staffed by experts.
