British Columbia’s 911 dispatcher says it’s seeing more accidental calls flood its emergency lines than ever before, prompting a push to stem the rapid rise that’s straining staff.
Tasked with answering most of B.C.’s 911 calls, E-Comm estimates that nearly 20 per cent of the emergency calls it receives are accidental — leaving call takers to answer hundreds of misdialed calls day after day.
While oftentimes an innocent mistake, the organization says the impacts of these calls can be “harmful” and take critical resources away from those in real emergencies.
The influx comes amid a busy summer of calls for E-Comm staff, likely due to eased COVID-19 restrictions on gatherings, events and travel.
But call volumes were already up 22 per cent year-over-year at the end of 2021, following unprecedented weather events like the heat dome that sweltered across B.C. last June.
READ ALSO: Increase in 911 calls anticipated due to lifted COVID restrictions: E-Comm
“During each shift, a significant number of calls I receive on the emergency lines are misdials or hang-ups from people who have accidentally called 911,” said Roanne, an E-Comm 911 call taker.
“Some pocket dials are obvious — we can hear people having fun, singing along to music while they’re driving or cheering at sporting events,” she said. “But we still need to take the time to call people back and confirm there isn’t an emergency happening.”
Deemed an “integral” process to ensure the safety of its callers, particularly those in crisis who can’t communicate verbally, E-Comm says staff is trained to treat every 911 call as an emergency until determined otherwise.
“If you call 911 by accident, please don’t hang up,” added call taker Meegan, noting that sometimes it’s difficult to know if what she’s hearing on the other end of the line is, in fact, an emergency or a misdial.
It’s led E-Comm to launch a new public education campaign with two “dramatic accidental call renditions” illustrating just how difficult it can be for call takers to discern between accidental calls and real emergencies.
E-Comm says mobile devices becoming more popular has likely contributed to the increase, with 79 per cent of 911 calls coming from a cellphone so far in 2022 — compared to 67 per cent in 2012.
With this in mind, it’s sharing tips for preventing pocket dials, including locking and storing cellphones carefully when not in use, understanding cellphone and smartwatch features, and switching a cellphone to airplane mode when in the hands of kids.
Ethan Morneau
