As the current emergency services' Emergency Alerting System (EAS) can't be upgraded to include additional features, a Supplementary Alerting Service (SAS) will soon be launched via a web browser and smartphone app.
The EAS, which uses one-way pager messages, has been used by CFA, SES and Ambulance Victoria (AV) since 2006 to alert career and volunteer emergency personnel about emergencies. The system is a vital part of these organisations’ operational procedures, and is used to dispatch emergency services and relay important information to field personnel.
The EAS works well, is very reliable and has good network coverage across the state. However, CFA has taken on feedback from users about the system’s limitations, and there are features which, if included, would improve its usability. For example, allowing users to acknowledge messages could allow other members to quickly see who is attending an incident and how far away they are.
In late 2017 Emergency Management Victoria (EMV) set up the SAS project, and a project team was formed that included representation from CFA, SES, AV, ESTA and EMV. EMV will procure the SAS on behalf of the agencies.
First, the project team defined the objectives of the SAS project and developed a set of high-level requirements based on feedback from users of the existing EAS service. An online survey run in July 2018 attracted a high response from members. An overwhelming majority of survey respondents thought this was an important, beneficial and long overdue project.
The results from the survey led to a number of key changes to the specifications to ensure the system reflected user needs. In particular, people highlighted the need for:
- appropriate privacy protection measures
- accessibility options for users with vision impairment
- additional options in relation to message acknowledgement
- greater control around deleting messages.
EMV and the participating agencies appreciate the many staff and volunteers who took the time to respond to the survey.
The SAS solution will be dependent on commercial mobile networks, which don’t offer the same level of availability or coverage as EAS. The EAS network was built to mission-critical standards and will continue to operate in conditions where commercial mobile networks may fail or operate sub-optimally. There are also many areas of the state that currently have no mobile network coverage.
This means SAS will be an optional, supplementary service only. The EAS network will continue as the primary way to alert staff and volunteers throughout the state, and CFA expects operational members to wear and use their pagers even if they choose to use the SAS.
A request for tender (RFT) for the SAS service was released by EMV in October 2018 and tender responses closed in November 2018. All agencies are heavily involved in the evaluation process. Although the project team is aware there are several products already in the market, respondents were free to propose either an existing product or a newly developed product. The project team has no pre-conceived solution in mind.
All responses are being evaluated against the documented tender requirements with the aim of choosing the product that best meets the needs of the end users, while also offering good value for money for the state.
Once implemented, SAS will be a valuable supplementary service providing a mechanism to acknowledge messages and track team availability, as well as provide a range of other features designed to simplify the work of volunteers and career staff.