112 (emergency telephone number)

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112 is the common emergency telephone number that can be dialed free of charge from any telephone or any mobile phone in order to reach emergency services (Ambulances, Fire & Rescue Service and the Police) in the European Union (EU), its candidates for accession, members of the EEA agreement, as well as several other countries in the world. It was established by a decision of the EU Council on 29 July 1991.[1]

Since 2009 and a tripartite convention of the European Commission, the European Parliament and the Council of the EU have designated 11 February as European 112 Day and events take place to promote the existence and the appropriate use of this EU wide available emergency number. Worldwide on GSM mobile networks and their more modern equivalents. To promote the knowledge and the awareness of 112 common European emergency number,112 Foundation (not for profit organisation) is an active Foundation that works all over Europe. In 1999 EENA The European Emergency Number Association (a Brussels based NGO), was created to promote high quality emergency services all over Europe. Today EENA includes over 600 members among emergency services representatives from 42 European Countries, 41 solution providers, 9 international organisations and 26 Members of the European Parliament.

The GSM mobile phone standard designates 112 as an emergency number, so it will work on GSM phones even in North America where GSM systems redirect emergency calls to 911, or Australia where emergency calls are redirected to 000. It is one of two numbers (the other being the region's own emergency number) that can be dialed on most GSM phones even if the phone is locked.

The number is now regulated across the EU by the Universal Service Directive.[2]

Contents

[edit] Origins

Before 112 became a European and (via GSM) worldwide standard emergency number, it had already served for many decades as the fire brigade emergency number in Germany, Portugal, Norway, the Netherlands and Denmark[citation needed] and as the emergency number for the Carabinieri (gendarmerie) in Italy.

This choice of number has the following advantages:

  • Using at least two different digits significantly reduces the risk of accidental calls from numeric keypads. Young children, vibrations, defective keys and collisions with other objects are much more likely to press the same key repeatedly rather than pressing a sequence of different keys. Accidental calls to emergency centres from mobile phones are a particular problem with same-digit numbers, such as the UK's 999.[3]
  • In the days of rotary dial telephones, using only those digits that require the least motion of a rotary dial (1 and 2) permitted a dial lock[4] in hole 3 to effectively disable unauthorized access to the telephone network without preventing access to the emergency number 112. The same choice also maximized dialing speed. Additionally, in accordance to the previous point, prior to DTMF it was possible to dial "1" by shortly activating the hook, so repeatedly pushing the hook might result in calling 1-1-1. For this reason, Germany's police department emergency number was changed from 111 into 110.

[edit] Implementation

Countries which use the 112 number for emergencies include:

[edit] E112

E112 is a location-enhanced version of 112. The telecom operator transmits the location information to the emergency centre. The EU Directive E112 (2003) requires mobile phone networks to provide emergency services with whatever information they have about the location a mobile call was made. This directive is based on the FCC's Enhanced 911 ruling in 2001.

The new eCall project for automated emergency calls from cars is based on E1000.

[edit] 116 115

Dispatchers in Finland's 112 service receive some 800 000 non-urgent calls every year. To curb this problem, which ties up precious resources, a committee proposes that Finland launch a new telephone number—116 115—for such calls. Calls to this number would also be free of charge.[7]

[edit] 114 14

The same way that 116 115 would work, Sweden and Denmark has already introduced a system where less urgent callers can call 114 14 to get connected to the local police-station. Depending on current load and situation, however, the call could potentially be connected to any station in Sweden or Denmark respectively. Calls to this number are charged according to the same rates as any other national calls.[8]

[edit] 113, 114, 115, 117, 118, 1515

In Italy, 112 will redirect to the Carabinieri. Other emergency numbers exist for other issues, such as 113 (National Police), 115 (Firefighters), 117 (Financial Police), 118 (medical emergency and alpine rescue), 1515 (State Forestry Department), 1530 (Coast Guard). However, Carabinieri can redirect the call to other needs. 114 is used in Denmark for non-urgent calls to the nearest police station. '15' is used in Pakistan for Emergency Services (15 Madadgar). 117 is used in Portugal to call Firefighters in case of forest fire. 115 is used by the Fire brigade in San Marino. 118 is used by the Ambulance Service in San Marino.[9]

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Council Decision 91/396/EEC of 29 July 1991 on the introduction of a single European emergency call number
  2. ^ Directive 2002/22/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council of 7 March 2002 on universal service and users' rights relating to electronic communications networks and services (Universal Service Directive) - Article 26: Single European emergency call number
  3. ^ Mobiles blamed for emergency calls, BBC News, 2000-03-21.
  4. ^ Such locks were commonly used, e.g. "ABUS Telefonschloß T70 für Wählscheiben" in Germany.
  5. ^ "Emergency Ministry: 112 emergency call service will be active throughout Ukraine by 2012". Kyiv Post. http://www.kyivpost.com/news/nation/detail/34361/. Retrieved 2009-01-28. 
  6. ^ "Служба экстренного вызова "112" будет действовать по всей Украине к 2012 году, заявляют в МинЧС". Archived from the original on 2009-05-27. http://www.interfax.com.ua/rus/main/6394/. Retrieved 2009-05-24. 
  7. ^ "116 115 in, 10 022 out, 112 quieter?". blog.anta.net. 2008-06-12. ISSN 1797-1993. http://blog.anta.net/2008/06/12/116115in-10022out-112quieter/. Retrieved 2008-06-12. 
  8. ^ Questions and answers regarding 11414 from the swedish police
  9. ^ http://www.visiteurope.com/Plan/Practical-Information/Need-to-know/Emergency-numbers
  10. ^ http://www.illinoistollway.com/portal/page?_pageid=133,1397524&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

[edit] External links
000 Emergency · 108 · 111 · 112 · 117 · 119 · 911 · Enhanced 911 · 999
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