Emergency Call Handling Essentials and Procedure

Emergency call handling refers to the process of receiving and responding to calls from individuals who need immediate assistance for urgent situations through specialized contact centers. Every year, 911 is dialed 240 million times and 600,000 times every day in the United States of America, so emergency call handling is a very sensitive task because it comes with cases like a life-threatening situation, a serious injury, or a situation requiring immediate medical help. But emergency calls are not everyday incidents in e-commerce and utility company contact centers, but there may also be emergency issues, which are described below.

Properly handling emergency calls can save lives, money, time, et, but misuse of emergency call service can lead the agents to demotivation and it can make the contact center lose its license as well. For example, The New York Times says, “The Federal Emergency Management Agency did not answer nearly two-thirds of calls to its disaster assistance line.”

The lack of responsiveness happened because the agency had fired hundreds of contractors at the call center, resulting in a contact break. So you can guess now how important it is to handle an emergency call for a contact center. Let’s walk through the process of emergency call handling and its best practices.

How Emergency Calls Are Routed and Triaged

The term “routed” used here directly describes the road, way, or direction of call, and triaged is normally a medical word holding the meaning of sorting, arranging, or classifying the calls to respond in a call answering service.

Emergency Calls Routing

When you dial an emergency number (such as 911) using any SIM operator it sends the signal to public safety answering points (PSAP) based on the callers location and to reach the signal to emergency service center PSAP, reconnect with other cell towers, cellular towers, or telecom towers or same operator of your used sim if it not available then connects with any of the available telecom towers or cellular towers because it’s open for emergency service to make your reach to desired destination. So, the process from dialing to creating a route to PSAP is called emergency call routing.

Emergency Calls Triage

Emergency call triage refers to when someone calls an emergency number and an agent or respective person receives and responds to the caller and ask initial questions or what is the emergency or what its related, suppose you called for a medical emergency and then the agent connects with community responder the make sure you get the mercy medical service, this process is called emergency call triage.

Public Safety Answering Points (PSAP)

A public safety answering point is call or contact center, also known as a public safety access point, is the first responder of a public telephone call during an emergency for police, firefighters, medical, etc. you can call for emergency to any PSAP using landline, mobile phone line, or VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) line etc. when you dial 112 (For USA) then a program logic routes the to the nearest police station according to your location. In the USA and Canada, for both cities and the country, PSAP handles the emergency call responsibility, and it is sometimes called the radio room.

Call-Triage Protocols and Decision Trees

Before explaining the call triage protocol and decision, let’s see a case study by Yokohama National University of 79-5 Tokiwadai, Hodogaya-ku, Yokohama, Japan, and its importance. “The average ambulance response time in 1998 was 6 minutes; this increased to 8.2 minutes in 2012. This sharp increase in the ambulance response time adversely affects the quality of emergency medical care.” This can cause death or a critical issue.

Then, according to this issue, call triage protocol trees have undergone a huge evolution in several countries. The triage protocol means how you sort the call according to the type of emergency needed by the caller and transfer to the related department or ensure the service. Let’s see the decision tree of the call triage protocol below to be clearer, which effectively improves the caller experience during call.

Emergency Call Triage Decision Tree

Step 1: Identify Call Type

Q1: Is this a medical, fire, police, or other emergency?

• Medical → Go to Step 2
• Fire → Go to Fire Protocol
• Police/Crime → Go to Police Protocol
• Others (Hazmat, Disaster, etc.) → Route to Relevant Dept

Step 2: Medical Emergency

Q2: Is the person responsive and breathing?

• No → HIGH PRIORITY (Cardiac Arrest) — Dispatch ambulance & guide CPR
• Yes → Go to Q3

Q3: Is there heavy bleeding, difficulty breathing, chest pain, or seizures?

• Yes → URGENT PRIORITY — Dispatch immediately
• No → Go to Q4

Q4: What is the age and condition of the patient?

• Infant/elderly with symptoms → Moderate Priority
• Stable adult with mild symptoms → Low Priority

Step 2.1 Fire Emergency

Q1: Is anyone trapped or injured?

• Yes → HIGH PRIORITY — Dispatch fire + EMS
• No → Go to Q2

Q2: Is the fire spreading or near hazardous material?

• Yes → URGENT PRIORITY
• No → Moderate Priority

Step 2.2 Police Emergency

Q1: Is the crime in progress, or is someone in danger?

• Yes → HIGH PRIORITY — Dispatch immediately
• No → Go to Q2

Q2: Is the suspect on scene or recently left?

• Yes → URGENT PRIORITY
• No → Collect info, moderate priority

Step 3: Final Actions

• Confirm location (repeat for accuracy)
• Advise the caller to stay on the line if safe
• Provide first aid instructions if needed
• Dispatch appropriate units with triage priority
• Log all details accurately

Step-by-Step Process of Handling an Emergency Call

In e-commerce and bank or finance, agency, B2B, and other utility companies do not face emergency calls typically but in case if an agent feels the customer in danger or accidentally while talking faces some medical or something becomes emergency then agents promptness or IQ matters but for an agent/ dispatcher/ telecommunicator works at contact center like PSAP then they must need to learn a few things. Let’s discuss in the section below, step by step.

Call Reception, Calm Self-control, and Empathy

“911, what is the address of your emergency? Or South Metro Fire Rescue, what is the address of your emergency?” These are the first sounds or similar to those when you dial 911 or an emergency number, and if you are an agent working in the emergency contact center, you are supposed to get a call before a crash, a lady fell down, a woman delivery issue, etc, so those hyper moments and you can’t wait too long to take the call.

So, responding within 5 seconds or faster is recommended, but in case all agents are on call, then in the US, it might take up to 5 minutes maximum, depending on the call volume and area. Right at that moment, you need to keep yourself calm and make yourself feel that you understand the caller’s problems with empathy.

In case you are working in a non-emergency contact center, but during the call, the customer or caller feels a medical emergency, fire, crime, or any emergency, use your brain to take the address, phone number, and problems, and inform the respective emergency service center, providing the details.

Systematic Information Gathering

For an emergency call, gathering information is mandatory because without proper information, you can’t help the victim. The three most important pieces of information in an emergency call are:

• Address
• Nature of the emergency
• Contact number

Ask politely and clearly about the address, then ask for the mobile number and the kind of emergency the caller is facing during the call. Try to inform the rescue team to move fast to save the caller from the danger.

Triage & Classification

Once the talks are about the address and emergency, then report the issue to the respective department. For instance, someone calls and says that the caller got stuck in a building and it is on fire. So you get the issue and inform firefighters immediately to rescue the caller. So, when you identify the classification of an emergency and sort it out for the responsible department, it refers to call triage. As a dispatcher, identifying the problem and transferring it is very important to resolve the issue.

Dispatching Emergency Services

“Don’t react, respond.”This is the initial response of a dispatcher. Once you get the clear information, then without wasting time or during the call, inform the respective department who is ready to rescue the victim from the danger or emergency situation. For dispatching the assistance, consider the most efficient way, like informing the nearest branch of the incident, and along with that. The faster you dispatch the emergency team, the higher the chance of saving the victim. So any misinformation can make the situation worse, so it’s a very sensitive task to handle emergency and difficult calls.

Maintaining Ongoing Communication

Ask for more information, like if the victim is alive or taking breath or something like that, keep saying sentences like great job, you are doing well, don’t worry, the assistance team is about to reach you, like that. Because mating on a going call or remaining online is not always possible if you forward the call to the respective department for better assistance and faster movement, but if not, then keep communication on that line, like saying, Is that making any sense?  Ask for an update, and once the assistance is reached, dispose of the call for the next one.

Documentation and QA

Documentation is an initial process for emergency calls and others. Whether you work for a contact center of a business, company, or a government emergency center, you need to take notes or document the situation or follow up for further assistance. So the dispatcher should be trained to show empathy and make decisions faster and more spontaneously.

Best Practices and Performance Benchmarks

Best practices for emergency call handling include staying calm and empathetic, following the protocol, standard operating procedures, routing optimization, etc., so let’s take a serious look at these subjective aspects and implementation in actual situations.

Stay Calm and Empathetic

In an emergency situation, you need to keep yourself calm, so if you get emotional, then helping the victim will be complex and time-consuming. On the other hand, stay empathetic with the caller because someone in danger or an emergency situation faces a harsh or rude voice, which can cause the person more damage emotionally, and it can cause the situation to worsen. So the tone of a dispatcher’s voice should always be empathetic, and keeping calm is also necessary.

Lean on Protocols and SOPs

Standard operating procedures (SOPs) are important for handling an emergency call because if you document the call first and dispatch the assistance later, then the surviving caller will get the assistance late, so it has a maximum chance of getting the full damage done. So, as you receive the call, follow the protocol of asking for the address first and then verifying the number and type of emergency, and as soon as possible, dispatch the assistance to its destination.

Optimize Call Routing

To improve call routing for an emergency call center, create a system that prioritizes urgency, uses agent skills, and employs technology for efficient high-volume call handling. This involves a layered approach with an IVR system for initial screening and routing, skill-based routing to connect callers with the most suitable agents, and possibly integrating with other systems for faster response times. Regular analysis of call patterns and performance data is essential for ongoing improvement.

Performance Metrics & QC

Measuring performance for call dispatchers and controlling the quality is a regular thing for a call center because, without performance measuring and quality control, your call center is not going to perform well. Because every agent needs to be motivated all the time, training, feedback, motivation, personal session QC, performance metrics, KPIs, everything is equally important.

Quality control involves regular:

• call monitoring,
• Supervisor coaching,
• and peer reviews to maintain standards.

Performance Benchmarks:

Tone Assessment: 95% of calls should maintain a professional, calm tone throughout

Empathy Scoring: Minimum 4.5/5 rating on empathy assessments during quality reviews

Caller Satisfaction: 90% of post-incident surveys indicate feeling heard and supported

Critical metrics include call answer rates (95% within 10 seconds), call processing efficiency (90% of Priority 1 calls within 90 seconds), information accuracy (95% in incident details), and system reliability (99.9% uptime).

Conclusion

Emergency call handling makes the dispatcher feel honored and proud when the proper assistance arrives on time, saves the caller from danger, but sometimes it can not make the situation better, because the dispatcher has nothing to do with it. It’s not in your hands. So, keeping yourself calm, empathetic, and energetic always can bring better results for you and the organization as well.

Whether you work for a utility company or an emergency call center, having proper training and a skillset can bring pride in your assistance to a victim. So if you need skilled agents for your company or emergency call handling who make no mistakes, you can keep the calling agency in mind for the best call handling service around.