FD-PD - 1-31-13 Station Alerting System1
A3 Problem Solving
Use this form when solving a specific problem
Use the Process Review Report to identify waste and update processes
Concern/Problem
(Describe concern or problem in a very brief statement that clearly identifies the
issue)
Increase accuracy and reduce time it takes for dispatch to page Salina Fire/EMS,
Rural Fire and Rural Fire First Responders.
Progress to a Station Alerting program that will alert only the stations involved in
the incident.
Identify those
departments, divisions,
or units that may be
impacted
(Include the unique budget unit finance code for each department that is impacted,
ie. Police Dept: 210…)
Salina Police Dispatch: 210, Salina Fire, Salina EMS, Rural Fire and Rural Fire First
Responders.
Record the date the
problem was identified
January 16, 2013
Originator
(Identify the individual(s) or team who identified this concern/problem)
B.C. Calvin Kelsey and Lt. Wayne Pruitt
Contacts
(Identify all those that were contacted in order to obtain information regarding this
issue)
B.C. Calvin Kelsey, Lt. Wayne Pruitt, Angela Fuller, New World Systems, and Ka-
Comm Inc.
Problem Solving Team
(Identify all those who participated in solving this concern/problem)
Lt. Wayne Pruitt, B.C. Calvin Kelsey, Sang Bui
Describe Current
Situation
(using a narrative form describe in detail the current situation, including all issues
that arose)
Salina Police Dispatch has an authorized staff of 14 civilian dispatchers and one
supervisor. We dispatch for Salina Police, Salina Fire/EMS, Saline County Sheriff,
Saline County Rural Fire and Rural First Responders, and Saline County Emergency
Management. Minimum staffing is normally three dispatchers on duty, except for
early in the morning between the hours of, 2:30am and 6:30am and between
10:30pm to 6:30am on Sunday and Monday. Dispatchers monitor a total of 17 radio
frequencies (seven are utilized on a regular basis), ten 911 lines, and eight
administrative phone lines. Dispatchers also answer Emergency Management calls
when their office is closed, Crime Stoppers, and any transferred calls from the
Sheriff’s Office.
When dispatching an emergency, the dispatcher has to manually choose between 52
ICON’s. During high call volume times, errors occur when the dispatcher selects the
wrong ICON and then has to go back and select the correct ICON to page the correct
emergency services.
When a call is answered for Fire or EMS assistance the following sequence of events
occur:
1. Dispatch receives an emergency call requesting Fire or EMS assistance.
2. Dispatch enters location and type of emergency into New World Computer
Aided Dispatch system (CAD).
3. CAD geo verifies the address and based upon the type of emergency gives
dispatch unit recommendations.
4. Dispatch utilizes the Zetron radio and selects the appropriate page icon to
page the appropriate emergency services. NOTE: No matter where the
emergency is located within the City of County, the page tones go to all
four Salina Fire Stations.
Analysis (using bullet points, LSS charts or diagrams, or any other analytical tools provide a
2
thorough, yet succinct analysis that clearly identifies the root cause of the problem)
• BY PAGING ALL FIRE STATIONS ON ALL ALERTS there is little rest time for
fireman or EMS responders who are in stations not involved. This decreases
valuable rest time and hinders their effectiveness when an emergency occurs
that is within their area of responsibility.
• MODIFYING THE CURRENT MANUAL DISPATCHING SYSTEM in order to be
able to make calls to specific stations for either City or County services is more
complex that it might appear and would require an additional 44 icons,
bringing the total number of icons the Dispatchers would be responsible for to
96. This would in turn increase the probability of error and reduce the overall
response time to City or County emergencies.
IN ADDITION, the new manual system would of necessity use Law OPS, which
would mean that now law enforcement would be bombarded by Fire and EMS
calls, even when law enforcement was not required to respond.
Make Recommendation
(identify the actions required in order to solve this concern/problem and minimize or
prevent it from ever happening again)
• AUTOMATE THE DISPATCHING OF FIRE AND EMS CALLS by purchasing the
Station Paging interface from New World Systems and Zetron Radio Interface
from Ka-Comm Inc. These interfaces automatically choose the correct ICON’s
based upon the location and type of the emergency and send the page out,
alleviating the dispatcher from manually selecting the correct ICON. This will
eliminate dispatching errors, while providing fire station specific calls.
• Purchase both the New World interface ($14,000.00) and Zetron Interface
($10,990) using 911 funds
• Continue with the installation of Station Alerting equipment using CIP funding.
Labor and Cost Savings XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Annual dollar savings:
N/A
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Annual hours of increased capacity:
N/A
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Use bullet points to identify customer service or employee benefits:
• Reduce the probability of errors that dispatchers may make using a manual
paging system for fire and EMS calls
• Reduce the amount of time dispatchers use searching for the correct ICON to
page emergency services.
• Reduce civil liability by clearly defining dispatching rules for fire and EMS
services within the City and County.
• Improve the amount of rest time available to fire and EMS emergency
responders, and thereby increase their effectiveness
Implementation Plan
(briefly describe the implementation plan upon approval of this project)
Dispatch Unit
1. Purchase the New World and Zetron Paging interfaces in the amount of
$24,990.
2. Test software for accuracy.
3. Train all dispatchers in the use of the new software.
4. Start the practice of only alerting the stations involved in the incident.
Fire Department
1. Install station alerting system
Attachments
(include current and proposed process documentation forms, or before and after
photos, or other before and after descriptions as appropriate)
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX Approval Process
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See next page for approval process
Supervisor’s Review
and others in the Chain of
Command
Instructions: This form is submitted through the chain of command to the Director
Date:
Name:
Comments:
Director’s Approval
Instructions: Approval authority is delegated to each Director for all
recommendations that results in $5,000 or less in annual savings, or 250 hours or
less of annual increased capacity. This form is sent to the Process Improvement
Director for his approval.
Date:
Name: Fire Chief Larry Mullikin
Approved/Denied: 01-28-2013
Director’s Approval
Instructions: Approval authority is delegated to each Director for all
recommendations that results in $5,000 or less in annual savings, or 250 hours or
less of annual increased capacity. This form is sent to the Process Improvement
Director for his approval.
Date:
Name: Police Chief James D. Hill
Approved/Denied: 01-24-2013
Process Improvement
Director’s Approval
Instructions: Upon approval this form is sent to the CMO Executive Assistant, who
forwards a copy to members of the Executive Support Team. They determine how to
convert hours into budgetary savings.
Date: 01/29/2013
Approved/Denied:
City Manager’s
Approval
Instructions: Final sign off for all recommendations that exceed $5,000 in annual
savings, or 250 hours of annual increased functional capacity is by the City
Manager, who also signs off on any plans to convert hours to budgetary savings. The
CMO Executive Assistant converts the approved form into a pdf file that is saved on
the P drive and in Laserfiche.
Date:1/31/2013
Approved/Denied: