Mobile working Toolkit

Pilot scheme launched for emergency SMS service

Kable

Published: 18 Sep 2009 09:54 BST

The Royal National Institute for Deaf People has called for help in testing an emergency SMS text service.

It wants people who are deaf or have a hearing loss to sign up to a national pilot scheme allowing people to SMS 999 for help from their mobile phones.

Users will send a text to 999, which will then get converted into a call to the emergency call centres. It is meant to ensure that caller ID and location information are available to the emergency service in the same way as for other calls.

The scheme is being supported by the government, the emergency services, Ofcom and a group of telecommunications companies — Vodafone, Orange, O2, Three, British Telecom and Cable and Wireless. T-Mobile is due to join the scheme at the end of September.

Guido Gybels, RNID's director of technology, said: "Access to 999 could literally be a matter of life and death, yet until now many people who are deaf or hard of hearing have found themselves unable to contact the emergency services while on the move.

"This pilot service therefore represents a major step forward and we hope that as many people with hearing loss as possible will register and take part. In doing so, they will help to make sure the best possible service is developed."

The pilot began on 14 September and is scheduled to run until late November. It is possible to register by texting the word 'register' to 999, or online at the Emergency SMS website.