How To Give Gps Cordance To Emergency Services

It's the phone call none of us want to make, every bit it means there'south an emergency and help is needed urgently.

Woodland Trust staff or volunteers who find themselves in an emergency must try not to panic and feel confident to call 999.

This Guidance Note is to support that procedure for Woodland Trust emergencies.

Beingness aware of the procedures followed when you punch 999 could make y'all improve prepared to react calmly and confidently in an emergency. When you lot dial 999, y'all don't become put straight through to the emergency services. Instead, you speak to an operator who asks which service you require: ambulance, fire, constabulary or coastguard. If y'all require Mountain Rescue, ask for the law and relay information every bit requested. If they experience it appropriate, the police volition contact Mountain Rescue, who volition then telephone call you back.

If you lot are seeking help for an injured person in a remote location, the police force should still exist the emergency service of choice and not initially the Ambulance Service – this will ensure that the necessary actions and notifications are taken (this is because the Ambulance Service are generally equipped to reach urban locations, so if y'all're abroad from the road past much distance the Ambulance Service will need co-ordination of other rescue resources, which is initially organised by the police.)

One time you dial 999 the Operator will identify your judge location, which, if y'all're calling from a mobile telephone, they tin detect by identifying which phone mast your mobile is connected to. Most Android smartphones can be located to an expanse less than half the size of a football game pitch using GPS signal and Wi-Fi location information. If you're calling from a landline, they can consult a database of addresses linked to phone numbers.

Once your location has been determined, the Operator volition patch you lot through to a call handler at the service closest to you.

What happens next varies depending on which service you require, and where yous are in the UK.

112 is the European emergency number originally designed for countries that did not have dedicated emergency numbers – in the United kingdom it automatically re-directs to 999. The belief that it is somehow better than 999 is a myth.

Calling 999 via text message – Emergency SMS

Since 2009 it's been possible to summon emergency services via text using the Emergency SMS service

A relay assistant volition speak your SMS message to a 999 Operator and their reply will exist sent dorsum to you as an SMS message. If you send another SMS text message the relay assistant volition read it to the 999 Operator and send their reply dorsum to y'all and so on.

In order to use this service yous must first register your phone – do this past texting the word "Register" to 999 and the follow the instructions as shown below:

Emergency SMS can exist extremely useful, as a text message can be sent when there is not sufficient signal to make a call; the Police can be summoned silently if someone is trying to evade a possible assaulter and those with hearing difficulties tin can use it on a standard mobile without having to get special equipment.

The emergency services offer the following advice for using Emergency SMS:

Ensuring you can summon assist effectively

Information technology'due south essential that the Woodland Trust manages its activities and its sites and then we can summon the Emergency Services quickly, effectively and accurately.

For any site based work activity or event, this must take place equally office of the run a risk assessment procedure before the activeness or outcome commences – the take chances cess tape grade adopted by the Trust asks for a filigree reference or postcode – this must be completed every fourth dimension for the location nosotros wish to utilise for emergency access.

Which gate or entrance will you direct an ambulance to if need be? If there's a wildfire, how will the Burn down & Rescue Service get onto site? Our Generic Risk Assessment Documents for work activities can be found in the Whittle library.

Complex or large sites may require more than one filigree reference.

Anyone leading a grouping activity on Woodland Trust sites – Volunteer Woodland Working Group Leaders leading a work political party, Site Managers or volunteers leading guided walks, event organisers etc., should ensure they share these access points with others involved in the solar day – simply in case something should happen to them.

A good way of doing this is to print a re-create of the Adventure Assessment, and then leave it with the site commencement aid kit or some other location that anyone can access – Then tell people equally office of the site briefing or tool talk. "If y'all need first help please ask me, and if anything happens to me, please telephone call an ambulance – you lot can get our location here" *Waves Run a risk Assessment around, and puts it past the brew kit.

Emergency access points are recorded on GISMO maps – these must be shared with volunteers or contractors as necessary.

Determining Emergency access locations

A number of methods exist for the Woodland Trust to determine the locations on our sites that nosotros can summon the Emergency Services to if we demand to.

Ordnance Survey grid references and postcodes are standard, merely co-ordinates for latitude & longitude or What3Words addresses tin also exist extremely useful and may from time to time be required – Helicopter pilots engaged to fight a wildfire for example will prefer latitude & longitude co-ordinates.

The following sections give advice on how to use these navigational systems.

Ordnance Survey Filigree References

Ordnance Survey Grid references are extremely useful for plotting accurate locations in rural environments where there are no postcodes nearby. They come in four, half-dozen, eight and x figure variants. To use eight or ten figure GR's accurately you will need a larger scale map if using a hard copy – at least 1:25,000 in scale.

The Woodland Trust must use at least 6 effigy grid references for emergency access points to its sites.

Using OS locate

Anyone tin can download the app free of charge from their app provider such as Play Store or the Ios App Store

One time installed on your phone; this useful app will provide an accurate six figure filigree reference for its current location:

Grid references tin likewise be found rapidly and easily using the grid reference finder website hither – go to: https://gridreferencefinder.com/

Using hard re-create OS maps – How to read a four-effigy filigree reference

Whether you are using an Bone Explorer Map (the orange ones) or an OS Landranger Map (the pink ones) you'll notice that the map is covered with a grid of sparse blue lines that form square boxes all over the map.

Each line, whether running vertically or horizontally across the map has a number on it (both at either end of the line and somewhere halfway along).

The numbers that run from left to right (or westward to e) on the map are called Eastings – this is because the number of the line increases the further east you lot go.

The numbers that run from bottom to peak (or south to north) on the map are called Northings – this is because the number of the line increases the further north you go.

Using OL13 for the Brecon Beacons as an example, imagine we are following the Three Castle Walk near its crossing with Bont Beck and desire to let people know where nosotros are. To accept a iv effigy grid reference you lot have the Easting get-go (taking the number that is bottom left of the square you are looking for) then the Northing (from the vertical line). Regardless of which map yous are using – this places you in a 1 km square box, in this example, 3920.

United kingdom is also broken down into 100 km square boxes – each has a prefix of ii letters. These messages tin can be institute in each of the 4 corners of your map. Add together these to the start of your grid reference and yous accept pivot pointed your exact location. In this case, we're in square And then, and then our 4 figure reference is SO3920.

How to read a 6-figure filigree reference

To become the Emergency services to site promptly and effectively, yous'll want to narrow down the surface area by creating a six figure grid reference – this will then place you in a 100 metre box.

To practise this, imagine that that one box identified in your four figure grid reference is broken down into smaller squares – 10 x 10 squares, which are marked all effectually the edges of your map.

Starting with "0" every bit the number of the beginning box – count across from the Easting line to where you are and add this to your Easting number of your iv effigy filigree reference.

And then you lot do the same with the Northing – starting with "0" in the first box – count upward how many squares you are from the lesser northing line of the foursquare

Putting these together you have your vi figure grid reference so this puts us at SO393203.

Longitude & Breadth

The latitude & longitude coordinate system uses athwart measurements to describe a position on the surface of the globe. The arrangement has been in use, with little change, since the astronomer Ptolemy used them in his first world atlas in A.D. 150.

Lines of latitude measure north-south position between the poles. The equator is defined as 0 degrees, the North Pole is 90 degrees north, and the South Pole is xc degrees south. Lines of latitude are all parallel to each other, thus they are often referred to every bit parallels.

Lines of longitude, or meridians, run between the North and Due south Poles. They measure east-west position. The prime meridian is assigned the value of 0 degrees, and runs through Greenwich. Meridians to the west of the prime acme are measured in degrees west and too those to the east of the prime meridian are measured to by their number of degrees east.

To get the coordinates of a place using a computer, Google maps is a useful resource

On your computer, open Google Maps. *If you're using Maps in Low-cal fashion, y'all'll meet a lightning bolt at the lesser and you won't exist able to get the coordinates of a place.

1. Right-click the place or expanse on the map.
2. Select "what'southward here?"
3. At the bottom, yous'll see a card with the coordinates.

If using a smartphone or tablet out on site open the mapping app bear upon and hold the location required – this will "drop a pin" and the longitude & latitude will be displayed for that location at the top of the screen:

Bing Maps are too an splendid resource – open the map and select the type view you want from the drop down menu on the right (in this example, a satellite view has been chosen) Then only move the cursor over the betoken you lot demand the coordinates for and right click the mouse – the coordinates volition announced equally follows:

Manus held GPS systems tin can exist useful on site to determine co-ordinates of a item spot. In order for these units to work they will need a articulate view of the heaven, so brand take a while to calibrate nether dense woodland canopies. Consult your individual manufacturer's instructions to find out how to display longitude & breadth. They can be too set to display Uk grid references – often called "British National Grid (BNG)" on device menus

Tips for formatting your coordinates

To get the best out of map software consider the following tips:

• Use the degree symbol instead of "d".
• Use full stops as decimals, non commas. Wrong: 41,40338, 2,17403. Correct: 41.40338, two.17403.
• List your latitude coordinates before longitude coordinates.
• Bank check that the first number in your latitude coordinate is betwixt -90 and ninety.

What3Words

What3Words is a mobile phone app that enables extremely accurate mapping. It works past dividing the planet earth into 3x3m squares and assigning a unique combination of words to that square. The example below shows the unique address of the archway to the Woodland Trust HQ – its unique iii word address is sooner.spark.middle:

The What3Words app can enable someone to find their location and share it with others – anyone using the app can open a satellite or map view of the address they have been given. Emergency Services across the UK are increasingly using What3Words, so it tin be an extremely useful tool. Information technology must not however be used equally an alternative to traditional filigree references or postcodes on Woodland Trust adventure assessments.

How To Give Gps Cordance To Emergency Services,

Source: https://whittle.woodlandtrust.org.uk/2019/07/25/calling-and-directing-the-emergency-services/

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