From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 111 (emergency telephone number)
111 (emergency telephone number)
Main article: Emergency telephone number for this unusual orientation. Therefore dialling 111 on a
111 (usually pronounced one-one-one) is the emergency New Zealand telephone sent three sets of nine pulses to
telephone number in New Zealand. It was first imple- the exchange, exactly the same as UK’s 999.[3]
mented in Masterton and Carterton on 29 September The telephone exchange in Masterton was replaced
1958, and was progressively rolled out nationwide with in 1956, and was the first exchange to have the technol-
the last exchanges converting in 1988. In 2008, 111 cele- ogy installed for the 111 service. Hence Masterton and
brated fifty years of service. nearby Carterton were the first towns in the country to
get the new service.[2]
History The 111 service began on 29 September 1958 in the
two towns. When a subscriber dialled 111 at either ex-
change, the call was routed by the automatic exchange
Introduction onto one of three dedicated lines to the toll switchboard
Before the introduction of 111, access to emergency ser- at the Masterton exchange (although the exchange con-
vices was complicated. For the quarter of New Zealand’s nected calls automatically, long-distance (toll) calls still
then 414,000 telephone subscribers that were still on had to be connected manually through an operator). A
manual exchanges, one would simply pick up the tele- red light glowed on the switchboard panel, and another
phone and ask the answering operator for the police, red light would glow on top of the switchboard. Two
ambulance, or fire service by name. However, the prob- hooters also sounded, one in the exchange and the other
lem was on manual exchanges the calls were answered in the building passage. The first operator to plug in to
first-come-first-served, which meant on busy exchanges, the line took the call, and a supervisor would plug into
emergency calls could be delayed. For automatic ex- the line to help if the situation became difficult.[3]
changes, one would need to look up the local police, am- Dedicated lines connected the toll switchboard to the
bulance or fire service’s telephone number in the tele- Masterton police station, fire brigade, and the hospital,
phone directory, know the number off by heart, or dial where they were connected to a special red telephone.
the toll operator and asking them to place the call. The The line connected to the fire station, when it rang, also
problem was that the numbers were different for each sounded the station alarm bells. A similar arrangement
exchange, and again, there was no way to tell emergency was employed at the police station, while at the hospital
calls apart from regular calls. Auckland, for example, had the call went to the local switchboard where it was iden-
40 telephone exchanges, and the telephone directory had tified by a red light and a distinctive bell.[3]
500 pages to search through to find the right num- Among the first 111 calls was a call for an ambulance
ber.[1][2] after an accident at a sawmill, and call to the fire service
Following the 1947 Ballantynes fire in Christchurch, after a rubbish tip fire in Carterton. The first hoax call al-
fire officer Arthur Varley was recruited from the UK to so occurred on the first day – a caller dialed 111 to ask for
bring about the reform of the New Zealand Fire Service. the address for a Carterton hotel.[3]
Familiar with Britain’s 999 system, he campaigned for
there to be a universal emergency telephone number Expansion
across the country. In mid-1957, a committee was set After the introduction of 111 in Masterton and Carterton,
up to set up a common emergency number across New the service soon expanded to most major towns and
Zealand, consisting of the Post and Telegraph Depart- cities. By the mid-1980s all but a few rural exchanges had
ment, the Police, the Health Department, and the Fire the service, and by 1988, 111 was available on every ex-
Service. In early 1958, the Postmaster General approved change in mainland New Zealand.
the provision of the service using the number 111.[2] The dates of installation in some major towns and
111 was specifically chosen to comply with the posi- cities were:-
tioning of Britain’s 999. With pulse dialling, New Zealand
telephones pulse in reverse to the UK - dialling 0 sent ten Controversy
pulses, 1 sent nine, 2 sent eight, 3 sent seven, etc. in New
Zealand, while in the UK, dialling 1 sent one pulse, 2 sent In New Zealand in 2004, the police answering of emer-
two, etc. In the early years of 111, the telephone equip- gency telephone service came under sustained scrutiny
ment was based on British Post Office equipment, except for systemic problems. On May 11, 2005, a severely crit-
ical independent report[4] into the Police Communica-
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 111 (emergency telephone number)
Auckland 1968
Christchurch 1964
Dunedin 1966
Gisborne 1960
Hamilton 1960
Invercargill 1960
Napier 1960
Nelson 1960
New Plymouth 1961
Palmerston North 1961
Timaru 1960
Wanganui 1960
Wellington 1961
Whangarei 1962
tions Centres was released. It expressed ongoing con- in the region for several hours due to the extreme in-
cerns for public safety, and identified inadequate man- frastructure damage. People in need of assistance had to
agement, poor leadership, inadequate training, under- call the police, fire, ambulance and search and rescue ser-
staffing, underutilised technology and a lack of customer vices directly.
focus as being underlying risks for systemic failures. The
report made over 60 recommendations for improvement,
including recommending a 15 to 20 year strategy to move
Other New Zealand emergency
away from using 111 as an emergency telephone number numbers
because of problems with misdialing due to the repeated
Other than 111, the following national emergency num-
digits.
bers are used for different services:-
Despite ambiguous reporting, these issues were never
• - traffic incidents (dialable from mobile phones only)
with the 111 service itself, and did not impact fire or am-
• - Deaf emergency fax (connects to police)
bulance services. The problems were restricted solely to
• - Deaf emergency textphone/TTY (connects to
the Police Communications Centres.
police)
• - Poisons and hazardous chemicals emergency
Dialling 111 • - medical advice ("Healthline", run by Ministry of
Any phone within New Zealand can dial 111, includes Health)
payphones/phoneboxes and mobiles/cellphones even • - railway emergencies (ONTRACK)
when there is no money/credit on the phone. Other emergency numbers vary from area to area, or
Upon dialling 111, the Telecom operator will answer from service provider to service provider. These num-
first: "111 emergency - Fire, Ambulance or Police?". The bers can be found under the "Emergency Information"
operator will then connect you to the relevant service. section on pages 2 and 3 of the local White Pages tele-
For situations requiring multiple services, the operator phone directory.
will put you through to the most urgently needed service
(For example, in a car accident involving injuries, which International usage of 111
requires both Ambulance and Police, the operator will
In North America, this code cannot be used as an N11
put you through to Ambulance).
number because of a conflict with the rotary alternative
Apart from fire, ambulance, and police, 111 is the
for star commands (11XX for *XX).
emergency number for civil defence, search and rescue
In South Korea, 111 is a special telephone number
(part of the police), and gas leaks (part of the fire service).
for reporting spies, international crimes, terrorism, cor-
On average, only 34 percent calls to 111 are real emer-
porate espionage, employment fraud and forgeries, and
gencies. After the first false call made in a month, a NZ$6
other crimes that threaten national security. It is operat-
charge is incurred.
ed by National Intelligence Service.[5]
In the hours following the Christchurch Earthquake
on February 22 2011, the 111 service was knocked out
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia 111 (emergency telephone number)
In parts of the United Kingdom, a trial started in Au-
gust 2010 for a non-emergency medical assistance line,
References
using the number 111. [1] "Before 111 - 50-year history of 111 - 111.govt.nz".
Archived from the original on 2009-09-27.
http://www.111.govt.nz/history/before_111.html.
See also Retrieved 2009-09-25.
• 000 Emergency phone number in Australia. [2] ^ "Planning 111 - 50-year history of 111 -
• 112 Emergency phone number across the European 111.govt.nz". http://www.111.govt.nz/history/
Union and on GSM mobile networks across the planning_111.html. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
world. [3] ^ "The start of 111 - 50-year history of 111 -
• 119 Emergency phone number in parts of East Asia. 111.govt.nz". http://www.111.govt.nz/history/
• 911 Emergency phone number in US and Canada. start_111.html. Retrieved 2009-09-25.
• 999 Emergency phone number in United Kingdom [4] Communications Centres Service Centre
(to which 112 calls are routed), Poland and Ireland. Independent External Review Final Report - New
Also an emergency number in several non-EU Zealand Police
countries. [5] National Intelligence Service (Korean)
• Emergency telephone
• Emergency telephone number
• In case of emergency (ICE) entry in the mobile phone
External links
book. • [1]
• Official 111 website
• YouTube video: Behind the scenes of "111" NZ Police
Communications
• NZ Police simulated 111 calls
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=111_(emergency_telephone_number)&oldid=462164626"
Categories:
• Emergency telephone numbers
• Telecommunications in New Zealand
• Three-digit telephone numbers
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