60FF-6.005. Florida Emergency Communications Number E911 State Plan Technical and Operations Rule

(1) Public Safety Answering Point.

(a) Each 911 primary PSAP shall operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

(b) All primary PSAPs shall be staffed with an adequate number of answering positions to ensure that a minimum of 90 percent of voice calls shall be answered within 10 seconds of call arrival at the PSAP and 20 seconds for Teletypewriter (TTY) calls. All secondary PSAPs shall also meet this standard.

(c) The county 911 coordinator must anticipate and consider increases in emergency call volume. A determination must be made as to whether the existing staff can handle an increased work load and still meet the technical standards in paragraph 60FF-6.005(1)(b), F.A.C. If not, additional call taker positions and staff must be added. It is the responsibility of the county 911 coordinator to evaluate the situation and take appropriate action to assure adequate staffing. Criteria shall include busy hour call volume, call length and telephone grade of service.

(d) For wireline 911 calls, a minimum number of dedicated 911 lines shall be provided from the service provider’s central office(s) to the 911 selective router and from that selective router to the 911 PSAP to supply a P.01 grade of service or better. A P.01 grade of service allows one busy signal in 100 attempted calls during the average busy hour. For wireline 911 calls, there shall be a minimum of two lines from each central office to the selective router and there shall be a minimum of two lines from the selective router to each PSAP.

(e) The agency shall take into account the estimated volume of calls that the remote agency will receive during the busy hour when determining the number of lines required.

(f) The county 911 coordinator shall analyze MIS and E911 traffic data and determine wireless call routing and act upon this information as necessary for congestion control management to the PSAP(s).

(g) The county 911 coordinator shall work closely with PSAP managers, supervisors, public safety providers, and call takers to develop standard operation procedures for call handling and ADA compliance. Each PSAP shall review and update these call handling procedures regularly with the county 911 coordinator. Call takers shall have ready access to county and or agency 911 policy and procedure manuals.

(2) Public Safety Answering Point Equipment – The county PSAP(s) shall incorporate the following operational equipment:

(a) Customer Premises Equipment (CPE) including 911 call processing and call answering communications or terminal equipment located at the PSAP and the call taker positions.

1. Automatic telephone number identification (ANI) display capability.

2. Automatic location identification (ALI) display capability.

(b) Management Information System (MIS) – call record management system required for call detail information State reporting capable of identifying by County and PSAP, at a minimum: the number of 911 calls, the call volume and percentage by type of call and trunk identifier, the call taker position at the PSAP, the call length of time to answer, transferred or terminated, and the duration of the call.

(c) Printer for call detail information, 911 logging printer or e-printer needed for records.

(d) Teletypewriters (TTYs) communications equipment or functional equivalent with record printout. If 24-hour repair is not available for TTY equipment, the county 911 system shall maintain spare TTYs for temporary use.

(e) Logging recording equipment to record the conversation, incoming trunk, identification of the position handling the call, and date and time of each 911 call.

(f) Instant play back recording capability: each call taker shall be equipped with access to instant playback recording capability.

(g) Uninterruptible power supply (UPS) with sufficient capacity to maintain PSAP equipment until the motor generator stabilizes. No calls shall be interrupted or lost during the transition to the UPS.

(h) Auxiliary-powered motor generator sets with associated fuel capacity and resupply capability, for supplying emergency power to the PSAP during extended commercial power outages.

(i) Grounding integrity: the 911 system and generator shall be installed using appropriate grounding engineering.

(j) Lightning and A/C power surge protection.

(k) Fire protection.

(l) 911 consoles or workstation furniture.

(3) Call Taker Position.

(a) The 911 call taker shall be dedicated to processing 911 calls. Other duties may be performed, if the technical standards in paragraph 60FF-6.005(1)(b), F.A.C., can be satisfied. All call takers shall be proficient in the use of PSAP equipment and basic 911 call handling, operations and techniques in technical standard paragraph 60FF-6.005(9)(b), F.A.C., and know how to respond in the event of an equipment emergency.

(b) Each 911 call taker shall receive both audible and visual indications of an incoming 911 call. Each call taker position shall have access to all incoming 911 lines, outgoing dedicated lines, tie-lines, and dial-out lines.

(c) Each county shall maintain a minimum of one non-published number to handle incoming emergency calls from service provider operators and as an alternative number for routing overflow calls. Line(s) should terminate in the PSAP answering equipment and shall be used for operator emergency transfers or emergency transfers from other counties.

(d) Each call taker position shall be equipped with Teletypewriters (TTYs), or equivalent equipment functionality. Upon hearing nothing or a musical acoustic sound or an automatic voice message, the 911 line shall be connected to the TTY to ensure that no TTY calls are missed.

(e) Each call taker shall have access to the standard operating procedures.

(4) Emergency Operations.

(a) Each county 911 coordinator shall develop an E911 Emergency Operations Plan designed to limit the impact of system failures and expedite the restoration of E911 service. Enhanced 911 systems shall include provisions for back-up to which 911 calls can be routed in the event of failure of a Primary PSAP.

(b) All counties shall have established alternate routes in place to ensure continuance of operations for all 911 services provisioning.

(c) All counties shall have established reroute plans in place to ensure continuity of operations.

(5) Operations.

(a) If there have been no 911 calls received for an extended time interval, a test 911 call shall be made to ensure that the system is operational. This shall be done at least once every 8 hours, if no calls have been received.

(b) With a transferred call, the caller must never be procedurally required to talk with more than two people: the primary PSAP 911 call taker and the call taker at the remote agency. There shall be no inherent double transfers.

1. All 911 calls transferred by a PSAP must be identified at the receiving point as an emergency 911 call.

2. With a transferred call, the call taker shall inform the caller that the call is about to be transferred.

3 The PSAP transferring the 911 call must stay on the line until the receiving agency answers and accuracy of the transfer is ascertained.

(c) Each call taker shall complete a Trouble Report/Inquiry Form for every 911 call that experienced problems (ANI failures, database errors, etc.). These trouble reports shall be routed to the county 911 coordinator. Enhanced 911 systems shall include a proactive program to identify database errors, which shall continuously monitor and maintain a record of database accuracy. Call takers shall provide information about erroneous location information provided on the ALI screen and any corrections provided by the caller. County 911 coordinators shall establish a standard trouble reporting form and ensure that 911 trouble reports are consistently completed and shall submit these reports to the appropriate service provider(s) for resolution. In counties where the county is maintaining the database, the county 911 coordinator shall perform both functions.

(d) The 911 call takers shall not refer citizens to a directory of services or provide contact information on emergency calls.

(6) Security.

(a) All PSAPs, 911 equipment and data shall be secured to prevent access by the unauthorized persons. Each PSAP shall have sufficient building security to minimize the possibility of intentional disruption of operations. All E911 processing and control equipment shall be in a locked, environmentally-conditioned area accessible only to authorized personnel. Answering equipment shall be accessible only to PSAP personnel. Display and printing equipment shall be located so that the information is limited to agency authorized personnel.

(b) The PSAP shall not be visible from outside the building and shall not be visible from unsecured areas inside the building, unless it is located in the secured entry point of the jail facility in the sheriff’s office.

(c) The PSAP shall be configured to provide a physical barrier from floor to ceiling separating unsecured areas from all 911 personnel required to interact with the public. There shall be no openings in the barrier other than a louvered opening for voice communications. Glass shall be of a heavy-duty, bulletproof type. A pass through drawer shall be used for transfer of documents.

(d) All doors shall be lock-controlled from the inside and be kept closed. If combination locks (rotary or push button) are used, access to the combinations shall be controlled by the PSAP supervisor. Such combinations shall be changed periodically on a schedule to be determined by the PSAP supervisor based on their standard operating procedures.

(e) All exposed 911 circuits inside the building and facilities serving the 911 PSAP shall be protected and marked to prevent damage or tampering.

(7) Alarms/Auto Dialers.

(a) Alarm circuits shall not be routed to a 911 system, and no auto dialer shall be used, unless two-way voice communication is possible. Automatic dialers must provide two-way voice communications and be capable of forced disconnection by the PSAP.

(b) There shall be no burglar alarms or elevator telephones terminated in 911 trunks.

(8) Maintenance and Testing.

(a) The PSAP E911 systems shall be maintained in operable working condition. Testing shall be conducted periodically on critical functions of all call taking equipment including TTY equipment operation.

(b) Routine and emergency maintenance shall be provided for all E911 systems. Where maintenance is provided by county personnel, they shall be trained and qualified in trouble analysis and repair of E911 systems. Where maintenance is provided by a vendor, a written contract containing a guarantee of performance including vendor response time and maximum system downtime is required.

(c) TTY equipment operation shall be tested a minimum of twice weekly during each shift. TTY equipment operation shall be conducted with random TTY test calls with both silent, open-line calls in which no tones are emitted and calls where the caller introduces the call by transmitting TTY tones. All tests shall be documented.

(d) Each PSAP shall have telephone numbers displayed and readily available for reporting failures in all 911 systems to service providers and county maintenance personnel. All PSAPs shall require equipment vendors and service providers to provide emergency trouble reporting telephone numbers that are staffed and answered 24-hours per day, 7 days per week.

(9) Training and Standard Operating Procedures: Counties shall include specified training standards in their standard operating procedures. These SOPs shall include classroom and on-the-job instruction and training course content required for 911 public safety telecommunicators.

Rulemaking Authority 365.171(4) FS. Law Implemented 365.171(4), (10) FS. History–New 2-17-11.