Not only the ‘blue light’ emergency services are benefiting from the Airwave mobile radio network in the UK. Increasingly, local authorities are using the service too, Airwave reports.

With their TETRA radios, council officials can now talk to each other and can liaise more easily with agencies such as the police. When managing operations, whether planned or unplanned, fewer people need to attend the scene – and the result is better use of time and resources.

Brent Council, in north-west London, finds that it has redeemed its original investment in Airwave through no longer having to set up a control room to manage lower-level incidents. It achieved this saving by delegating management of incidents to personnel at the scene who use the Airwave service to co-ordinate with colleagues and the police.

“We previously relied on mobile phones, but with the Airwave service we gained near-instant communication and could involve lots of colleagues or other agencies such as the police”, said Rob Walley, chairman of the Multi Agency Airwave User Group and former civil protection manager for Brent Council. “We found it helped us to manage operations more easily, and interoperability with the police was much easier.

“Because it changed the way we worked, we were able to rely less on a control room to co-ordinate activity and instead use resources more effectively, involving the right people in the right way. It’s difficult to quantify, but this has helped us save money and to work more effectively.”

A survey by Brent Council found that using the Airwave service had resulted in faster communication for routine issues, improved responses to requests for council personnel and resources, and enhanced management of incidents requiring a multi-agency response.

Working smarter

“Local authorities are having to balance the need to manage costs while delivering high quality public services”, commented David Sangster, director of UK Services at Airwave. “This means working smarter and managing precious resources more effectively. Airwave is now working with over 130 local authorities, helping them to co-ordinate their teams during routine and non-routine incidents, as well as to liaise more closely with other Airwave service users such as the police.”

Local authority customers in Britain use Airwave Direct, a managed service which provides access to the network plus a choice of terminals and comprehensive support.