911 workers say centers are understaffed, struggling to hire and plagued by burnout
Emergency call center workers say their centers are understaffed, struggling to fill vacancies and plagued by worker burnout, according to a national survey released Tuesday.
The survey conducted by the National Emergency Number Association in conjunction with Carbyne, a cloud technology company focused on emergency services, polled about 850 workers from 911 call centers across the country. It found that many were experiencing burnout, handling more frequent call surges and felt undertrained. The findings show the widespread nature of staffing problems that have been laid bare in some communities in recent years.
In St Louis this month, callers tried desperately to report that a woman was trapped in her car under a fallen tree but said they couldn’t get through for nearly half an hour. During the same storm in the suburbs, it took a woman 45 minutes to report that her 5-year-old son had been badly hurt by a tree falling on their home. He died, but he was alive when his mother started calling 911, according to a family spokeswoman. Meanwhile, in New York City, panicked callers this month tried to report a Department of Transportation truck that had caught fire and exploded, but said they received busy signals or were sent to voicemail.