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Addressing Public Safety’s Need for Plain Language and Common Terminology
IAFC On Scene: March 1, 2010 With the astonishing broad-based adoption of technology use in our daily lives, it’s increasingly clear that the world is more interconnected than ever. A majority of working Americans have cell phones or personal digital assistants. Broadband and wireless technologies are pervasive. Social networks, once thought of as a Gen-Y phenomenon, are now finding the biggest increase in users in the 65+ demographic. What does all this mean?
With the ability to transcend boundaries in real time, we’re learning that new models of communication are replacing old. We’re learning that the ability to collaborate across political boundaries, time zones and oceans is creating an unprecedented need to communicate and transact business in a way vast numbers of people can understand. What does all of this mean to public safety? It means a lot. With citizens often the first to report an emergency or incident, the use of mobile devices and social networks is increasing the ability of the emergency-response community to gain situational awareness more quickly. Another lesser-known public-safety topic impacted by these trends is the use of plain language among emergency responders. In the 1940s, the deployment of two-way radio systems began to overload early single-channel radio systems. This was a major factor in the birth of what we know as coded language, also known as 10-codes. Anyone who has seen a cop show on TV has heard a “10-4” called out through a police radio. While many know that 10-4 generally means OK (or something similar), what most people don’t know is that each agency and jurisdiction developed their own coded language and that, for example, 10-18 in Lincoln, Neb., may not actually mean the same thing in a neighboring jurisdiction. Imagine if each city or town created its own language that only its own responder’s understood? While there are certainly historical examples of where this has been important, such as the Code Talkers [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code_talker] who served in World War II, there is little ability to communicate outside the community if there isn’t an agreed-upon standard for communication. Essentially, the different systems of 10-codes represent a significant barrier in creating seamless communications among public-safety officials. Trends A trend is evolving for emergency responders to move to plain language for daily operations. In December 2006, the National Incident Management System (NIMS) issued an alert mandating that first responders use plain language in multi-jurisdictional, multi-agency response: It is required that plain language be used for multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction and multi-discipline events, such as major disasters and exercises … While the NIMS Integration Center does not require plain language for internal operations, it strongly encourages it, as it is important to practice everyday terminology and procedures that will need to be used in emergency incidents and disasters. On September 10, 2009, NIMS issued another alert to replace the one issued in 2006, stating “the use of plain language in emergency response is a matter of public safety, especially the safety of first responders and those affected by the incident.” Agencies across the country are increasingly adopting plain language and the National Emergency Communications Plan and many of the statewide interoperability communications plans include plain language milestones and initiatives. The case for plain language continues to advance as more and more agencies eliminate or minimize the use of coded language.
During a mutual-aid event this could result in delayed communication or confusion. While the use of plain language is preferable to the use of codes, as required by NIMS, it’s important to recognize that at present there is no agreed-upon standard terminology or associated definitions. Simply said, there are no common terms identified as the public-safety community’s plain language! If plain language is a critical component to interoperability, common terminology is an absolute necessity for seamless communications. In April of 2009, the Office of Emergency Communications established the Plain Language Working Group (PLWG), composed of over 40 stakeholders from across the country and representing multiple disciplines. The purpose of the PLWG was to provide an update to the Plain Language Guide published in July 2008. The PLWG was also asked to make recommendations for future plain-language initiatives related to plain language. The number-one recommendation was to collaborate with federal, state, local and tribal partners to pursue an initiative to develop a National Standard Public Safety Radio Protocol (NSPSRP) for use in mutual-aid events. The National Standard Public Safety Radio Protocol
This initiative is the next step in our country’s migration from coded language to something easier to learn, remember and apply during times of cross-jurisdictional or cross-discipline response. To accomplish the goal, a three-phased approach is proposed:
Conclusion Plain language and common terminology—across jurisdictions and disciplines—have been discussed in the public-safety community for a long time. This issue is wrought with cultural and political barriers. Few if any arguments against using plain language or common terminology are defensible anymore. However, as more and more public-safety agencies move away from coded-substitutions, the country is at risk of falling into the wrong belief that we’re safer than we were with the codes. We’re only safer if the public-safety community knows what their public-safety coworkers from across jurisdictional and disciplines boundaries are saying and what the intent is behind the words during a response. Having a firefighter yell “fire” to a police officer may not provide the necessary response. A firefighter grabs a hose while a police officer pulls his gun. While this is a simple analogy, it doesn’t take much thought to realize that a minimal set of common terms are required for true interoperability. Anything else will lead us to this same conversation again in the future because the public-safety community still won’t be interoperable even as more and more agencies begin to use plain language. Alan Caldwell is senior advisor to the IAFC’s government relations department.
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The goal of the Protocol initiative is to develop common terminology that will be communicated to agencies across the country to support them as they transition from coded language to plain language. The new set of terms developed by the Protocol initiative will be developed consistent with NIMS to support increased adoption of plain language in daily operations and to enhance interoperability during mutual-aid events.|
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