Emergency Communications Specialist (911 Operator)

Definition

This essential and critical role serves as the vital link between the public that needs assistance and emergency services. As members of the public safety ecosystem, Emergency Communications Specialists are typically the first point of contact when a person reaches out for help. This position requires that the ECS be able to work independently and as a team member in high-stress environments while receiving and evaluating incoming emergency and administrative requests for emergency services, including but not limited to, law enforcement, fire, and emergency medical services; the ECS must triage request for service; providing guidance and assistance to the public in life-safety situations; and coordinating appropriate responses to high-risk operations, with the objective of keeping all participants safe.

Essential duties and responsibilities

The primary responsibility of the ECS is to protect citizens and emergency responders during an emergency incident. These include but are not limited to:

· Use training and policies to screen requests for services, respond to those requests appropriately, and recognize if the request for service is received from telephone, text, video, or an automated data feed.

· Use training and knowledge to interpret sensor data to triage, prioritize, properly categorize, and initiate the correct response based on policies.

· Use knowledge of law enforcement, fire, and EMS protocols to prioritize and sequence calls promptly in limited time with limited or no supervision.

· Use training to communicate clearly and effectively with callers ranging from calm to panicked, using active listening, call control, judgment, respect, and empathy.

· Provide pre-arrival and post-dispatch instructions to those that require assistance during high-stress situations, such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), childbirth, hemorrhaging, active shooter, and entrapments.

· Manage challenging callers using appropriate handling of distressed, autistic, hearing-impaired, elderly, angry, and foreign-language-speaking callers.

· Provide direct counseling to suicidal persons, domestic violence victims, and children.

· Use resources such as automated data, social media information, text messages, images, or video, to obtain and verify caller information and location, determine the nature of the incident, and provide information to emergency services either verbally and/or digitally.

· Ability to utilize critical thinking to prioritize multiple tasks based on available resources.

· Use text-to-911 to communicate effectively with callers.

· Utilize knowledge, tools, and tracking capabilities to interpret caller location.

· Utilize training and reference resources when determining the nature and priority of emergency incidents, using information received through live-streaming videos graphic images, and text.

· Ability to communicate clearly and effectively, and actively listen to public safety responders, using appropriate terminology, codes, and signals.

· Conduct safety status checks of responders using radio and/or other technology such as live-stream body camera access, to ensure on-scene responder safety.

· Facilitate the transferring of calls to appropriate resources and performing conference calls with entities, such as but not limited to, poison control, language line, and air medical agencies.

· Ability to operate sophisticated workstation comprised of multiple computer systems, computer-aided dispatch (CAD) software and geographical information systems (GIS), state and federal clearinghouses, call handling including teletypewriter (TTY) and text-to-911 sessions, as well as communications systems such as radio dispatch consoles and recording systems.

· Ability to operate multiple systems and listen to and participate in multiple conversations simultaneously without mistake.

· Ability to activate mass community warning and notifications software programs to inform the public of impending critical information related to events such as weather impacts, and potential injury or life-safety events.

· Ability to complete training, certifications, and competencies as needed by actively seeking training, completing the training and certifications required for assigned ECS positions, and completing continuing education and career development as necessary.

· Required to activate, for public safety, the Emergency Operations Center (EOC), in times of disaster, nuclear accident, or for civil defense.

· Must be able to receive and process audible information from various telecommunication devices as well as differentiate and process numerous non-verbal audible alarms and indicators.

Qualifications

· Dependable, self-motivated, and team-oriented with a desire to provide a service to the community.

· Working knowledge of Windows-based software and various other computerized electronic telecommunications equipment.

· Flexibility to adapt to changes.

· Have great attention to detail and empathy towards the customers’ needs and concerns.

· Must be able to adapt and function, without reservation, in high-stress situations.

· Must be able to pass a background investigation that meets all local, state, and federal requirements as well as to be without felony convictions.

· Must meet CJIS/TCOLE Requirements regarding criminal history including:

o Must have never committed, been involved in, or been convicted of a Class 1 Misdemeanor or Felony.

o Must have never committed, been involved, or been convicted of a Class B Misdemeanor in the last 10 years.

o Must have no Family Violence Conviction or Deferred Adjudication.

· Must be able to work on a rotating schedule, including nights, weekends, and holidays to ensure 24/7 coverage.

· Subject to call back, hold over, and mandatory overtime to maintain a minimum staffing 24/7.

· The position is designated as essential and must report to work during times when the county is closed.

· Must be able to obtain the following license and certifications within the given time frame, based on certifying body standards and Hood County ECC Policies:

o TCOLE Basic Telecommunicator

o Emergency Medical Dispatcher

o TLETS Full Access Course

o CPR Certification

o Criminal Justice Information Services (CJIS)

· Must be able to successfully complete ALL phases of the Hood County ECC training program.

· Must have a High School Diploma or GED

· Must complete pre-hiring testing and score above minimum score(s) as follows

o Select Advantage - minimum t-score of 50.

o Applicants must successfully pass the CritiCall test to continue to the next step in the selection process.

· Must meet TCOLE Licensing Requirements Based on Texas Administrative Code Title 37, Part 7, Chapter 217, Rule 217.1.

· Must complete and pass pre-employment screening(s) to include:

o Psychological Screening

o Drug Screening

o Hearing Test subject to NENA Hearing Standards

Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities

· By the end of in-house training period, have a thorough knowledge of the policies, procedures, processes, laws, ordinances, and regulations affecting public safety communications and the ability to apply them appropriately.

· Able to use logic, critical thinking, and reasoning to reach conclusions and solve problems.

· Adhere to policy and procedure requirements that are stringent, rigorous, and unwavering, including confidentiality of information and trustworthiness while dealing with sensitive information.

· Communicate clearly, concisely, and effectively; relay details accurately; listen actively; think and act quickly.

· Effectively interact with people of different social, economic, and ethnic backgrounds.

· Follow instructions, spell correctly, and write clearly.

· Handle multiple tasks simultaneously, under pressure, and in emergency and stressful situations.

· Maintain regular, reliable, and punctual attendance.

· Remember names, numbers, and locations accurately.

· In a stressful and fast-paced environment be able to operate computer systems with specialized software and enter data via keyboard and software with speed and accuracy.

· Friendly and tactful personality.

Miscellaneous Information

Environmental Conditions:

Work is performed in an emergency communications center. The work level can fluctuate from minimal to fast-paced and high volume. The employee deals with crisis situations that require them to quickly make major decisions involving people, resources, and property with frequently limited direction.

The ECS may be asked to work scheduled shifts at any time of the day and on weekends and holidays. Must be able to cope in a safe manner with stressful situations, emotional callers, irate responders, and unprofessional contacts. Under unusual circumstances, the ECS may be required to perform duties at or near the scene of any emergency.

Physical Conditions: This work is sedentary and requires little to no exertion of force. Work regularly requires speaking or hearing and frequently sitting, using hands to finger, handle, or feel, reaching with hands and arms, and repetitive motions. Work requires close vision, distance vision, the ability to adjust focus, depth perception, and peripheral vision. Vocal communication is required for expressing or exchanging ideas by means of the spoken word and conveying detailed or important instructions to others accurately, loudly, or quickly. Hearing is required to perceive information at normal spoken word levels and to receive detailed information through oral communications, and/or make fine distinctions in sound. Work requires preparing and analyzing written or computer data. Work requires exposure to loud noises, extreme emotions, and stressful environments. Work is generally indoors and in a moderately noisy location surrounded by others talking on the phone or radio.

This job description in no way states or implies that these are the only duties to be performed. Employees may be requested to perform other duties assigned within the scope of responsibility and requirements of the job.

Job Type: Full-time

Pay: $22.60 per hour

Benefits:

• Dental insurance
• Flexible spending account
• Health insurance
• Life insurance
• Paid time off
• Retirement plan
• Vision insurance

Schedule:

• 12 hour shift
• Day shift
• Evening shift
• Monday to Friday
• Morning shift
• Night shift
• Overnight shift
• Rotating shift
• Rotating weekends

Ability to Commute:

• Granbury, TX 76048 (Required)

Ability to Relocate:

• Granbury, TX 76048: Relocate before starting work (Required)

Work Location: In person

Salary : $23