[LINK] Lost in the Blue Mountains

[Richard Chirgwin]

Scott Howard wrote:
> On Wed, May 20, 2009 at 12:17 AM, Jan Whitaker <jwhit at melbpc.org.au> wrote:
> 
>> I have a friend who used to work for an emergency roadside service
>> who eventually had to leave because of the 'scripted' nature of
>> answering distress calls.
> 
> 
> IMHO these calls absolutely need to be scripted.  If they aren't scripted,
> then things get missed.
> 
> What is needed is for the scripts to be flexible enough to handle the
> situations they were not explicitly designed for, and/or to allow the
> ability to break out of the script when these situations occur (with
> relevant training for the operators to know when to break the script)
> 
> The ambulance call centre scripts may well put a high emphasis on getting
> the address from the caller, but if 99.99% of all calls they receive do have
> a standard address then this makes sense.  What is important is that for the
> remaining 0.01% of calls there is a way for both the operator and the system
> to understand that "half-way between Narrow Neck and the Ruined Castle" is a
> valid "address" when you're lost bushwalking in the Blue Mountains.
</impish>

If I got lost halfway between Narrow Neck and the Ruined Castle, I would just
wait and ask a passing tourist. "You'll never walk alone" could have been
written for that bit of the walk ...

</normal>
But while I agree that 000 scripts should be able to cope with such a call, it
is risky to rely on 000 when bushwalking, since you can easily walk out of
mobile coverage.

RC


> 
>   Scott.
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