Training

Make sure that your staff are properly trained in the use of the radio. Generally, use of the radio is not critical, but if an emergency message fails to get through it could be a major embarrassment at best or fatal at worst!

Emergency messages

Part of that training process should be that staff know how to make an emergency radio call and that other staff know what to do when an emergency call is being made.

For example, all staff could be taught that when making an emergency radio call they prefix that call with ‘Urgent, Urgent, Urgent’. They will learn that on hearing those words, they should stop trying to make their own calls and listen to the emergency. If they are not involved in the emergency they should refrain from using the radio, unless they are called to do something by managers and supervisors. (Note: to avoid confusion, radio procedures have been included in Chapter 24, ‘Emergency and normal procedures’. That chapter also covers the use of an emergency radio log.)