E-comm workers say system at risk of “catastrophic failure” due to staff shortages

The union representing BC’s E-Comm dispatchers and call takers is demanding immediate action and more funding from municipalities in order to address an “understaffed and underfunded” service.

Emergency Communications Professionals of BC (Cupe Local 8911), is made up of over 500 911 operators, call takers, dispatchers, and IT and support workers around the province.

E-comm is responsible for connecting callers to fire, police, or ambulance services when they call 911. Municipalities across the Lower Mainland, including Burnaby, use E-Comm’s services.

In a statement published earlier this month, the union says the current 911 system is at risk of “catastrophic failure” without support from local governments and the development of a new funding model in order to fix its “insufficient staffing levels.”

The union says that E-Comm call-takers are supposed to answer 911 calls in 5 seconds or less, police emergency lines in 10 seconds or less, and non-emergency lines in three minutes or less. However, it says the “severe underfunding” resulting in staff shortages have resulted in over 20-minute wait times for police emergency lines and over 5-hour wait times in some situations for non-emergency responses.

Additionally, the statement highlights report commissioned by E-Comm by PricewaterhouseCoopers, that notes the emergency communication centre’s funding model—which is based on a cost-sharing fee levy structure that collects revenue from the regional districts and municipalities using E-Comm’s services—is “deeply flawed” and has a direct impact on staff.

“Staff report feeling overwhelmed by the cumulative effects of the occupational stress they are exposed to daily,” states the report, adding employees are being required to work without rest breaks and excessive amounts of overtime to try and fill the gaps. The report says that a $5-million funding increase is needed in 2022 to hire more call-takers and dispatchers, as well as front-line supervisors. Additional annual funding increases of $3.75 million are needed over the following four years for a total investment of $20 million in five years.

The report also says that E-Comm’s funding system needs to be reworked to reflect “inflationary realities of operations and creates room to pre-empt a crisis.” The Beacon recently reported that E-Comm requested a 2.5% funding increase from Metro Vancouver for next year, which would see its budget go from $4.6 million to $4.7 million.

Emergency services in BC were under fire for their slow response during the deadly heat dome and other days of extreme heat this past summer, which resulted in at least 595 deaths in the province, with 63 lives being lost in Burnaby alone.

Much of that criticism for the delays was directed at BC EHS, which oversees BC Ambulance Service and BC Patient Transfer Services. According to a June 29 obtained by the Beacon from Burnaby Fire Chief Chris Bowcock to Mayor Mike Hurley, it took up to eight hours to respond to any “but the highest acuity of medical calls.”

The email also noted that E-Comm was “currently not able to address the 911 call volume load it is receiving from the public for calls for assistance.”

“As a result, it is understood that Burnaby fire dispatch is not receiving all the calls for assistance that are made within the city, which has and may continue to result in response from fire crews not being provided solely on the basis that we have not been provided the event,” Bowcock added.

While E-Comm’s wide-area radio network is set up in Burnaby for police and ambulance services, the city also has its own dispatch centre.

In a recent interview with the Beacon, Hurley noted that the city still hasn’t “fully bought into the E-Comm model yet, and I don’t know if we ever will.”

He also said that, outside the complaints around the heat dome, the city is receiving “many complaints about how calls are being answered and delivered.”