Communication system innovation benefits Emergency Services response

*Photograph: Ordnance Survey

Following a recommendation that emerged from the Grenfell Tower Inquiry, the system – supported by Ordnance Survey data – has been developed for Fire and Rescue Services in England in collaboration with British APCO, the public safety organisation.

The Multi-Agency Incident Transfer (MAIT) standard is a system designed for the Emergency Services and reduces the time it takes to respond to an incident by allowing personnel to send incident information to either one or multiple Control Rooms instantly through a shared digital communications system. MAIT also presents incident information in a standard form and makes sure the shared detail is secure and accurate.

Implementation and some initial running costs for MAIT are funded for Fire and Rescue Services in England by central Government. The National Fire Chiefs Council has been overseeing the roll-out of MAIT to all 44 Fire and Rescue Services (served by 34 fire Control Rooms) in England. 27 Fire and Rescue Services (served by 19 fire Control Rooms) are already using the system, while it’s expected that the majority will be online by the end of March.

Critical information

Keith Donnelly, head of Fire and Rescue Service operational Communications at the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, said: “One of the Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations was to investigate methods for assisting Control Rooms to obtain access to information available to host Control Rooms. MAIT is one of the tools that enables fire Control Rooms to share critical information in fast time with other fire Control Rooms and, once onboarded, with other Emergency Services. Since ‘go live’, MAIT has been used in a number of operational scenarios. Feedback from Fire and Rescue Services has been very positive.”

Other Emergency Services outside of the fire domain are being encouraged to take up the new protocol and grow the effectiveness of the network. To date, North Yorkshire Police and His Majesty’s Coastguard are in the process of implementing MAIT in their Control Rooms.  

Matt Leat, deputy chief coastguard at His Majesty’s Coastguard, explained: “Any process that can accelerate communication between the Emergency Services has the potential to save lives. MAIT eases the pressure on Control Room operators, helps them to manage incidents more effectively and can cut response times by a matter of minutes. British APCO fully supports this initiative and encourages interest from other agencies looking to bring the same benefits to their own operations.”

Phil Garrigan, chair of the National Fire Chiefs Council, explained: “Fire and Rescue Services are working alongside other Emergency Services more than ever before. One of our priorities has been to make that joint response as smooth as possible. MAIT means that Control Rooms can share information in seconds, not minutes, so everyone’s working from the same picture from the moment the call comes in. That improves co-ordination and helps the right assistance to be actioned for the public both swiftly and safely.”

In England, the contract to provide MAIT to all Fire and Rescue Services was awarded to the AVR Group. It uses shared addressing standards to improve consistency between agencies, such as Ordnance Survey AddressBase Premium and the Unique Property Reference Number. AVR Group, which is an Ordnance Survey partner, has also created a bespoke gazetteer routinely used by Fire and Rescue Services. This combines Ordnance Survey addressing and other boundary data to show which agencies cover the same geographical patch.

The MAIT standard is available in both web-based and fully integrated versions.

Trusted and accurate data

Wes Clift, customer development manager for national security and resilience at Ordnance Survey, informed Fire Safety Matters: “Ordnance Survey has a long history of supporting the Emergency Services by providing trusted and accurate data across the whole of Britain. It’s a great privilege to know that our data is integral to the growing success of MAIT. We would love to see an even greater adoption of this life-saving protocol by the wider blue light community.”

The value of MAIT has already been demonstrated in Wales, where it has been adopted by all of the Emergency Services.

*Any Emergency Services aside from the Fire and Rescue Service wanting more information about MAIT in England should contact British APCO via e-mail at [email protected]

**The Grenfell Tower Inquiry Phase 1 recommendations regarding MAIT can be found at 33.16

***Additional detail concerning MAIT can be accessed on GOV.UK (Share information between Emergency Services with MAIT - GOV.UK)

****Watch this video for more information on British APCO and MAIT - British APCO: Who we are and what we do