In case of emergency

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Emergency logo

" ICE " (short for " In Case of Emergency ", Engl. , In an emergency ') denotes a controversial method for identification of address book entries in mobile phones . The phone numbers of relatives who should be notified in an emergency are saved under the code "ICE". In German-speaking countries, the abbreviation “ IN ” (“ In an emergency ”) is used as an alternative .

In early 2005, the British paramedic Bob Brotchie started an initiative to disseminate this procedure. The procedure is intended to make it easier for emergency services to identify the relatives of accident victims. Bob Brotchie later registered the "ICE" trademark as a trademark in Great Britain and set up a paid service for telephone notification of relatives under this name.

The process has become known in some countries through media reports and chain letters . In July 2005 the idea first appeared in a blog to use the more easily understandable “IN” instead of “ICE” in German-speaking countries. Since 2008, the international standard E.123 has recommended a language-independent procedure that uses digits and meaningful names to identify important numbers.

The procedure is pointless with older cell phones with a lock screen , as strangers cannot use the phone and have no access to the numbers stored in the address book. With newer mobile phones it is possible to store emergency contacts and information such as blood type, which are also available on the lock screen.

manual

Instructions for marking contact persons for emergencies in the address book of mobile phones using the "IN" procedure:

  1. Create a contact called "IN" in the mobile phone, followed by the name of the contact person, e. B. "IN Mother" or "IN David".
  2. Save the contact person's phone number.
  3. Inform the IN contact person that they are being used as such on the mobile phone.

With the “ICE” procedure, the entries would be “ICE Mutter” or “ICE David”, with the internationally standardized E.123 procedure, however, “01Mutter” or “02David”.

Chain letters

In connection with the ICE procedure, at least two email chain letters are in circulation. One promotes the use of the ICE procedure, citing alleged recommendations from respected organizations. The other is a hoax that warns of an alleged cell phone virus. Both e-mails contain deliberately falsified and misleading information and should not be redistributed, but deleted immediately.

Criticism and positions of emergency services

Germany

  • In a press release in 2009, the Arbeiter-Samariter-Bund Deutschland ( ASB ) expressly stated that recommendations for ICE numbers were not sent from an official source and asked that they should not be observed and not forwarded. Furthermore, the ASB advised against the ICE procedure, as it cannot be ruled out that the ICE numbers could be misused by third parties. Instead, the ASB recommended that you put a note in your wallet with the details of the people to be informed in an emergency.
  • In an article in the North German Latest News from 2014, René Glaeser, the rescue service plant manager in the Prignitz district, was skeptical of the ICE system. On the one hand, because the focus is primarily on treating emergency patients and not notifying relatives, and on the other hand, from a data protection point of view, because access to relatives' data by third parties is not sufficiently protected.
  • Lutz Dieckmann from the Prignitz Emergency Doctors' Association and at the same time the medical director of the rescue service in the Prignitz district considered the identification of important telephone contacts to be generally useful. However, Dieckmann also noted that data protection had to be clarified and recommended that information for notifying relatives be kept in writing together with the identity card.

Austria

The Austrian Red Cross (ÖRK) supports ICE numbers in principle, but recommends using the abbreviation “IN” instead of “ICE”. On the one hand because of the possible confusion with Bob Brotchie's paid telephone service, since the WCC believes the initiative should "remain free of financial interests". In addition, the use of the designation "IN" is recommended in order to avoid misunderstandings, since the abbreviation ICE is already associated with the high-speed train Intercity-Express in German-speaking countries .

Switzerland

The Swiss Inter-Association for Rescue Services (IVR) also distances itself from the chain letters and the ICE / IN procedure and states that, for various reasons, “hardly any real benefit” can be achieved with them. According to the IVR, it is a "simply false claim" that the spread of the ICE procedure is a "concern of the emergency services", as claimed in the subject line of the chain letter. The IVR also describes the spread in the form of a chain letter as "Not only questionable, but downright reprehensible". Among other things, the IVR criticizes that helpers could be tricked into looking for such an entry on their mobile phone instead of carrying out life-saving immediate measures and providing first aid.

supporting documents

  1. ^ Official website of the ICE initiative ( Memento of July 14, 2005 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Mobiles 999 contact idea spreads , BBC News, July 12, 2005
  3. ↑ a b Entry in the Hoax-Info Service of the TU Berlin via the ICE chain letter
  4. ↑ Fire Department Weblog: IN - In an emergency: An initiative so that others can help you
  5. ↑ Store emergency contacts on the lock screen ( Android )
  6. ↑ Store emergency contacts on the lock screen ( iOS )
  7. ↑ Entry in the Hoax-Info Service of the TU Berlin about the Handy-Virus-Hoax
  8. ↑ Be careful with so-called ICE numbers ( memento from June 23, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), article on rettungsdienst.de (accessed on June 23, 2016)
  9. ↑ a b "IN" or the good old note , article in the North German Latest News from March 5, 2014 (accessed on June 23, 2016).
  10. ↑ Questions and answers about IN on the website of the Austrian Red Cross
  11. ^ Opinion ( memento of January 29, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) of the Inter-Association for Rescue Services on the ICE and IN initiatives.