10 Jun 2008
ICE Warning
The importance of the ICE number.
It seems the importance of the In Case of Emergency contact number has been lost after its national push a couple of years ago. Recent visits to several crags and a brief discussion with climbers and boulderers alike; either solo or in groups, came back with a worrying statistic. 80% of those asked didn't have an ICE number stored in their mobile phones, or carried any form of ICE contact details in any format. Worse still the small groups of boulderers, although feeling there was some safety in numbers, had no idea who to contact on a members behalf within the group should an accident have taken place.
What is the ICE number
In 2005, Paramedic Bob Brotchie developed the idea of storing a next of kin or vital point of contact number in a mobile phone under the easily found acronym of ICE which stands for In Case of Emergency. This came about after Bob had often arrived at an accident scene where the victim was unable to respond or assist emergency services with information and although having a mobile phone about their person; it was often difficult to find in the phones contact list, the relevant person to contact to relay or gain vital information that could save someone's life.
What should you do now?
If you are reading this and you climb outdoors ensure you enter an ICE number now and consider the following points:
- Select a person to be the ICE contact and ensure they know you have selected them and why - i.e. they may need to give important information about you to a paramedic - this information could include: Blood Group - Known Medical History (Epilepsy/diabetes etc) allergy to medication and special medical requirements or medication currently taken.
- Check which phone number will be most likely answered at any given time. Do not give a home phone number if your partner/parent/friend is out at work during the day for instance.
- If you are under 18 ensure your ICE contact is a parent of registered guardian who can make important medical decisions on your behalf if faced with a decision being made on a life or death medical procedure.
- If you have a SIM lock or phone lock on your mobile, always ensure this is disabled when you are climbing so there is access to your contacts and the ICE number.
- When climbing outdoors with a group or partner always ensure they know the whereabouts of your mobile and that you have an ICE number - a climber should give their mobile to the belay so it can be used quickly if needed and to prevent damage of the mobile through fall impact etc.
- If you climb abroad, ensure you put your national dialing code before your number i.e. 0044 for the UK. That way calls can be made to your ICE contact from abroad.
- If you have more than one possible contact, particularly useful if the primary ICE contact cannot be contacted then put in ICE2, ICE3 etc as extra contacts.
Issues to consider with Caller Display
Putting in an ICE number which may be a number that already exists in your contact list under another contact name i.e. Mum - can in some cases cause your mobile to not display the contact name. You can solve this problem by adding a star at the end of the ICE number e.g. 0044797123456* - this will disable ‘ICE' being displayed and allow the other contact name to be displayed.
For more information about the above and further ICE services click here
NB reddo10 offer this information as a supplementary method of carrying next of kin or In Case of Emergency details. It should not replace any medical bracelets, identification cards, ICE bands or ICE cards that you may already have. We also recommend if you do not have any of these and you feel you should then click here for information on how to obtain further ICE products.
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