Alabama Administrative Code › Title 585 - ALABAMA STATEWIDE NINE - ONE - ONE BOARD › Chapter 585-X-5 - PUBLIC SAFETY TELECOMMUNICATOR CERTIFICATION PROGRAM › Section 585-X-5-.01 - General Provisions

Current through Register Vol. 42, No. 9, June 28, 2024
(1)
			 Definitions.
(a)
Act
means
			 Alabama Act 2022-387 for the purposes of Rule 585-X-5.
(b)
Call or 911 Call
means any
			 request for public safety assistance that the PSAP is equipped to receive,
			 without regard to the media used to make that request; provided, however, that
			 the term may appear in conjunction with specific media, including voice call,
			 video call, text call, or data-only call, when the specific media is of
			 importance.
(c)
Certified
means an entity or individual that completes the
			 certification program and maintains certification requirements.
(d)
Date of hire
means the start
			 date of work as documented in a telecommunicator's personnel record.
(e)
District
means a
			 communications district as defined by
Code of Ala.
			 1975
, §
									11-98-1
et
.
Seq
., as
			 amended.
(f)
Emergency
			 Service Provider
means an agency of the State of Alabama, or a political
			 subdivision thereof, that provides firefighting, rescue, natural or man-caused
			 disaster, or major emergency response, public safety telecommunication and
			 dispatch, law enforcement, ambulance, or emergency medical services. The term
			 also includes private ambulance services.
(g)
Exigent circumstance
means a
			 crisis situation that may arise in a primary PSAP, without adequate planning
			 notice, in which the
			 9-1-1
			 calls cannot be managed without using a non-participating public safety
			 telecommunicator, or otherwise uncertified personnel.
(h)
First Responder
means an
			 individual who rapidly receives and responds to emergency situations to protect
			 life and property. The term includes law enforcement officers, fire fighters,
			 rescue squads, emergency medical service providers, public safety
			 telecommunicators, and any other emergency management providers responding to
			 an emergency situation.
(i)
Force Majeure Event
means an event that is a result of Acts of
			 Nature (including fire, flood, earthquake, storm, hurricane or other natural
			 disaster), war, invasion, act of foreign enemies, hostilities (whether war is
			 declared or not), civil war, rebellion, revolution, insurrection, military or
			 usurped power or confiscation, terrorist activities, nationalization,
			 government sanction, blockage, embargo, labor dispute, strike, lockout or
			 interruption or failure of power sources not due to the fault of the affected
			 party.
(j)
Internal
			 training
means training that is specific to a primary PSAP and may be
			 used toward the minimum training hours or continuing education credits for
			 certification as approved by the Board.
(k)
Leave of absence
means a
			 period of time that a telecommunicator is absent from work, during regularly
			 scheduled work time and that is approved by the employing agency.
(l)
Non-participating
means an
			 entity or individual that fails to participate in the certification program or
			 fails to maintain certification requirements.
(m)
Public Safety Answering Point or
			 PSAP means an
entity responsible for receiving 911 calls and processing
			 those calls according to a specific operational policy.
(n)
Public Safety Telecommunicator or
			 PST means a
person employed by a public safety answering point or
			 emergency service provider as a public safety dispatcher or 911 operator whose
			 duties and responsibilities include both of the following:
1. Answering, receiving, transferring, and
			 dispatching functions related to 911 calls and texts.
2. Dispatching first responders to the scene
			 of an emergency.
(o)
Public Safety Telecommunicator (or PST) Trainee
means either of
			 the following:
1. A person hired as a
			 telecommunicator not more than 12 months before the effective date of these
			 rules.
2. A person hired after the
			 effective date of these rules who has not completed the requirements of these
			 rules.
(p)
Non-affiliated Public Safety Telecommunicator or PST
means a
			 person certified as a public safety telecommunicator by the Board but not
			 currently employed by a public safety answering point or emergency service
			 provider to act as a public safety dispatcher or 911 operator whose duties and
			 responsibilities include both of the following:
1. Answering, receiving, transferring, and
			 dispatching functions related to 911 calls and texts.
2. Dispatching first responders to the scene
			 of an emergency.
(q)
Non-affiliated PST Trainee
means a person not currently employed
			 by a public safety answering point or emergency service provider to act as a
			 telecommunicator but is enrolled in a public safety telecommunicator
			 certification program approved by the Board.