The UK Communications regulator Ofcom has enshrined the legal obligation on communications providers to promote and provide emergency video relay access from the 17 June 2022.
How does it work?
This new service will enable deaf users to initiate a call to the emergency authority, through a remote British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter appearing on their screen.
A hearing operator will then receive a call from the remote BSL interpreter, who then relays the conversation by seeing and communicating with the deaf user on the screen.
This can work vice-versa for the call-back feature. 999 services are funded exclusively by the telecoms sector and this call must be free to use so users must not be charged for any data use so the ‘call’ will still work even if users run out of data.
The sole provider of this service ‘Sign Language Interactions’ allows access to the service via an app compatible with modern smartphone devices or their dedicated website https://999bsl.co.uk/
Further information can be found here: https://www.ofcom.org.uk/phones-telecoms-and-internet/information-for-industry/telecoms-industry-guidance/how-will-emergency-video-relay-work
