Alexandria, VA –The Association of Public-Safety Communications Officials (APCO) International received final approval from ANSI on February 24, 2015 for an American National Standard (ANS) that identifies minimum training requirements for the use of TTY/TDD in public safety communications.

APCO ANS 3.105.1-2015, written in conjunction with the National Emergency Number Association (NENA), addresses the minimum training requirements, in general, necessary to foster levels of consistency for all personnel in an emergency communications environment assigned to answering TTY/TDD calls for service specifically in the public safety environment. This standard responds to the valid needs of the rapidly expanding and ever-changing industry, providing competent training standards while defining training in certain knowledge, skills, and abilities, and recognizing the need to supplement basic competencies with agency-specific information and existing equipment use parameters.

“Support for the speech and hearing impaired community remains a priority for public safety communications.  Through the development and implementation of standards such as this, designed to train and prepare telecommunicators how to quickly and accurately process calls for help, APCO will continue to provide support to this community now and in the future” said John Wright, president of APCO International.

The standard can be downloaded at http://www.apcointl.org/standards/apco-standards-for-download.html.  For questions regarding APCO Standards, please email standards@apcointl.org.

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APCO International® (www.apcointl.org)
APCO International is the world’s oldest and largest organization of public safety communications professionals and supports the largest U.S. membership base of any public safety association. It serves the needs of public safety communications practitioners worldwide – and the welfare of the general public as a whole.