International Control Room Week returns to celebrate unsung heroes during Covid crisis

Taking place for the third consecutive year, International Control Room Week will run from 19 - 25 October and will shine a light on the critical role control room teams perform, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

An international campaign to celebrate the life-saving and life-changing work of control room employees is to acknowledge their strength and resilience during the most challenging year in living memory.

Taking place for the third consecutive year, International Control Room Week will run from 19 - 25 October and will shine a light on the critical role control room teams perform, particularly during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Control room teams across the globe are key workers and have worked throughout the crisis, taking significantly more calls than usual while continuing to serve and protect the public and deal with serious and distressing incidents on a daily basis.

The week is organised by APD Communications, which supplies critical, life-saving software to emergency services organisations across the UK and supports critical control operations internationally.

Last year more than 11,000 control room employees supported the week across the world, from as far afield as Australia, India and the remote island of St Helena. The campaign week involved 230 control rooms serving police, ambulance, fire and rescue, and coastguard services as well as airports, local authorities and utility companies.

Across the week, almost 7,000 posts about the campaign were shared from over 3,000 social media accounts, reaching almost 17 million people. The week also supported two mental health charities.