Knowledge
911 from a business phone system: the short version
Canada has no law like the American Kari’s Law for business phone systems. What it has is a set of CRTC best practices for multi-line telephone systems: dial 911 with no prefix, send the call straight to the emergency call centre rather than a front desk, and work with your provider on location information. They’re practices, not statute, and they’re still worth meeting. Most buildings have never tested whether they do.
This is the short version. The full article, with the CRTC decisions, what “dispatchable location” means in practice and how a Yeastar system is configured against each point, is on yeastar.ca: What Canada actually requires for 911 from a multi-line phone system.
Law, best practice, and what we do
It helps to keep three things apart.
- Law and regulation. The CRTC sets obligations for phone companies. For example, local VoIP providers must provide Basic or Enhanced 911 and tell customers about any limitations in it (CRTC, 9-1-1 obligations of local VoIP service providers).
- Best practice. For the phone system in your building, the CRTC publishes best practices. Its own page says Canada “does not have similar legislation” to the United States, and that the practices are there for Canadian system owners, operators, providers and resellers (CRTC, MLTS best practices).
- What we do. We configure every system we install to meet those practices, and we test the result.
The practices, in plain terms
From the CRTC’s best practices for multi-line telephone system owners and operators:
- Dial 911 directly, with no prefix or code, wherever technically feasible. If your system uses 9 for an outside line, 911 should work with or without it.
- Route the call straight to the emergency call centre, not to a security desk, reception or operator first.
- Work with your phone provider on location, so that each fixed phone, or group of phones in one place, is identified to the emergency call centre.
Our yeastar.ca article adds the fourth thing we configure in every building: notifying someone on site that 911 has been dialled, and from which extension, so responders can be met at the right door.
Four things to check in your building this year
- Pick up a phone and look at the dial plan. Does 911 work without the 9? Does 9-911? Ask your provider; don’t test by calling unless it’s arranged with the emergency call centre.
- Find out where the call goes. Straight out to 911, or to the front desk first?
- Check the address. The address registered against your outgoing numbers is what the call centre sees. Is it current? Is it the building, or a head office in another city?
- Ask who gets told. When someone dials 911, does the office or front desk know within seconds, and from which extension or room?
If any answer is “I don’t know”, that’s normal. It’s also the reason to find out.
Where the lines in the walls come in
A business phone system isn’t the only path to emergency help in a building. Elevator phones, fire panel lines and alarm lines are separate circuits with their own rules. They’re covered in the elevator emergency phone and POTS line replacement.
How we help
A Telephony Health Check answers the four questions above in writing, along with what you have, whether it’s backed up and what it would cost to fix. It’s a fixed fee, $1,500 for a single site, plus GST, with no obligation.
Under either of our service agreements, anything involving 911 is critical automatically, and we test emergency calling every year and issue a certificate you can hand an insurer, an auditor or a board. We test and document. We don’t certify compliance, and nobody should tell you they do.
Frequently asked questions
Is our system “Kari’s Law compliant”?
Kari’s Law is American and doesn’t apply in Canada. The useful question is whether your system meets the CRTC’s best practices, and whether anyone has tested it.
Does the dispatcher see which room or suite called?
Usually the building, not the room. The full article on yeastar.ca explains why, and what on-site notification does about it.
Are the CRTC practices going to become mandatory?
The CRTC opened a consultation on that question in 2023. Check the full article for the current position before relying on it.
Who should test our 911?
Whoever maintains your phone system, at least once a year and after any change to trunks or numbers. Ask for the result in writing.
Not sure where your phone system stands?
The Telephony Health Check is a fixed-fee look at what you have, what 911 does from every phone, and where the money leaks. Or call (403) 698-0700 and a person answers.