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When systems fail, emergency communication networks should keep up society’s most vital services (e.g. police, ambulance, fire brigade). This sub-project studies the emergence and governance of transnational emergency networks in Europe after the Second World War. It also examines how emergency communication functioned during actual system failures and disasters.

IP aims and objectives

Communication networks for emergency services (police, ambulance, fire brigade) are among societies’ most critical infrastructures. This case focuses on the emergence and governance of such networks in Europe after the Second World War. Before the 1990s, all European countries had their own radio communication networks for emergency services. They used different frequencies, standards and operating protocols. As a result, cross border communication between these networks was very hard to achieve. In the late 1980s, after the Schengen Agreements were signed, more efforts were made to enhance the international collaboration between emergency services. In this process, the development of a European communication standard for this sector (called Tetra) by the ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) played a key role. At the moment, several European countries (e.g. the Netherlands (C2000), Belgium (Astrid), Finland (VIRVE), UK (Airwave)) base their emergency system on this standard.

This sub-project will focus on two major research questions:

1. First, we will analyze how transnational connections between the emergency services of different European countries came into existence. How was the Tetra standard negotiated by these countries?

2. Second, we will investigate a number of concrete disasters and accidents in Europe, to analyze how international communication in emergency situations actually took place. How did differences in (organizational) culture, risk perceptions, technologies, and emergency procedures influence (or hamper) international collaboration in emergency situations? How does this reflect the diversity of Europe? Does our societies’ vulnerability increase or decrease as a consequence of the European integration of the emergency networks?

Methodology

This sub-project will be investigated using a combination of qualitative research methods: archival research, interviews and in-depth case studies.

Research question 1 will be investigated on the basis of archival research in the ETSI archives. Key actors and institutions (ETSI, ministries, CEPT) involved in the negotiation process will be interviewed. This part of the project will focus on the role of Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium and the UK in particular. The historical focus will be on the whole postwar period, with an emphasis on the period in which the efforts to develop a transnational communication standard for emergency services started.

Research question 2 will be analyzed on the basis of (two or) three in-depth case studies. One case study will be the so-called Three-Countries Pilot – an experiment to test the possibilities for international collaboration The Netherlands, Germany and Belgium using the Tetra standard. This experiment took place in 2001. Key actors from the three countries involved in this Pilot will be interviewed and relevant documents will be studied.

Two other case studies will focus on concrete examples of disasters and accidents in Europe to analyze how international communication in emergency situations actually took place. One case study will analyze the practices of transnational collaboration in the pre-Tetra phase. A good example may be the Estonia ferry disaster of 1994. Sweden and Finland collaborated in the rescue process. The second case study will focus on the more recent experiences with transnational emergency communication using the Tetra standard.

The contribution of this project to the analysis of research question 3 consists of an investigation of the fruitfulness of integrating concepts developed in the field of the history of technology and the Tensions of Europe project (multi-level model; Geels 2002) Transeuropean networking and the hidden integration of Europe (van der Vleuten & Kaijser, 2005) with methods and concepts developed in technology studies (see e.g. Bijker, 2006; Wackers & Korte, 2003) on vulnerability using an STS approach; studies on international standardization such as Egyedi & Verwater-Lukszo, 2005 and Schmidt & Werle, 1998) and organizational sociology (Perrow, 1999; Snook, 2000; Ciborra, 2000). How can the concepts developed in these fields benefit from each other and lead to a better understanding of the vulnerability of critical Trans-European infrastructures?