Business Communication Compliance with Ray Baum's Act: A Guide

Passed in February 2020, Ray Baum's Act widens organizations' responsibilities for facilitating emergency responder activity on their premises. Despite the first phase of the act coming into effect earlier this year, many organizations are still unclear about their responsibilities.

What is Ray Baum's Act? 

Ray Baum's Act makes it easier for first responders to manage emergency situations by providing fire, police, and ambulance services with more precise geographic locations. The act is broad in scope, covering a range of measures and protocols designed to help emergency services personnel save lives. We’re focusing on Section 506. 

Section 506 outlines new regulations for enterprises using multi-line telephone systems (MLTS). In the event of a 911 call, the MLTS must provide an 'automated dispatchable location' to the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP). 

This should include:

• A valid civic address
• Building, floor, suite, or room number
• "Any other information necessary to adequately identify the location of the calling party"

By automating the provision of dispatchable location, Ray Baum's Act will save emergency teams valuable time, which in some cases could mean the difference between life and death.

When Does Ray Baum's Act Come Into Effect? 

Ray Baum's Act came into effect for fixed-line operators on January 6, 2021, and will come into effect for mobile operators on January 6, 2022. This means any 'fixed' devices that don't move around, such as desk phones, should already be compliant. Nomadic VoIP services that include portable devices like laptops or tablets have until early next year. 

How Can I Achieve Business Communication Compliance With Ray Baum's Act?

To make sure your organization is compliant with Ray Baum's Act, you'll need to do three things: 

• Ensure that all employee, room, and building information is up-to-date on both your phone system.
• Ensure that your business phone system is compliant with Ray Baum's Act and can automatically send dispatchable location information to the PSAP, with no input from the caller. 
• Test each endpoint to make sure they can send dispatchable locations without issue, by dialing 933.

If you're unsure about whether your fixed business phones are compliant, or if you haven't figured out VoIP compliance yet, now is the time to act. Our cloud-based VoIP business phone system ensures you can fulfill your 911 reporting responsibilities reliably so that you can keep your employees safe. 

Ray Baum's Act requires businesses to be compliant "regardless of the technological platform used." Check out Net2Phone for a complete Ray Baum-compliant unified communications platform.

Get in touch to see how we could help you and your team be compliant.