Many of you may know about ICE but I was reminded about this recently when an friend forwarded me an e-mail from the ambulance services. This is easy to set up and would certainly assist if needed.

We all carry our mobile phones with names numbers stored in its memory. But… with hundreds of numbers stored, which one is the contact person in case of an emergency? Nobody, other than ourselves know which of these contacts are important to get in touch with if we were to be involved in an accident or were taken ill. The people attending us would have our mobile phone but wouldn’t know who to call. Hence this ‘ICE’ (In Case of Emergency) Campaign.

The concept of ‘ICE’ is catching on. It is a method of contact during emergency situations. As mobile phones are carried by the majority of the population, all you need to do is store the number of a contact person or persons who should be contacted during emergency under the name ‘ICE’ (In Case Of Emergency). For more than one contact name you can simply enter ICE1, ICE2 and ICE3 etc.

The idea was thought up by a paramedic who found that when he went to the scenes of accidents, there were always mobile phones with patients, but they didn’t know which number to call. He therefore thought that it would be a good idea if there was a nationally recognized name for this purpose.

In an emergency situation, Emergency Service personnel and hospital staff would be able to quickly contact the right person by simply dialing the number you have stored as ‘ICE’.

A few years ago it was ok to just add a ICE contact to your phone.

But, with people using a locked screen its making it more difficult for emergency services to get access to your ICE contacts store in your phone if you have been injured. The reason we password protect our phones is so that if it gets stolen or lost then your phone’s contents and personal data are protected.

The simple fix? Add some ICE details to your lock screen. That’s the wallpaper that appears when you tap a button on your phone. If you are good with photo editing software it’s a simple matter of taking a wallpaper screen image, editing it and then reloading it back on your screen.

If you want an even simpler option then you can purchase applications for your smart phone that will add your ICE details and have them accessible by Emergency Service personnel and hospital staff.