PORT HADLOCK — The voices that guide law officers and firefighters to emergency scenes changed their home this week.
Remaining in the same building but switching rooms Wednesday, Jefferson Communications 9-1-1 completed its move to a new facility.
It continues to share a fortress-looking structure with Jefferson County Jail at 81 Elkins Road.
But the 10 dispatchers now enjoy a newly remodeled and larger facility in a different wing of the building.
“It’s so great,” communications officer Whitney Howard said during her second day at the console in the new space.
“It’s fun to come to work now. We have room to maneuver.”
The new dispatch center is quieter, operators say.
Ergonomics addressed
A large room with windows lining across an entire wall is equipped with ergonomically sensitive equipment that allows dispatchers to raise and lower the control table.
Working 10- to 12-hour days, emergency dispatch operators rarely can leave their workplace, so they often need to change positions from sitting to standing to be comfortable.
The new equipment allows them to raise keyboards to the appropriate personal level to sustain ergonomically sensitive position.