PSA: ICE, ICE Baby

London Paramedics have come up with a simple, but brilliant bit of practical advice; include ICE—In Case of Emergency—contact numbers in your cell phone address book:

Cell-phone users often have entries for just about everything on their phones' contact lists -- spouses, parents, children, the hairdresser.

But some emergency workers are asking cell-phone users to add one more contact to that address book -- an "In Case of Emergency" or ICE contact.

Originally conceived by paramedics in London, the ICE concept has spread internationally, mostly through e-mail messages and a handful of reports in the national media. According to The Washington Post, at least a couple of police departments in the United States have encouraged the idea in their jurisdictions.

Paramedics, police and firefighters often waste valuable time trying to figure out which name in a victim's cell phone to call in the case of an emergency. Most people often identify spouses or other kin by their first names on their contact lists, which makes them indistinguishable from the entries for the dentist or babysitter.

For more on the concept, go to http://www.icecontact.com/.