What is ICE?

The In Case of Emergency (ICE) initiative encourages people to store their next of kin's name and phone number in their mobile's contact directory for emergency situations.

If, for example, you are in an accident and in shock or unconscious then emergency services can use your phone to immediately access someone who knows you and any specific medical requirements or conditions you may have - and that could be vital in a life or death situation.

Who came up with the idea?

The ICE concept is the brain child of an English paramedic, Bob Brotchie, who works for the East Anglian Ambulance National Health Service Trust. He realised that most accident victims carried no next of kin details, yet most carried a mobile.

Brotchie approached his bosses at the Trust with the simple idea of encouraging everyone to add a standard next of kin number to their mobile's list of contacts - and to call it the same thing: ICE, In Case of Emergency.

How do I set up an ICE contact?

Type the acronym ICE into your contact book

• Follow it with the name of someone you'd want told about an emergency - for example ICE Dad or ICE Mum
• Enter the number with a star (*) at the end, to prevent your mobile renaming this contact ICE

Remember to let your ICE contact know they have been nominated