status zero

status zero (uncountable)

1. A status at the lowest point of a ranking system. In particular:
   1. Alternative form of status zer0
      • 1999, Tom Bentley, Ravi Gurumurthy, Destination Unknown: Engaging with the Problems of Marginalised Youth, →ISBN:

        Nearly half of those in status zero have no qualifications and only 37 percent have GCSEs or above.

      • 2005, Helen Jones, Towards a Classless Society?, →ISBN, page 86:

        A 1990s study in South Glamorgan (Istance et al. 1994) found that at any time around 17 per cent of 16- and 17-year-olds were status zero. Most occupied this status only for brief periods, but around 7 per cent of the age group appeared permanently lost. Some of these were effectively becoming status zero before being eligible to leave full-time education -- they were irregular attenders during their final years of compulsory schooling.

      • 2006, John T Haworth, Work, Leisure and Well-Being, →ISBN:

        In Britain it has been estimated that, at any point, approximately one in seven 16- and 17-year-olds are 'status zero', meaning that they are not in education, training or employment (Istance etal., 1994), and since 1988 most 'status zero' young people aged under 18 have not been eligible for social security payments.

   2. (of emergency dispatchers) A status of having no available emergency vehicles or personnel to handle incoming calls.
      • 2015 July 9, Jenny Kane, “BLM's 20 worries on Burning Man emergencies, sanitation”, in Reno Gazette Journal:

        Analysis shows no time at which 'status zero' occurred. Status zero is when no emergency services vehicles are available.

      • 2016 March 30, Lucas Geisler, “Montgomery County Ambulance District seeks property tax raise”, in ABC17 News:

        "We've already been at status zero this morning," Colbert said Wednesday. "Last year, we looked through our statistics, and we've run at 350 times, we could count, that we were without an ambulance within our 460 square mile district."

      • 2016 November 19, Sylvia Cooper, “Here are the annual Turkey of the Year awards”, in The Augusta Chronicle:

        Gold Cross will enter into mutual aid agreements with other local 24-hour licensed service providers who can be called in the event Gold Cross gets to system status zero – already doing this.

      • 2017 April 3, Deborah Fox, “BF hopes to hire full-time paramedic”, in Valencia County News Bulletin:

        The fire chief said if you listen to the pagers, ambulance service ends up at status zero almost every day from all the calls from doctor's offices, nursing homes, the four municipalities and the eight fire districts.

   3. (New Zealand) Death.
      • 2014 November 29, Sam Hurley, “Dramatic crash outside popular Bay cafe”, in Hawke's Bay Today:

        "She was unconscious, we thought we were going to be dealing with a status zero (death), but she managed to regain consciousness," Ms Shadbolt said.

      • 2017 December 5, Timothy Brown, “Shot policeman loves his work”, in Otago Daily Times:

        They said I was status one. There's only one below that — status zero, which is dead.