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AUGUST 2012
VOLUME 13 | 4
ᔡ News: praise following success of London 2012 policing ᔡ News: mutual aid partnership deal signed in Scotland ᔡ People: Scottish Fire and Rescue Service names first Chief Officer ᔡ In profile: NARU, the National Crime Agency and CamSAR ᔡ Events: attractions at The Emergency Services Show 2012 ᔡ Profile: vehicle lighting specialist Premier Hazard ᔡ Vehicles: NAPFM focus on collaboration and use of UAVs in disaster management ᔡ G4S comment: Private sector involvement in policing is here to stay ᔡ SAVE ME Project: the role sensor-based systems play in transport emergencies ᔡ A guide to some of the latest products and services available ISSN 1472-1090
www.emergencyservicestimes.com
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CONTENTS | 1
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Regular features First Words Assistant Commissioner Chris Allison, National Olympic Security Coordinator, takes pride in the policing operation of the London 2012 Olympics
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News Mutual aid partnership to benefit emergency responders in Central Scotland, BIKE initiative targets arsonists in Warwickshire and multi-agency response in Dorset to cliff fall.
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Profiles The National Crime Agency, plus focus on the support capabilities of Cambridgeshire Search and Rescue
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The National Ambulance Resilience Unit, which works with NHS ambulance trusts to provide a safe and reliable response to major incidents
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Events Attractions galore at The Emergency Services Show 2012, including the inaugural National Interoperability Summit
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Company Profile Premier Hazard and the PSE Group uses innovation and design technology paired with continuous investment to stay ahead of the competition in the LED vehicle lighting market
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Page 53 – A profile of the National Ambulance Resilience Unit.
Inside this issue Vehicles
Training
Vauxhall enhances its eco-friendly range, fire and rescue service vehicle orders, cost-saving benefits of vehicle tracking solutions, plus mobile satellite communications, vehicle disposal and recycling
How CPDme can assist pre-hospital care employees and others with Continuing Professional Development
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Outsourcing John Shaw, Managing Director of Policing Support Services at G4S, says private sector involvement in policing is here to stay
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National Resilience The work of the National Resilience HVP Capability and partners into the feasibility of extending hydraulic power hoses to improve the effectiveness of High Volume Pumps at incidents where exceptional operational circumstances may be involved
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Contracts & People First Chief Officer of the new single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service announced, North Fire wins Argus thermal image camera deal and a new Chair for the Association of Ambulance Chief Executives
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Product Information An AED that combines real-time CPR feedback, fast shock times and escalating energy, DuPont’s secondgeneration Tyvek coverall, plus an LED torch, compact life jacket and memory kneepads
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Last Words SAVE ME, a project to investigate the role sensor-based systems could play in mitigating the impacts of a transport emergency event
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Page 41 – Grampian Fire and Rescue Service badges up a new appliance in readiness of the new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service next April.
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8 | NEWS
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Cliff fall tragedy on the Dorset coast Just after midday on 24 July 2012 on what was, perhaps, one of the warmest days of the year a steady stream of 999 emergency calls began to be answered at Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre (MRCC) Portland, situated in Weymouth, Dorset. Initial information was sketchy, confused and sometimes contradictory, but what was very clear was that a large cliff collapse had occurred at Fresh Water on the Dorset Coast very close to a large holiday camp with at least one person seen to be caught by the fall. The beaches were busy and initial fears that many more people had been caught in the fall were very real. On land, sea and by air, emergency response was immediate. Coastguards, fire and rescue service, police, ambulance and RNLI assets were all simultaneously deployed on what was to become a major multi-agency incident lasting some 16 hours.
Multi-agency incident Aerial reconnaissance using the Coastguard rescue helicopter from Portland and the Dorset Police air support unit quickly established the location and scale of the cliff fall; some 400 tonnes of rock, clay and earth across a 70m stretch of coastline, which continued to show signs of being highly unstable with further minor falls and cracking to the cliff face to which, worryingly, members of the public both on the beach and along the cliff path seemed oblivious. A multi-faceted emergency response plan was quickly implemented with coastguards and police officers establishing an outer cordon on land to prevent further risk to the public and Dorset Fire and Rescue Service maintaining an inner one into which they deployed urban search and rescue (USAR) specialists, including a search dog team from Avon and Somerset (and later in the incident a relief team from Hampshire) to begin the search on scene. Police and coastguards began to follow up on multiple missing person reports. South West Ambulance Service assets, including a Hazardous Area Response team (HART), stood by to provide medical cover for emergency service colleagues as well as to treat potential casualties. Conditions at the cliff fall site were hazardous with the very real risk of further falls. As a consequence, both the search dog and listening devices were initially used to refine the search area, while both a maritime and air exclusion zone was established to facilitate their work.
Missing person enquiries by police and coastguards, along with the USAR work on scene, developed the incident intelligence picture to establish with a degree of confidence that only one person had been caught by the fall and the area of interest was significantly refined to allow some limited digging, initially by a mechanical grabber and then by hand. HART deployed Just before 10pm the HART deployed into the inner cordon as the casualty was located. Sadly, despite the best efforts of the rescue teams the casualty was deceased and the operation moved from one of search and rescue to one of recovery. This phase was to take a further five hours of painstaking work by the USAR team until finally the casualty was extracted and transferred by
RNLI lifeboat into the care of the coroner. In total, the initial incident lasted some 16 hours, involved all of the emergency services operating in a difficult environment in the most challenging of circumstances while under the glare of the media spotlight. The outcome did not reflect the teamwork, the commitment or the sheer determination of those involved, but it did highlight all that is good in the professionalism of our emergency services working cooperatively towards a common goal. www.dft.gov.uk/mca/
All photos courtesy of Grahame Forshaw, Harbourmaster Lyme Regis Author: Mark Rodaway, Manager, Portland Maritime Rescue Coordination Centre
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PROFILE | 13
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The National Crime Agency – joined-up public protection Law enforcement has always operated in a shifting landscape but the scale of the changes underway now exceeds anything I’ve experienced before. A key part of this changing landscape is the creation of the National Crime Agency. As its Director General and a former Chief Constable, I support local accountability and dealing locally with the majority of crime. But when crime doesn’t conform to geographical or organisational boundaries it demands a national response. We don’t need a national police force in the UK and the NCA won’t be any such thing. We do need better coordination and a national response greater than the sum of its parts. Crime that crosses geographical and organisational boundaries and seeks out gaps in law enforcement’s capabilities has become an issue of national security. Broad remit The NCA will have a broad new remit – leading the UK’s fight against serious, organised and complex crime, providing a new focus on economic crime, strengthening policing at the border, protecting children, and helping to ensure local police forces are linked-up to work nationally and overseas. At the heart of creating the agency is a simple principle long recognised by law enforcement, emergency services, and first
responders – that with clear leadership we achieve substantially more together. I choose my words carefully. We all recognise the value of joined-up working yet successful multiagency partnership has remained reliant largely on whether good relationships are in place. This coalition of the willing is a credit to the people involved when it works but can unravel when individuals change. We know too how challenging it is for any one agency to assume an overview role. A case I’ve discussed recently involves agencies in 15 separate police force areas. Specialist support To lift our national response to another level, the NCA will be a visible body of operational crime fighters, targeting action against the most harmful criminals and providing specialist support for its partners’ operations. It will develop a single national intelligence picture around organised crime in which its partners can have confidence. And it will take a leadership role, creating clear national focus so the many elements that contribute to our national capacity can operate more effectively together. The Bill to create the NCA allows the Director General to task police forces. I am very clear that in practice this is about exceptional circumstances,
where a response can’t reasonably be delivered by other means. Having it there though gives bite and impetus to achieving cooperation on a voluntary basis. Crucially this is part of a two-way process by which forces will draw on NCA support. And I want to complement this greater connectivity by making it easier to exchange skills into and out of the NCA, through attachments, secondments and NCA ‘Specials’. The landscape may be shifting, but I believe there is a simple rule we can apply in testing each decision we take – does this deliver the best possible public protection? That after all is what every single one of us gets up in the morning and comes to work to do. www.homeoffice.gov.uk/crime/nca
A series of fact sheets, including on tasking and coordination, is available at http://www.homeoffice.gov.uk/publications/about-us/ legislation/crime-courts-part1/. Subject to the passage of the Crime and Courts Bill the ambition is for the NCA to be fully operational by December 2013.
Author: Keith Bristow QPM, Director General, National Crime Agency
In focus: CamSAR’s support capabilities Cambridgeshire Search and Rescue ( CamSAR) provides support to Cambridgeshire Constabulary, the East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) and Cambridgeshire Fire and Rescue Services. The organisation also provides civil contingency support services to the emergency planning departments of various local authorities in Cambridgeshire. CamSAR launched a two-year campaign in January 2011 to raise £20,000 to purchase a new Incident Command Unit (ICU). By July 2011 the organisation was able to close the campaign having raised enough funds through various fundraisers, including the Cambridge Beer Festival, and with the help of local community donations. The vehicle was sourced from Hertfordshire Constabulary and in October 2011 the ICU had its debut outing with a bucket collection in Peterborough, where members of the public were invited to take a look round.
Flood rescue To support the fire and rescue service and police, CamSAR team members are being trained in bank rescue to become qualified DEFRA (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) level 2 Flood Rescue Technicians. These skills will enable the team to help in the event of flooding and to search waterways during the search for missing people.
CamSAR’s new ICU.
www.camsar.org
Community First Inside the new ICU. responders As part of the team’s ongoing support of EEAST, CamSAR President, Hayden Newton, arranged for the team to train and qualify as Community First Responders. Hayden said, “I am proud to be CamSAR President and I know this team will go from strength to strength to help us and others in their time of need. They are a valuable resource within the community of Cambridgeshire.” Steve Catley, Community Partnership Manager, said, “The volunteers have undertaken the trust’s CFR training programme and were an absolute pleasure to teach. They were extremely keen to learn and very enthusiastic throughout their course.” CamSAR members are trained Flood Rescue Technicians.
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14 | ESS 2012
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The Emergency Services Show 2012 offers more than just 400 exhibitors From 21-22 November, the UK’s emergency services, partnering agencies, voluntary groups and Government departments will once again descend on Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire for The Emergency Services Show. As you would expect, all the latest equipment and services used by these leading professionals will be on display from some 400 exhibitors from both the UK and overseas. The show also features a number of attractions for this year’s visitors, including a CBRN Decontamination Workshop, a recovery demonstration from the Road Haulage Association and the inaugural National Interoperability Summit 2012. Register to attend the show for free at www.emergencyuk.com
CBRN Decontamination Workshop The Emergency Planning Society CBRN Professional Working Group, in association with the Government Decontamination Service, is hosting a CBRN Decontamination Workshop alongside The Emergency Services Show, on Wednesday 21 November from 10.00am to 4.00pm. Uncertainty remains The EPS CBRN Professional Working Group (PWG) working with the GDS has identified that there are concerns, particularly among local authority (LA) staff, about the challenges posed by decontamination after a CBRN incident. Although there have been several incidents, of varying types, in the UK in the past few years, together with an increase in the capabilities on offer from various
sources, there remains uncertainty in some quarters as to how to deal with such incidents. The aims of the workshop are to assist local authority staff in particular to improve their knowledge and hence ability to deal with decontamination incidents and to identify further activities that the EPS might undertake to support the development of the national decontamination capacity.
The workshop programme is being finalised and will include speakers from the Cabinet Office, Home Office, Health Protection Agency and Government Decontamination Service, covering topics such as: consideration of available documentation and guidance; the challenges that faced the Olympic Park; lessons identified from an LA perspective. Case studies on Anthrax and Litvinenko from the GDS are also planned.
Local authority While the workshop is aimed primarily at local authority staff it will also be of interest to others working in this area. Industry participation is encouraged to help them better understand the challenges faced by their potential clients.
Sponsored by Scott Safety The cost of attending this one-day workshop, which is being sponsored by Scott Safety and the Health Protection Agency, is £35 for the public sector and EPS members and £45 for others. www.the-eps.org/events
Recovery demo to showcase joint working RHA Recovery has been given the opportunity of laying on a recovery demonstration at The Emergency Services Show 2012, which takes place from 21-22 November at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. The demo intends to involve all the emergency services to highlight each service’s role in a road traffic collision (RTC). Not only will this showcase each of the service’s particular skills and specialties but it will also show how they all work together to rescue any individuals who are unfortunate enough to have been involved. The scenario It is intended that the scenario will involve a HGV articulated vehicle/petrol tanker, placed on its side, which has been in a collision with a car. The vehicles will both have occupants, who will receive first aid/medical assistance (from ambulance crews) to stabilise them so that they can be extricated from the vehicle(s) (by the fire and rescue service). While this is happening the police will be controlling traffic and also access to the crash site, acting as liaison for the recovery crews and any other organisations that are required to assist (Environment Agency, Highways Agency etc). Once the occupants are clear of the scene the recovery crews will be able to begin their task. In addition, the fire and rescue service will be using
spark suppressing chemicals and/or assisting with bunding any escaping fuel or oils and the police will be checking the route the recovery vehicle will be taking after the vehicles have been recovered. The first job will be to separate the two vehicles, with the car being removed from the scene first so that more room is available for the heavier recovery to commence. Heavy recovery vehicles Because of the weight and size of the HGV vehicle it will require two heavy recovery vehicles. The vehicles will work under the command of the Recovery Incident Manager, who will coordinate the crews, cranes and winches. There are two parts to the righting of a vehicle: bring it to the point of balance is part one; and then part two involves lowering the vehicle under control to the ground to rest on its wheels, as it would normally. The recovery vehicles will take the strain and begin to winch the vehicle back onto its wheels; it is essential that the recovery vehicles are winching at the same speed so that one does not take more strain or move the stricken vehicle faster than the other recovery vehicle as this can overstress equipment and/or cause the stricken vehicle to spin on its side. At the point of balance the weight of the
stricken vehicle will be taken by the cranes on the recovery vehicles, this must happen simultaneously, they will then lower the vehicle to the ground under control. All visitors to the show will have the chance to witness the recovery demonstration – full details and timings will be available nearer the event. To register for your free visitor badge please visit www.emergencyuk.com and sign-up online. www.rha.uk.net
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VEHICLES | 27
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National agreement secured for disposal and recycling of police vehicles provides a contracted means of disposal of end-oflife vehicles as well as the opportunity for forces to buy back non-safety related parts. The new contract, with FAB Recycling Ltd, can and will be used by all UK forces and a number of other public sector bodies. It meets all legal requirements as set out in the Vehicle End of Life (ELV) Regulations 2003/5, The Motor Vehicle Salvage Operations Regulations 2002 and all other current relevant European waste legislation.
An agreement has been secured in Yorkshire and the Humber for the safe disposal and recycling of end-of-life police vehicles. The agreement, which comes as a result of work carried out by the recently launched Regional Procurement Team, on behalf of the Home Office and National Association of Police Fleet Managers (NAPFM), will run for a period of two years initially and
Considerable cash savings A number of police forces have already been using recycled parts for several years and have made considerable cash savings over purchasing new parts. In West Yorkshire for example, during the 2011/12 financial year, the force saved over £44,000 on recycled crash repair parts alone and a further £61,000 on all other recycled parts. Steve Thompson, Head of Transport for West Yorkshire Police and the Regional Lead for Fleet in Yorkshire and the Humber, said, “This contract not only provides a safe and effective means of disposing of end of life vehicles in accordance with all environmental legislation, it will also encourage a greater use of recycled parts across all UK police forces hence providing for additional cash savings.” Head of Regional Collaboration, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Whyman, said, “I’m immensely
proud of the work that has been carried out by our new Regional Procurement Team and our fleet specialists in support of this initiative. Not only will this benefit the four forces of our region, but all other police forces up and down the country. It is a clear example of what can be achieved through effective collaboration.”
FAB Recycling Ltd’s Mygreenfleet scheme was developed specifically for UK police forces. Rebecca Farmer, IT and Contracts Manager at FAB Recycling Ltd, said, “FAB has worked closely with forces such as West Yorkshire and Gloucestershire Police to fully customise the service provided, making it unique in the marketplace. FAB provides a secure disposal route for vehicles, a transparent audit trail, detailed management reporting and a first class re-supply chain of parts for re-use.” www.westyorkshire.police.uk
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30 | VEHICLES
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UAVs to the rescue ORCHID, a UK university research programme funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, is to use artificial intelligence methods to coordinate the human and machine elements of a disaster management operation. Humans can provide only partial situational awareness, such as where facilities are and what buildings are damaged. This needs to be augmented by uninhabited air vehicles (UAVs) that can overfly a disaster zone to survey the bigger picture. Imagine a scenario where explosions in a major city have triggered flooding and fires. Pandemonium ensues: crowds throughout the city start evacuating the area, afraid of further explosions and trying to avoid the rising water level. Within minutes, social networking sites around the world are being inundated with live video footage, uploaded by people on the ground from their mobile phones. This peak in data traffic rapidly overwhelms these networks. Conventional media is unable to maintain pace with the rapidly evolving situation on a large scale. This creates a scenario in which emergency responders are rushing toward the scene of the emergency, but their response is hampered by the breakdown of existing communication networks and the paucity of information about what is happening on the ground.
“The key to effective disaster response is compiling accurate and timely situational awareness.”
Figure 1: The future disaster response landscape.
Challenge Disasters scenarios such as this are characterised by uncertainty and a rapidly changing situation. The main challenge is therefore to reduce uncertainty and respond with agility. Participating in this complex operation, conducted over a large scale, are the first responders who act upon fragments of information provided by a number of sources, such as UAVs, CCTV feeds, and crowdgenerated content. If the operation is not carefully orchestrated it could lead to bottlenecks, delays, and duplication of effort. Central orchestration, the traditional approach to disaster management, can be slow and inflexible. This is because information has to be uploaded to a command centre, whereupon it is processed to yield recommended actions, which are flowed back to the response team. This is inefficient when the response team is large and geographically dispersed and communications are strained.
Solution The solution, according to ORCHID, is to use artificial intelligence methods to coordinate the human and machine elements of a disaster management operation. The key to effective disaster response is compiling accurate and timely situational awareness, ie a current picture of what is where, and a projection of how the picture may change over time. Humans can provide only partial situational awareness, such as where facilities are and what buildings are damaged. This needs to be augmented by uninhabited air vehicles (UAVs) that can overfly a disaster zone to survey the bigger picture. ORCHID envisages a collective response to disasters involving humans and machines. For example, information from members of the public, sent by smartphones, could be aggregated by computers to improve situation awareness. UAVs may provide real-time footage to disaster responders on the ground, who can request specific information from the UAVs using hand-held electronic devices. Autonomous ground vehicles may also have a critical role to play in a collective response to disasters, entering areas that pose danger to humans. This mixture of resources produces a more effective response, but only if the
resources are intelligently allocated to tasks on the ground. The ORCHID project is developing software underpinned by powerful mathematical methods to achieve intelligent resource allocation. This is done by decentralised coordination between the UAVs, enabling them to operate as an efficient team. To do this they pass messages between each other, but the solution is robust to out-of-sync or dropped data. Decentralised coordination means the UAVs determine their optimal strategy to collect information requests from humans and distribute them back to the ground. Timescale The solution has already been tested extensively in field trials located in Sydney, Australia. The trials involved Hexacopter UAVs, which have six rotary blades and are just under a metre in width. These proved the concept that UAVs can be allocated tasks from the ground and fly as a coordinated unit to action these tasks. The next stage is to re-run the trails with mock disasters in open spaces and dynamic interaction between humans and UAVs. This is scheduled to take place in October 2012. A fully operational system is expected in 2014. Several police forces have expressed interest and it is hoped government and NGO organisations will also take up the technology. Further Information The ORCHID project is a partnership between the universities of Southampton, Oxford, and Nottingham, and BAE Systems, Secure Meters Ltd, and the Australian Centre for Field Robotics. www.orchid.ac.uk
Figure 2: PDAs issuing imagery collection tasks to UAVs.
Author: Dr David Nicholson, School of Electronics and Computer Science, University of Southampton
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CONTRACTS & PEOPLE | 45
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North Fire wins Argus thermal image camera distributorship
North Fire has assumed command of sales and service for the coveted Argus thermal imaging range from e2v to the UK market. Following on from a dominant few years of fire fighting equipment sales and with an ever-increasing reputation for five-star after sales service, North Fire will be employed to intensify sales coverage while supplying the best possible after-sales care possible. e2v’s Vice President of sales for Argus Thermal Imaging, Angus Drummond, said, “Throughout the fire and rescue market our Argus camera is heralded as the brigades’ number one choice for product quality, reliability and innovation. The time is now right to intensify our sales and service coverage through this new partnership with North Fire, so that we can focus on delivering further product innovation to our vital emergency services.” Thrilled with partnership North Fire Managing Director, Oliver North, commented, “Over the past four years we’ve brought previously unseen success to the Rosenbauer Fire Fighting equipment range and now we’re absolutely thrilled to announce our partnership with e2v to supply the future of thermal imaging into the UK’s fire and rescue services. We’ll start with the launch of the excellent new Argus personal camera, which expands the well renowned current product range, whilst intensifying and improving the current front line service structure. As we all know, e2v are one of the world’s finest manufacturers in our marketplace, but this doesn’t automatically make for a good front line supplier so the new structure will reinforce the general appeal of the world class Argus range.” www.north-fire.com
Alasdair Hay gets top job in new Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Alasdair Hay will be the first Chief Officer of the new single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service when it goes live on 1 April 2013. The post will be one of the top fire jobs in the UK and one of the most demanding and high profile roles in civic Scotland. Scottish Government legislation will bring together the current eight services to protect and enhance the frontline. Mr Hay is currently acting Chief Fire Officer of Tayside. He has also worked with Essex County Fire and Rescue, the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service Advisory Unit and the Scottish Fire Services College. He is expected to start in the Autumn, following the appointment of the SFRS Chair. This will help ensure a smooth transition to the new service. The new single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will have a workforce of more than 9000 firefighters and support staff, with accountability for a multi-million pound budget and responsibility for ensuring the safety of more than five million people. The new service will reduce duplication of support services and sustain frontline services and ensure more equal access to specialist support and national capacity. It will also strengthen the connection between services and communities, by creating a new formal relationship with each of the 32 local authorities.
Mr Hay said, “I am honoured to take this unique opportunity to shape and deliver the new single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service. It will allow us to sustain and improve the local services communities in all parts of Scotland depend on, to build on success and do more. “Throughout my career, I have demonstrated a genuine commitment to partnership working. I will continue to work closely with the workforce, unions, government, local authorities and other key partners to maintain the high standards of the Scottish fire and rescue services. “Above all, the single Scottish Fire and Rescue Service will strengthen the connections with all communities and the people we serve. This new service will be efficient and effective, and focused on the needs of the people who depend on the vital services our dedicated workforce delivers.” www.scotland.gov.uk
Emergency One and Clan Tools announce merger
In brief . . . The London Ambulance Service (LAS) is anticipating cost savings of £200,000 per year by outsourcing its financial accounting services and the management of its accounts payable (AP) and accounts receivable (AR) processes. ELFS Shared Services (ELFS), a division of Calderstones Partnership NHS Foundation Trust, will be managing the trust’s financial processes using a finance system that is being provided, hosted and supported by Advanced Business Solutions (Advanced). ELFS is now providing shared services to 17 NHS client organisations at its north west base. www.londonambulance.nhs.uk
A new Assistant Chief Fire Officer (ACFO) has been appointed to Oxfordshire County Council’s Fire and Rescue Service. Simon Furlong, previously serving with West Sussex Fire and Rescue Service, will be replacing Nathan Travis who, in turn, will be taking over as Deputy Chief Fire Officer from Colin Thomas, who retires from the county’s fire and rescue service after 31 years. Simon’s previous responsibilities have included service performance and improvement, training and development, risk reduction, operational response and project responsibility for the East and West Sussex joint control room. www.oxfordshire.gov.uk
The Scottish Ambulance Service has selected Gama Aviation Limited (Gama) to be its dedicated provider of air ambulance services for a further seven years (2013 - 2020). Gama’s long association with the Scottish Ambulance Service and NHS Scotland commenced in 1993 and this announcement means the company will continue to provide an integrated air ambulance service to the people of Scotland into the next decade. www.gamagroup.com
Emergency One (UK) Ltd and Clan Tools & Plant Ltd have announced the merger of both companies. Clan Tools & Plant Ltd will continue to operate as a stand-alone company as part of the Emergency One (UK) Ltd group. Clan Tools & Plant Ltd will relocate to Emergency One (UK) Limited’s new facility within the com-
ing months, while allowing for a smooth transition and minimal disruption to the day-to-day business. Both companies hope that this new partnership will allow development and growth within the UK fire and rescue service and industry market. www.emergencyone.co.uk
Emergency Services Times August 2012
Leading specialist PPE provider Lion Apparel Systems Ltd has appointed Natalie Turner-Wright as UK Business Development Manager. Natalie will be working closely with Lion’s UK customers to develop new and innovative PPE and corporate wear solutions that completely meet their needs and deliver long-term value. The company has recently been successful in winning a number of contracts to supply firefighter PPE in the UK and Middle East. This comes on the back of new laundry and maintenance contracts for its specialist care centres near Edinburgh and in Uxbridge. www.lioninternational.co.uk
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48 | OUTSOURCING
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Trend towards greater involvement of the private sector in policing will continue, says G4S With the role of the private sector in policing increasingly coming under the spotlight, the public could be forgiven for assuming the private sector has never had any involvement in policing until recently. In reality private sector involvement in policing is well established and has been one of the success stories in helping to improve efficiency and reduce costs. G4S has been working with police forces for more than 20 years. In that time, we have developed substantial expertise and shown the kind of improvements that can be achieved through the modernisation of policing structures; not only in terms of reduced costs, but also through allowing police officers to focus more effectively on tasks that better reflect with their high skills and warranted powers.
the widest ever outsourcing of administrative functions for any police force in the UK, all the services contracted are already being performed somewhere in the country by outsource providers. Lincolnshire Police is different in that with one Greater economies of scale provider, the force has benefited from greater As part of the drive to increase efficiencies within economies of scale, which will yield guaranteed the sector, G4S became Lincolnshire Police’s savings alongside a high level of performance strategic partner in the delivery of 18 administrative and oversight. and operational services in April 2012. While it is So far the results have been solid and performance encouraging. On 1 April 2012, 575 members of staff transferred to G4S without any disruption to services and with all Key Performance Indicators continuing to be met or exceeded. With the savings that have been made to date, the force has been able to recruit 23 new police officers and by April 2013, Lightweight. Compact. All Round Vision. Lincolnshire will have 97 Stable. Rapid Deployment. percent of warranted police officers in frontline For demonstration, product evaluation or further roles. Over 10 years, details please contact: Kevin Bradley 01773 768352. Lincolnshire Police is guaranteed to make at least £28m in savings and at the same time benefit from substantial investment in infrastructure with plans for a new £8m police station at an advanced stage.
Attention!!!
– Another New product from Aireshelta. SENTRY BOX.
www.aireshelta.co.uk Aireshelta Plc Station Yard, Station Road, Langley Mill Nottinghamshire NG16 4BQ
More officers on the frontline While we are delivering better value for money for Lincolnshire Police,
reducing the force’s costs by 14 percent, there is no hint of ‘policing on the cheap’. G4S has advantages around scale, knowledge and information technology that can deliver significant process savings, leading to greater efficiency in the back office so that more police officers are kept on the frontline. Our innovative ‘street to suite’ concept is a case in point – picking up arrested individuals from warranted officers and then transporting them back to custody suites and carrying out the booking in process. In a rural county like Lincolnshire, where the nearest police station can be some distance away, this kind of service has a huge impact on the availability of police officers to the public. Clearly the well-publicised issues with our contract to secure the Olympics in London have prompted some questions about our ability to deliver for police forces. These are unfounded. Our Policing Support Services division is entirely separate to our global events business and a dedicated team of more than 1000 staff has continued to deliver a high level of service to all of our clients, unimpaired by any of the issues with the Olympics.
“The well-publicised issues with our contract to secure the Olympics in London have prompted some questions about our ability to deliver for police forces. These are unfounded.” As more police authorities and forces are galvanised by the twin pressures of delivering public services more effectively and the need to meet the challenges of the current financial climate, the trend towards greater involvement of the private sector in policing will continue. We firmly believe that the kind of partnership we have in Lincolnshire gives police officers the best quality support and the resources to do what they do best: protecting the public. www.g4s.com/uk
Emergency Services Times August 2012
Author: John Shaw, Managing Director of Policing Support Services at G4S.
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Cardiac arrest in progress: CPR time – 10 minutes. How’s your CPR? Cardiac Science introduces the first automated external defibrillator that combines real-time CPR feedback, fast shock times, and escalating energy. Emergency responders are familiar with the statistics: sudden cardiac arrest (SCA) strikes as many as 700,000 Europeans annually.1 Victims have less than a six percent chance of survival unless treated within minutes with a defibrillator.2 Automated external defibrillators (AEDs) have become a common life-saving solution to these time-critical emergencies. With rescue organisations challenged to maintain fast response times on leaner budgets, the new Powerheart® G5 AED from Cardiac Science provides a practical solution without compromise. Steve Jelfs, Clinical Manager at Cardiac Science and a former paramedic, says, “The G5 is the first AED to combine variable escalating energy and fast shock times to give a victim of SCA the best chance at a favourable outcome.” The G5 analyses the patient’s impedance level and automatically customises the energy level to meet that patient’s needs. If additional shocks are needed, the G5 escalates the energy to deliver a shock at a higher, customised energy level. The Powerheart G5 is the first AED that can deliver a higher energy, postCPR shock in less than 10 seconds. Helps you perform CPR according to ERC Guidelines The European Resuscitation Council’s 2010 Guidelines emphasise the importance of providing ‘high-quality chest compressions’ to victims of cardiac arrest. The Powerheart G5 delivers realtime CPR feedback to help the rescuer adjust the compression rate and depth to perform in accordance with these standards. If the CPR Guidelines change in the future, you can easily adjust the Powerheart G5’s CPR feedback protocols to stay up-to-date. After the rescue, responders can easily transfer data via USB for documentation and review. This enables supervisors to follow the Resuscitation Council’s recommendation to review rescue data to continuously improve CPR performance during training sessions.
them perform every step of a rescue with confidence, including: • RescueCoach™ user-paced prompts that coach the responder through the rescue • The pads that are not sidespecific, so they are easy to place on the victim • A fully automatic model that determines if a shock is necessary, and delivers it without the user having to push a button • Real-time CPR feedback that helps rescuers achieve the appropriate rate and depth of chest compressions. Military-grade durability and comprehensive self-tests The Powerheart G5 is tested to military standards and has a high IP55 rating for protection from dust and water. This makes it particularly appealing for coastguard applications and use in other harsh, challenging environments. Patented Rescue Ready® technology performs daily, weekly, and monthly tests on the AED’s battery, circuitry, software, and pads. The highly visible Rescue Ready indicator confirms the AED is ready to perform a rescue when needed.
“Now, any rescuer can deliver customised energy with fast shock times and perform CPR according to the latest guidelines.” Highly customisable for all rescuers Steve Jelfs says, “The Powerheart G5 is both easy to deploy and highly customisable, so it’s ready for use by responders at any level of training and experience.” AED programme managers can easily customise the Powerheart G5’s prompts, shock protocols and CPR feedback to match users’ skills and preferences. Less experienced AED users will appreciate the Powerheart G5’s features and options that help
Every second counts According to Steve Jelfs, the new Powerheart G5 was designed with a deep understanding of the human component in a typically stressful rescue situation. “Whether you’re very experienced or you’re using an AED for the first time, the Powerheart G5 enables you to provide advanced defibrillation therapy as rapidly and confidently as possible,” says Steve. “Now, any rescuer can deliver customised energy with fast shock times and perform CPR according to the latest guidelines. With this powerful combination, the new Powerheart G5 AED can make the difference between life and death.” The Powerheart G5 is available for sale in the United Kingdom. Please check for availability in other countries. www.cardiacscience.com 1 European Resuscitation Council Guidelines for Resuscitation 2010, pg 1278. 2 American Heart Association 2010 Guidelines for CPR and ECC, pg S641.
Emergency Services Times August 2012
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Optimised evacuation strategies during transport emergencies: The SAVE ME Project SAVE ME is a three-year (2009-2012) European Commission funded project coordinated by the Transport Operations Research Group at Newcastle University. The project set out to develop a greater understanding of the role intelligent sensor-based systems could play in mitigating the impacts of a transport emergency event. By detecting the location of a disaster event in public transport terminals and critical infrastructures (ie tunnels and bridges) and determining the relative position of travellers, SAVE ME can provide quick and optimal mass evacuation guidance to help save the lives of the general public as well as optimise rescue strategies for emergency services personnel. It is has been acknowledged that the self-evacuation of individuals that can do so, in a safe and efficient manner, can often be the best way of minimising the impacts of an emergency event.
“The project has demonstrated that the technology developed in SAVE ME does have real potential in helping travellers evacuate during an emergency event.” However, as illustrated in a previous article in the April 2012 edition of EST (Vector Command, p16), emergency events generate a significant amount of data, which has to be managed and processed in a variety of ways, typically in real-time amidst the surrounding chaos and confusion. SAVE ME has developed a number of individual modules, which work in combination to help process these various data streams and provide personalised output information, as illustrated in Figure 1 (above). Working from left to right, the first segment of the SAVE ME system comprises wireless localisation and environmental sensors, which act as the ‘eyes and ears’ of the system to determine if and where an event has occurred and identify where travellers are located. These sensors are designed to be low-cost devices, which form ad-hoc wireless sensor networks (WSNs) to maximise their communicative resilience during an emergency event, ensuring continued data flows should one sensor be damaged or even destroyed. Holistic overview The middle segment of the SAVE ME system forms the ‘brains’ of the whole operation, combining simulation algorithms and visualisation
Figure 1: personalised output information from various data streams.
tools with a Decision Support System (DSS). The DSS is a multi-functional module within the system’s core synthesising different information input streams and running real-time simulations to give operators a holistic overview of the situation as well as key planning and strategic decision support tools to determine optimal actions to be taken. The DSS also gives evacuation teams a guidance tool and is the master link between them and the coordinating personnel in the control room. Finally, the DSS also supplies the essential life-saving information for individual travellers. The final segment takes the outputs from the DSS and passes this onto individuals caught up in the situation, essentially acting as the ‘legs’ of the system. This segment comes in four concurrent strands. The first is the supply of information to operators through the operator support module, providing the aforementioned holistic overview and control of the situation. Next is the directed guidance for rescue personnel providing optimal rescue strategies directly via a tablet PC, helping identify and assist travellers designated as ‘vulnerable users’ or reaching those travellers identified by the system as possibly be trapped or incapacitated. Bespoke guidance The final two strands of the SAVE ME outputs are bespoke guidance for travellers, based upon the actual events taking place. One strand provides travellers who have the SAVE ME app installed on their mobile device with a personalised evacuation plan, based on their approximate location and their individual traveller profile. This profile is preprogrammed into the device during the initialisation stage and includes attributes such as their age, physical capability, degree of partial sightedness etc, which is utilised by the SAVE ME system to help give a defined evacuation route taking these personal factors into account. If a suitable route cannot be determined, these travellers can then be directed to an alternative refuge point to await rescue.
The other guidance strand for travellers is generic or collective guidance. This works in conjunction with the individual guidance module to provide all travellers (primarily those without SAVE ME enabled mobile devices) with real-time evacuation information on dynamic display screens (in the SAVE ME project trials, tablet PCs were utilised for this purpose). Key to these two strands was ensuring that a consistent message was provided across all platforms, to minimise confusion among groups of travellers. Two full-scale trials SAVE ME has been trialled and tested in two full-scale, real-world situations. The first trial took place at the Colle Capretto road tunnel, near Perugia in Italy. The second trial was slightly closer to home, taking place at Monument Metro Station in Newcastle upon Tyne. The purpose of these trials was to provide a robust test of the SAVE ME system outside of the laboratory environment, to gain a greater understanding of the possibilities of WSNs, the DSS and the output displays in the actual environments in which they may one day be used. In addition to the technological aspects, the trials also served to gather feedback on the desirability of the SAVE ME user interfaces from potential future users of technology. The project has demonstrated that the technology developed in SAVE ME does have real potential in helping travellers evacuate during an emergency event. One particularly innovative outcome from this work has been the real-time ‘spawning’ of virtual avatars in the visualisation component of the system based on their actual location within the test environments. Throughout the project the SAVE ME consortium have kept a key message with us at all times: even the world’s most advanced and highly developed technological systems need to have dedicated, well-trained and professional teams of personnel behind them. We must not forget that in any emergency event, the role of multiple individuals working as a single team makes the difference between life and death, success and failure. Ultimately, SAVE ME is designed as a technological system to help these individuals with their duties, and never to replace them. www.save-me.eu
Emergency Services Times August 2012
Author: Dr Gareth Evans, Research Associate in Public Transport Systems, Transport Operations Research Group, Newcastle University