DECEMBER 2012
VOLUME 13 | 6
ᔡ SHOW ISSUE: The Emergency Services Show 2012 ᔡ News: joint working initiatives across the UK plus regional fire control buildings put up for lease by DCLG ᔡ Road Safety: how emergency services can get involved with Road Safety Week ᔡ Profiles include the National Police Air Service and Sheffield’s Fire & Police Museum ᔡ Vehicles: including how ambulance services are coming together to slash carbon emissions ᔡ Company Profiles from North Fire PLC and Thomas Jacks ᔡ Training: Serco combines its resilience capabilities and UK USAR specialists learn from US visit ᔡ People: new Chief Executives for both London Ambulance Service and the College of Policing ᔡ Plus a guide to all the latest products and services available ISSN 1472-1090
www.emergencyservicestimes.com
CONTENTS | 1
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Regular features First Words Editor David Holden discusses partnership working and welcomes the inaugural JESIP National Interoperability Summit to ESS2012
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News Multi agency exercise in Staffordshire, joint training college plans submitted in Northern Ireland and European lifeboat crews learn from the RNLI
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Regional fire control buildings now available for lease
Events
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Details on the IAA 2013 Conference and Life Connections 2013
Contracts & People Paramedic suit revamp for Wales Air Ambulance, leadership award for Cornwall CFO and Leicestershire Chief Constable becomes a Disability Champion
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Profile
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The National Police Air Service, which was launched on 1 October Sheffield’s Fire & Police Museum sets its sights on national status
Company Profile North Fire PLC is exhibiting at The Emergency Services Show 2012 with its three leading brands: Rosenbauer, Metz and Argus
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Page 51 – The National Police Air Service was launched on 1 October.
Inside this issue ESS2012
Communications
Hainsworth takes a look at the issues faced by garment manufacturers when considering the effects of heat stress, plus a round up from exhibitors on what visitors can expect at this year’s Emergency Services Show
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Vehicles
Training
British ambulance services united to slash their carbon emissions, West Midlands Fire Service RRV trial enters second phase, the rescue application of Jet Ski®s, plus a review of NAPFM 2012
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HAZMAT
Road Safety
Details of the HAZMAT Operational Guidance, due to be published by DCLG in November, with articles from West Midlands Fire Service, Environment Agency and the National Chemical Emergency Centre
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Interview with Gary Machado, the Executive Director of the European Emergency Number Association (EENA 112), plus details of GERYON, an EU-funded project exploring interoperability and service provision
Serco looks to combine its resilience capabilities, UK USAR specialists visit the US for a training master class and MTF Training highlights its off-road and ATV training courses
How emergency services can get involved with Road Safety Week, the Highways Agency hopes to reduce congestion through its CLEAR initiative and a closer look at forensic collision investigation
Thomas Jacks brings its product portfolio to The Emergency Services Show 2012
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Product Information A heat-scanning device from Vimpex, safety socks from RUD Chains, plus luminescent hose reel from Premier Hose Technologies
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Last Words Nic Lacey from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service looks at the danger to fire and ambulance crews from cyanide in house fire smoke
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Page 105 – Emergency services in Devon launch Road Safety App.
Emergency Services Times December 2012
2 | A-Z
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Companies Company Name
Page No
3M United Kingdom Plc 102 5.11 Tactical UK 14 A W Hainsworth & Sons Ltd 10 Air Medical Ltd 14 Ansell Ltd 56 Ansell Protective Solutions 56, 110 Antares (Europe) Ltd 31 Argon Electronics 80 Argus Thermal Imaging 55 14 Armadillo Merino® Ashwoods Automotive Ltd 83 Association of Chief Police Officers 51, 83, 99, 101 Audi 46 Avery Dennison GRPD Europe 102 Avon Inflatables Ltd 18 Babcock International 84 Balcan Engineering Ltd 32 BMW 45 Borri 80 Bott Ltd 29 Boundtree Medical 9 Brake 97 Cabinet Office 89 Care Quality Commission 95 Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service 97 Chief Fire and Rescue Adviser 71 Chief Fire Officers’ Association 59, 93, 105 Citroen 45 Civilience Limited 109 College of Policing 80 The Consortium Fire and Rescue 16 Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service 80 Cosalt PLC 21 Crowcon 110 DCBRNC 80 Department for Communities and Local Government 52, 62 Devon and Cornwall Police 22, 105 Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service 29, 80, 105 Devon County Council 105 Dorset Fire and Rescue Service 80 Dorset Police 49 Draeger Safety UK Ltd 79 Durham Tees Valley Airport 89 East of England Ambulance Service 39, 79, 83
Company Name
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Company Name
Page No
Company Name
Page No
Electrosonic 16 Emergency Planning College 87 Emergency Planning Society 8 Emergency Response Driver Training.co.uk 12 Environment Agency 68 Essex County Fire and Rescue Service 83 Essex Police 49 European Emergency Number Association 73 Excelerate Technology 25, 29 The EXIT Project 107 Ferno 21 FIAT 45 Fire & Police Museum 95 The Fire Service College 62, 65 Fire Smoke Coalition Inc 112 Ford 45, 46 Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service 93 Grampian Police 7 Great Western Ambulance Service 7, 25 Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service 112 Guernsey Ambulance and Rescue Service 8 Halls Auto Electrical 46 Hampshire Constabulary 80 Hampshire Fire and Rescue Service 83 Health Protection Agency 61, 68 Highways Agency 84, 99 HM Coastguard 8, 49 Honda 45 Hornsea Inshore Rescue 49 Hyundai 45, 46 ICT Workshop Solutions 22 Independent Ambulance Association 9 Institute of Accident Investigators 101 International Fire Training Centre 87 Intersurgical 9 Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service 105 Joint Public Services College 8 Kawasaki 49 Kent Fire and Rescue Service 7 Laerdal Medical 9 Land Rover 43 Language Line Services 83 Leeds University 39, 97 Leicestershire Police 32, 83 Lexus 45 Life Connections 2013 9
Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue 32 London Ambulance Service 80 Lyon Equipment 31 Maritime and Coastguard Agency 52 Mazda 45 MDD Europe Ltd 12 Mercedes Benz 45 Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service 49, 93 Metropolitan Police Service 84 Metz 55 Michelmores 79 Mitsubishi 45, 46 MTF Training 94 National Ambulance Resilience Unit 83 National Chemical Emergency Centre 71 National Police Air Service 51 National Policing Improvement Agency 51, 83 NEC Display Solutions Europe 16 Nissan 45 North West Ambulance Service 7, 39 Northern Constabulary 7 Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service 79 Orafol Reflective Solutions 102 Panasonic Computer Products Solutions 32 ParAid Medical 79 Peli Products 110 Petzl 31 Peugeot 45, 46 PhysioControl 9 Plymouth University 74 Police Federation 97 Premier Hazard Ltd 31 Premier Hose Technologies 110 Proton 45 REMA 102 Rennicks UK 40, 102 Reznor 79 Road Safety Week 97 Rosenbauer 55 Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service 8, 27 Royal National Lifeboat Institution 8, 49 Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents 8, 12 RSG Engineering Ltd 22 RUD Chains Ltd 110 Scottish Ambulance Service 39
Scottish Fire Services College 62 SEAT 46 Serco Combined Resilience 87 Siemens 9 Simulaids 9 Skoda 37, 46 SMP Electronics 109 South Central Ambulance Service 39 South Western Ambulance Service 105 South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service 22 SP Services 9 St John Ambulance 95 Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service 7, 112 Staffordshire Police 7, 97 Surrey County Council 79 Surrey Police 25, 27 Suzuki 45 telent 79 Thomas Jacks 76 Toyota 43, 45 Trelleborg Protective Products 56 Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service 8, 79 United Kingdom Rescue Organisation 105 University of Wolverhampton 89 VAG Group 45, 46 Vauxhall 39, 45, 46 Vehicle and Operator Services Agency 99 Vimpex Limited 79, 110 Virgin Media Business 80 Vocal 8 VW 46 Wales Air Ambulance 79 Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service 79 Water-Jel 9, 32 West Midlands Fire Service 27, 43, 59, 61, 68, 83 West Midlands Ambulance Service 7 West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service 97, 112 West Yorkshire Police 51 Whitby & Co 110 Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service 80 Winsted 18 World Rescue Challenge 105 Yorkshire Ambulance Service 39, 80 Zenith Control 52 Zoll 9
Company Name
Company Name
Company Name
Advertisers Company Name
5.11 Tactical AA SORT AccuLux AgustaWestland Air & Ground Air Medical Ltd Aireshelta Alpha Solway Amputees in Action Angus Fire Ansell Protective Solutions Antares (Europe) Ltd Avon Inflatables Ltd AW Hainsworth & Sons Babcock International Balcan Engineering Ltd BBB Investments Ltd Bluecher Bluelite Graphics Ltd BMW Authorities The Boot Repair Company Ltd Bott Ltd Bristol Uniforms British Red Cross BT Fleet
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19 106 100 50 47 108 100 60 104 107 56 34 48 94 91 85 78 58 106 46 111 23 54 50 41
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Bullard GmbH 88 Canland UK (Hot Pack) Ltd 108 Cardiac Science Holdings (UK) Ltd IFC The Consortium Fire and Rescue 75 Cosalt 82 CREST 64 Draeger Safety UK Ltd 69 Edinburgh Airport Fire Training Centre 88 Emergency Response Driver Training.co.uk 88 Excelerate Technology Ltd FC, 25 Ferno (UK) Ltd 24 Firemain Engineering Ltd 30 Fire Service College 67 G&E Automatic Equipment Ltd/Electrolux 60 Getac UK Ltd 75 Garmin 38 Haix – Schuhe Produktions und Vertriebs GmbH 11 Halfords Business Services 44 Hamad Medical Group 57 IC Brindle & Co 106 ISG Infrasys 64 Laerdal Medical Ltd 17 LED Lenser Torches – Ledco Ltd 6 Le Maitre 86
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Lakeside Films Lintran Lyon Equipment Limited Mammut MTF Training Mines Rescue Service Nightsearcher Ltd North Fire PLC Onus Technologies Ltd PageOne Peli Products (UK) Ltd The Photon Shop Pickup Systems Ltd Premier Hazard Primetech UK Ltd Red Box Recorders Limited Rescue 3 Rigiflex RSG Engineering Limited RUD Chains RuptureSeal™ Ruth Lee Limited RVG Scott Safety Serco Combined Resilience
Emergency Services Times December 2012
98 43 77, 81 35 86 111 82 20 96 72 82 103 42 96 35, 92 19 26 108 103 98 60 86 103 63 47
Skoda SMP Electronics SP Services (UK) Ltd Strongs Plastic Products Surf & Turf Instant Shelters Survitec Group TenCate Protect bv Thomas Jacks Ltd TOYOBO CO LTD TRACKER Network (UK) Ltd Turtleskin University of Leicester Vauxhall Special Vehicles Vimpex Limited VW Commercial VW Group Water Direct Water-Jel WH Bence (Coachworks) Ltd Woodway Engineering Ltd Workwear and Corporate Clothing Show WILL-BURT YKK (UK) Ltd Zenith Control
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15 9 OBC 34 103 106 78 54 70 33 108 44 13 38 3 28 67 91 4 104 IBC 100 48 53
FIRST WORDS | 5
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Date:
December 2012
Editor: David J. Holden MEng(Hons) Twitter: @999editor davidholden@brodenmedia.com Advertisement Manager: David Brown davidbrown@brodenmedia.com Advertisement Sales: Carol Fox carolfox@brodenmedia.com
Show of strength from partnership working Welcome to this special Show Issue of Emergency Services Times (EST), published to coincide with The Emergency Services Show 2012, which takes place at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire from 21-22 November.
Office & Events Manager: Lesley Stevenson lesleystevenson@brodenmedia.com Marketing Manager: Emma Nicholls emmanicholls@brodenmedia.com Circulation: Christine Knoll admin@hpcpublishing.com
Joint Managing Directors: David Brown David Holden Published by
Robert Denholm House, Bletchingley Road Nutfield, Surrey RH1 4HW Tel: 01737 824010 Fax: 01737 824011 e-mail: davidbrown@brodenmedia.com www: brodenmedia.com Distribution: EMERGENCY SERVICES TIMES is free of charge to officers and managers who are buyers or specifiers actively involved in the procurement of equipment or services within the emergency response industry and based in the UK and Irish Republic. All other categories of reader are invited to subscribe at £130.00 to UK addresses and £165.00 overseas. Single copy price £25.00 including post and packing. The articles within Emergency Services Times are copyright and are the property of the publisher Broden Media Limited and cannot be reproduced in any media form without permission of the publisher. Application should be made in writing. Reprints of articles and advertisements are available, allow 28 days for delivery. PDF pages are available by email at £20.00 (+VAT) per page (€32.50, $33). Prices on application to the publisher. Printed by Manor Creative Tel: 01323 514400 Studio work by Keystrokes, Shoreham by Sea, West Sussex Tel: 01273 453300 keystrokes@btconnect.com
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Broden Media publishes EST and organises The Emergency Services Show, now in its seventh year. Together with its people and products directory, the EST Directory, and its respected monthly e-newsletter, Emergency Services Times has brought news of multi-agency working and collaboration to the UK’s first responders since November 2000.
“Thank you to our partners, our advertisers and exhibitors, who have supported the magazine and the show in 2012.” Ask many frontline personnel whether they collaborate with colleagues from other emergency services or partnering agencies regularly and they’ll probably say there are isolated occurrences when such working was beneficial. Yet highlight the occasions, every day, when theses interactions actually occur, in response to road traffic collisions, road safety partnerships, in flood response, urban search and rescue, for example, and they’ll concede that these occasions are more frequent than they first thought. Further still, outline the similarities in the vehicles and communications equipment they use and the PPE they wear, not to mention their shared goal of protecting public safety, and the idea of a more joined-up way of thinking and operating – Interoperability – becomes one of those ‘why didn’t we think of this before’ ideas. The fact is, we did. The first occurrence of the term ‘Interoperability’ in EST appeared in its February 2003 issue, in an article discussing the possibility of interoperable communications systems between services, and yet, almost 10 years later and despite major advances in certain areas, the word Interoperability is still
mispronounced, misunderstood and is yet to be fully embraced by industry. I am delighted therefore that the JESIP National Interoperability Summit is taking place alongside this year’s Emergency Services Show, where leaders and strategic managers from UK Cat 1 and 2 responders will come together to address this critically important topic. The JESIP Summit is an important stepping-stone to a more widespread use of the term Interoperability, and real Interoperability between emergency responders, and I applaud the organisers, the Chief Fire Officers’ Association, Association of Chief Police Officers and Association of Ambulance Chief Executives, for bringing together such a high profile and diverse audience to discuss a way forward.
Partnering the JESIP Summit with the UK’s leading showcase of emergency services equipment and services is a perfect match – bringing the decisionmakers and leading lights in emergency response together with the most technologically advanced and innovative kit available. I’m sure that visitors to the show, delegates at the JESIP Summit and the equipment manufacturers and suppliers displaying their kit will all leave Stoneleigh Park richer for their experiences during the event. Finally, I would like to say thank you to our partners, our advertisers and exhibitors, who have supported the magazine and the show in 2012, not to mention our suppliers and staff, who have contributed to such a successful year for Broden Media. Thanks again.
David Holden | Editor Emergency Services Times To sign up to the FREE EST E-newsletter visit www.emergencyservicestimes.com and complete the simple form.
Emergency Services Times December 2012
NEWS | 7
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NWAS scoops Multi-agency exercise tests NHS the top prize… response to fire evacuation West Midlands Ambutwice! lance Service’s Haz-
Margo Kane, Director of Organisational Development, North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust.
North West Ambulance Service NHS Trust (NWAS) has become the country’s first ambulance service to achieve the prestigious Investors in People Gold award. Margo Kane, Director of Human Resources and Organisational Development for NWAS, said, “We’re absolutely delighted to achieve this award, which clearly demonstrates the high standard of training, support and education provision within the trust. We were last assessed three years ago, when we received the Bronze standard so to have now being awarded the Gold is a significant achievement.” The trust has comprehensive and varied education and training opportunities for clinical, support and managerial staff and was one of the first NHS trusts to be accredited as a training provider by the Chartered Management Institute, offering diplomas in management and team leadership. In the last financial year alone, over 900 members of the service’s workforce have benefited from a range of in-house workshops and training, and over 100 participated in external activities, such as Public Health, Healthcare Practice and Personnel and Development degree and Masters courses. Another success for NWAS came when its Department of ICT recently scooped the NHS North West Health Informatics Award for Informatics Team of the Year, following the service’s successful move into its modernised premises at the Parkway Business Centre earlier this year. The migration took 11 months to complete at a cost of £2.7m with a project team of 12 specialists, 75 contractors, 8000 hours of work, and 56 tonnes of waste, of which 86 percent was recycled. www.nwas.nhs.uk
ardous Area Response Team (HART) recently joined more than 150 members of staff and volunteers from the NHS in Staffordshire for Exercise Prometheus. The exercise involving Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership NHS Trust, Combined Healthcare NHS Trust and Burton Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust was held on 7 October in order to test the NHS response to fire evacuation. The exercise was supported by emergency services representatives from WMAS, Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service and Staffordshire Police. The evacuation exercise saw vacant wards at Queen’s Hospital, Burton being transformed into a number of hospital units, which included a critical care and mental health unit. Firefighters filled the makeshift wards with harmless smoke during the exercise to give the scenario a sense of realism. Alongside volunteers acting out patient roles the exercise used SimMan simulation mannequins to occupy the critical care beds. It is believed that it is the first time that these mannequins
In brief . . . Diggerland in Strood was the venue for some unusual rescue training involving two appliances and a specialist team from Kent Fire and Rescue Service (KFRS). Crews from Strood and Hoo worked alongside firefighters from KFRS’s Urban Search and Rescue team to free a casualty from the eight-foot deep trench. The aim of the exercise, which was carried out on 18 October, was to test the firefighters’ use of safe access equipment and stabilisation gear. www.kent.fire-uk.org
Photo: Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership Trust.
that can ‘talk’, blink and breathe have been used in a NHS emergency drill. During the exercise the high-tech mannequins mimicked a range of health problems, including some lifethreatening conditions. James Price, WMAS HART Manager, said, “I would like to thank Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership Trust for the allowing us to get involved in this exercise. We have gained valuable information with regards to patient management in a fire situation. The opportunities to train on hospital premises are few and far between. The lessons we have learned will help develop policies and procedures for HART nationally.” Geraint Griffiths, Deputy Chief Executive of Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent NHS Partnership Trust, said, “The exercise was as realistic as possible and NHS staff and volunteers did a fantastic job working collaboratively with our partners from all the emergency services. “The event gave all involved the opportunity to fully test responses to fire evacuation. Any learning from the exercise will now influence the development of any future plans and we hope to arrange further training opportunities involving all NHS trusts and partner organisations from Staffordshire to make more improvements Alongside volunteers acting out patient roles the exercise used to our plans.” SimMan simulation mannequins to occupy the critical care beds. Photo: Staffordshire and Stoke on Trent Partnership Trust.
www.wmas.nhs.uk
Emergency Services Times December 2012
Members of the public are being urged by the emergency services to ensure their property numbers or names are clearly identifiable. Staffordshire Fire and Rescue Service, in conjunction with West Midlands Ambulance Service and Staffordshire Police, have recently launched a new safety campaign ‘Signs Save Lives’. The campaign will see the distribution of a postcard to residents within Staffordshire, which asks them to carry out a few simple measures to ensure that if they ever do need the assistance of the emergency services, that they can be found as quickly as possible. www.staffordshirefire.gov.uk/2371.asp
A multi-agency team comprising Northern Constabulary, Grampian Police, Moray Firth Radio (MFR), Northsound and sponsor Diageo has picked up the Prince Michael International Road Safety Award for its commitment to road safety. The award, for the three-month road safety campaign: Winter Safe Journey, was presented to the team at Dunblane Hydro on 24 October at the Road Safety Scotland Seminar. The objectives of this highly successful campaign are to promote, educate and inform road users within the Highlands, Moray, Aberdeenshire and Aberdeen City of the key messages around: responsible drinking; winter safety vehicle maintenance; and driving under the influence of alcohol. www.northern.police.uk
Great Western Ambulance Service NHS Trust (GWAS) is to relocate its Wiltshire emergency operations centre (EOC) in Devizes to its existing Acuma House EOC facility in north Bristol. The move is part of the trust’s 10-year estates strategy – announced last year – designed to ensure it has the most appropriate facilities to provide the best possible patient care in the most costeffective way. As a result, GWAS will not provide services from Wiltshire EOC after 31 March 2013 and will vacate the building. Relocating the EOC will deliver a recurring £700,000 a year saving. www.gwas.nhs.uk
8 | NEWS
In brief . . . The Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service (RBFRS) Extrication Team has once again proved that it is the very best of the best by winning the World Rescue Challenge for the second year running. The challenge, which saw the RBFRS team competing against the top fire and rescue teams from as far afield as Australia and Canada, took place at London’s ExCel Centre from 18-20 October. As well as coming first overall, the RBFRS team was awarded best medic and best incident commander. The team, which primarily trains in its spare time and finances its participation at competitions mainly through sponsorship and self-funding, also came first in the standard challenge and third in the complex challenge. www.rbfrs.co.uk
Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service recently received a Gold award at the Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents (RoSPA) Occupational Health and Safety Awards 2012. The RoSPA awards are presented to organisations that have excellent health, safety and welfare management systems in place and can show continuous success in reducing accidents among employees. The accolade is the eighth Gold Award for the service, which has seen the total number of work-based accidents reduced from 208 in 2004 to 58 in 2012, a 72 percent reduction; while vehicle-related accidents have dropped from 115 in 2006 to 46 in the last five years, a 60 percent reduction. www.twfire.gov.uk
Vocal’s Incident Log, the latest addition to the company’s award winning iModus suite, has been officially recognised by the Emergency Planning Society as the ‘Most Innovative Product of the Year’. iModus is a global notification and on-demand messaging solution, which includes incident management, business continuity management, lone worker and crisis line applications. The winners of the UK Emergency Planning Society’s Resilience Awards were announced on 19 September at a gala dinner in Northamptonshire. This is the second Emergency Planning Award that Vocal has won in the past three years, underlining its position as an industry leader and the company’s commitment to innovation within the sector. www.vocal.co.uk
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European lifeboat crew visit Poole to learn from the RNLI
Marine ambulance takes part in Diamond Jubilee Pageant
Lifeboat crew from around Europe gathered recently at the Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) in Poole as part of a unique exchange programme.
Guernsey’s Marine Ambulance arrives in London
The visiting crew visited Boscombe beach in order to carry out lifeguard training exercises with the RNLI. Photo: RNLI/Nathan Williams
Seven crewmembers representing Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Germany and Iceland spent time alongside RNLI crew for a week in October. During their stay, they were given a tour of the RNLI College, took part in lifeboat, hovercraft and lifeguard exercises and visited the HM Coastguard helicopter unit in the Solent. Exchange programme The exchange programme was put together through the International Maritime Rescue Federation (IMRF), which aims to bring the world’s maritime search and rescue organisations together to share their lifesaving ideas, technologies and experiences. Similar programmes are happening in each of the countries taking part so seven RNLI crewmembers will be able to travel abroad to learn more about how life saving is done in different parts of Europe. Peter Dawes, RNLI Head of Lifeguard Operations, was one of those involved in the scheme. He said, “This is a fantastic opportunity for crews to exchange information at an operational level. We hope that the success of this inaugural programme will mean it is run in future years.” www.rnli.org.uk
The marine ambulance ‘Flying Christine III’, operated by Guernsey’s Ambulance and Rescue Service, took part in the Thames Diamond Jubilee Pageant in London this summer, which celebrated the 60-year reign of Her Majesty The Queen.
The Marine Ambulance ‘Flying Christine III’ passes under Tower Bridge.
Representing ambulance services The marine ambulance was in the fifth group of 1000 vessels that took part in the flotilla, representing Guernsey, St John and ambulance services nationally, while also acting in an operational capacity as part of the London Ambulance Service’s response for the event. Flying Christine III is a 14m vessel on call 24-hours a day from the Channel Island of Guernsey’s largest port. She was specifically designed for the high-speed provision of medical aid at sea to anyone falling ill or suffering an injury anywhere on the water around Guernsey or its neighbouring smaller Islands.
2012 is not only the Diamond Jubilee year of Her Majesty The Queen; it is also the 60th anniversary of Guernsey’s marine ambulance service, with the ‘Flying Christine III’ being the third vessel having served in this capacity. Equipped like an emergency road ambulance, but with additional facilities for search and rescue, the vessels have saved numerous lives since their introduction in 1952. Although her role is primarily answering medical emergencies or accidents on board ships or on neighbouring Islands, Flying Christine III is also available to assist the RNLI and coastguard in rescues or searches at sea. It operates to all of the Channel Islands and frequently exercises with UK search and rescue helicopters and local rescue organisations. The crew is made up of paramedics and EMTs from Guernsey’s ambulance service and a group of qualified coxswains and engineers who give their time voluntarily to respond to emergency calls. Hit with the public The ‘Flying Christine III’ attracted a lot of attention from other vessels and the public who were lining the banks of the Thames and was filmed and photographed thousands of times during the afternoon, as the only marine ambulance in the Pageant. www.ambulance.org.gg
Minister welcomes application for joint training college Northern Ireland’s Justice Minister David Ford has said he wants to see the country’s proposed new training college for the police, prison and fire officer services progress as quickly as possible. Welcoming the submission of the full planning application for the £140m training college the Minister said it would be a world leader in its field. With work expected to start at the college next year and a completion date of 2015, the project will create up to 2000 construction jobs. David Ford said, “This new college
at Desertcreat is a significant investment by my Department and the Executive in the public services we all rely on to keep us safe. “I know there is huge public support for this project and I am committed to see it progress as quickly as possible. Once operational, this will be a world class facility, recognised internationally as a centre of excellence for training.” Minister Edwin Poots added, “This is an important landmark; we are moving ever closer to realising state
Emergency Services Times December 2012
of the art and integrated training facilities, which will support our firefighters, police officers and prison officers in continuing to deliver the best possible service to the people of Northern Ireland. The expectation is that the Joint Public Services College will develop best practice in training, technology, sustainability and ecology and will be recognised by peer organisations as a world class partnership training environment.” www.planningni.gov.uk
EVENTS | 9
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IAA Conference 2013 Politicians and leaders from the public and private healthcare communities will be among speakers at the IAA’s first conference, which is planned for 16 May 2013 at the Kettering Conference Centre. The conference aims to address the critical issues facing the future ambulance service – social and economic, finance, skills training, technology, communications – to ensure it delivers an unrivalled patient experience. Get on the ‘early bird’ list to receive a preview of the programme and delegate/exhibition fees please email your interest in attending (without any commitment whatsoever) to david.davis@iaauk.org. www.iaauk.org
Forthcoming Events Road Safety Week 2012 www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk
19-25 November
The Emergency Services Show 2012 Stoneleigh Park www.emergencyuk.com Follow @999editor
21-22 November
IAA Conference Kettering Conference Centre www.iaauk.org
16 May 2013
Blue Light Fleet Exhibition Telford www.napfmevent.org.uk
4-5 June 2013
Life Connections 2013: six individual conferences – one great event Life Connections, the unique multi-conference event, will be taking place at the Kettering Conference Centre from 16-17 May 2013. To date six individual conferences, each a CPD provider, have been confirmed, which should be of interest to paramedics, volunteer first responders, private ambulance companies, first aid trainers, BASICS and HART members, emergency planning staff and anyone interested in resuscitation. The current conference line up features: Paramedic Practice, SADS UK (Volunteer First Responding), IAA (Private Ambulance Companies), AoFA (First Aid), ICPEM (Emergency Planning) and Resuscitation Today. In addition, Outreach Rescue will again be running a workshop, which has limited delegate places. To view each individual programme and see delegate rates etc, please visit www.lifeconnections.co.uk. Now in its sixth year, Life Connections has proved to be extremely popular among delegates.
With delegate rates next year starting from only £35 + VAT, organisers believe each of the separate conferences taking place at the event will again be popular and likely to attract even greater numbers than the 680 that attended this year. In addition to enjoying the conference programme, delegates will again have the opportunity to see and try the latest equipment currently available, during break out times, as over 40 exhibitors will be present, including: SP Services, Zoll, Boundtree Medical, Simulaids, PhysioControl, Water-Jel, Siemens, Intersurgical, Laerdal and many more. Make a note in your diary now and visit the website to secure your delegate place. www.lifeconnections.uk.com
Emergency Services Times December 2012
10 | ESS2012
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Finding the balance between protection and comfort Innovative fabrics from leading British textile manufacturer Hainsworth help to protect firefighters and other emergency service personnel worldwide. Managing Director Tom Hainsworth considers the growing awareness of the importance of combating heat stress on the frontline. Significant advances have been made not only in the personal protective equipment (PPE) used by emergency service personnel around the world but also in terms of the thinking that goes into today’s kit. heat radiation, convection and conduction aided by vasodilation. When the ambient temperature of the surroundings rises to above 35°C (95°F), heat loss through radiation, convection and conduction stops and the only way left for the body to cool itself is through sweat evaporation. This will also stop if the heat and humidity becomes excessive, causing the body to store the excess heat produced and produce a rise in the core body temperature.
While there was a time, not too long ago, when the major consideration for firefighters and other personnel was thermal protection, the issue of heat stress management is now increasingly regarded as just as important. Emergency service personnel and some users of industrial PPE are affected by the physiological impact of wearing what can often be seen as an overcoat in a hot and humid environment. The balance between protection and comfort has challenged textile manufacturers like Hainsworth and the rest of the PPE industry for decades. An example of this careful balancing act can be seen with police officers in riot situations who now wear fire retardant PPE, but also have to contend with the physiological impact of wearing such clothing, often for many hours.
“… by managing heat stress effectively, there is a significant financial saving to be made in terms of loss of productivity caused by ill health and sick leave.” Similarly, ambulance crews can be involved for long periods at road traffic incidents, collapsed buildings, air and rail disasters, where they will face severe climatic conditions impacting directly on their physiology. Heat stress awareness Growing awareness of the issue of heat stress – considered one of the biggest threats to the safety of firefighters and other emergency service personnel – can be seen in the introduction of various standards in recent years. These include the incorporation of Water Vapour Resistance testing into EN469: 2005, the introduction of a physiological Annex F into the latest revision of EN469 and the development of the sweating articulated manikin test method ISO 15831:2004. The new physiological annex for the firefighters’ protective clothing standard, contained within prEN469, reinstates an annex that had previously been removed due to lack of agreement among the experts. The latest proposed revision consists of a new Sweating Torso test method developed by
EMPA in Switzerland and an alternate physiological test using test subjects. Total Heat Loss requirements were introduced into NFPA 1971 in 2000 with the level of stringency being stepped up five years ago from 130W/m2 to 205W/m2. A further recognition of the importance of heat stress management could be seen with the changing of NFPA 1584 ‘Recommended Practice on the Rehabilitation of Members Operating at Incident Scene Operations and Training Exercises’ 2003 edition to a standard in 2008 to provide guidance for job specific, safe working procedures for the prevention of heat related disorders. Heat stress, if not managed and monitored effectively, not only imperils the life of a firefighter and other emergency service workers, but, on a more day to day basis, can seriously harm someone’s decision-making ability which, in turn, then potentially puts the lives of colleagues in danger. How the body reacts to heat To understand why the issue of heat stress is so important, there is a need to appreciate how the human body reacts to heat. The body’s internal core temperature is closely regulated and remains within a very tightly defined range from approximately 36-38°C (97-99.5°F). This temperature range is maintained by controlling the equilibrium between the amount of heat the body produces through physical activity, the amount of heat stored by the body and the amount of heat lost to the surroundings through sweat evaporation and
Symptoms of heat stress The first symptoms of heat stress are thirst and muscle cramps caused by dehydration. Dehydration levels as low as two percent of body weight can cause slower reaction times and loss of concentration, both of which can put someone in great danger. Ensuring that the firefighter or other emergency services worker is well hydrated can mitigate the effects of heat stress and dehydration is easier to prevent than treat. If the core body temperature continues to rise, it can lead to heat exhaustion (symptoms of which include fatigue, dizziness and nausea) and finally heat stroke (core body temperature in excess of 40°C/104°F), symptoms of which include seizures, unconsciousness and potentially death. A serious side effect throughout this process is mental confusion and irrational behaviour, which can affect the decision-making process of the individual and pose a high risk to the well being and safety not only of that individual, but also of all members of his or her team. Managing heat stress is as much about protecting physical health as it is about protecting mental health and the decision-making capability of the individual and the team at large. There are a number of factors, which play a key role in the management and elimination of heat stress. Two of the most important are enhanced personal and operational discipline. The former includes the maintenance and monitoring of fitness and hydration levels, good diet and avoidance of alcohol and caffeine prior to being on duty. The latter concerns crew rotation, rest and recuperation, active cooling and regular employee health checks. A holistic approach Increasingly, those responsible for the procurement of PPE are looking for a holistic approach from companies such as Hainsworth, which designs its fabrics with a complete understanding of how they interact with the various layers in the system. Serious consideration is given to each layer to offer the best possible performance,
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ESS2012 | 11 which encourages effective moisture movement through the system and, with it, the best possible heat stress management. In these tough financial times, there is also an acute awareness that by managing heat stress effectively, there is a significant financial saving to be made in terms of loss of productivity caused by ill health and sick leave. Mark Jones, Chief Fire Officer with Buckinghamshire Fire and Rescue Service, says, “The importance of heat stress management is now widely recognised and it is a subject in which we are also more knowledgeable and technically efficient than we have ever been. “Today’s firefighters are far more educated about the personal and operational issues surrounding heat stress management and, through their growing knowledge of equipment used by other services, about the PPE available on the market. “We work with our fire crews to help them understand the issues of heat stress and how they can avoid or mitigate the symptoms. For example, we talk a lot about the importance of personal hydration and of opening their tunics, when safe to do so, to enhance breathability and accelerate cooling during recovery periods. Our firefighters may be better protected than ever before with PPE, which is of a far higher specification, but it is important that their awareness and knowledge of the dangers they face remain high. “In an ideal world, someone would develop PPE with a single directional flow of heat or kit which was totally heat resistant, but this is unlikely to be viable.”
Advances in technology The nature of the job means that emergency services personnel are already operating in a far more stressful environment than virtually every other occupation. By continuing to make advances in heat stress management technology, we cannot only help them continue to perform to the highest possible standards operationally but also save lives. www.hainsworth.co.uk
Visit A W Hainsworth & Sons Ltd at ESS2012 on Stand 116 in Hall 2. Author: Tom Hainsworth, Managing Director, Hainsworth
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Driving ambition Emergency Response Driver Training.co.uk is owned and operated by Stephen Milton, a senior emergency response driving instructor with over 14 years’ experience in delivering training to many emergency services, including one of Europe’s largest fire and rescue services. The company provides RoSPA-accredited emergency response blue light driver training courses and is the first training provider that offers a RoSPA National Diploma in Emergency Response Driving Instruction. Driver training is based on individual competencies in accordance with the draft High Speed Driver Training Codes of Practice. These must be achieved when the legislation changes, in order to claim exemptions as determined by Section 19 of the Road Safety Act 2006. The courses are delivered at your location by highly qualified ex-emergency services personnel with many years’ experience to meet your needs and the requirements of Section 19 of The Road Safety Act 2006. The company’s Emergency Response Training car will be on Stand OS43.
The Mountain Rescue/SAR 4x4 Emergency Response Drivers Training course adopts a flexible delivery approach and is designed for volunteer personnel that are required as part of their operational duties to respond under emergency response conditions in a 4x4 vehicle category ‘B’. Ambulance Emergency Response Driver Training is designed for personnel that are required as part of their operational duties to respond under emergency response conditions in a vehicle category ‘C1’ or ‘D1’.
Training courses available The Car/4x4 and Rapid Response Vehicle Emergency Response Driver Training course is designed for personnel that are required as part of their operational duties to respond under emergency response conditions in a vehicle category ‘B’.
Emergency response conditions The Fire Appliance Emergency Response Driver Training course is designed for personnel that are required as part of their operational duties to respond under emergency response conditions in a vehicle category ‘C’. Finally, for personnel that are required as part of their operational duties to respond under emergency response conditions airside or landside in a vehicle, there’s the Airport Fire Appliance and 4x4 Emergency Response Driver Training course. The aforementioned RoSPA National Diploma in Emergency Response Driving Instruction is
available on all the driving courses delivered by Emergency Response Driver Training.co.uk and is based on individual competencies that the instructor must achieve when Section 19 of The Road Safety Act 2006 is implemented. Emergency Response Driver Training.co.uk will be exhibiting at The Emergency Services Show 2012, which takes place from 21-22 November at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry. For all your emergency response driver training needs please visit the team on Stand 560 in Hall 3 and the company’s Emergency Response Training car will be on Stand OS43 in the outside display area. www.emergencyresponsedrivertraining.co.uk
Visit Emergency Response Driver Training.co.uk at ESS2012 on Stand 560 in Hall 3 and Stand OS43 in the Outside Area.
Highest quality trauma equipment and training
MDD Europe Ltd combines more than 50 years of medical, training and management skills within the team, which comprises long-term paramedics, medical engineers and trainers. The company’s goal is to improve the safety, the level of training and the quality of equipment with its trauma care training and supplies to high-risk areas like motorsport, shooting or any outdoor activity.
MDD Europe’s training programmes and products are designed for civilian emergency and fire and rescue services, police forces, first aid and survival training academies and civilians around the world. All its products are protected by international patents and are manufactured according to the highest international standards, with FDA and CE approval. www.mdd-europe.com
Visit MDD Europe at ESS2012 on Stand 418 in Hall 3.
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Head to toe innovation 5.11 creates superior products that enhance the safety, accuracy, speed and performance of law enforcement, military and fire fighting professionals worldwide. Built on a foundation of durability, quality and value, 5.11 leads the industry in delivering functionally innovative gear, head to toe. EMS trousers 5.11 EMS trousers are loaded with features, performance, and a great fit that you won’t find anywhere else. They offer fade-resistance and a professional appeal and are available in 205g polycotton twill. The EMS trousers also feature: self-adjusting comfort-waist; gusseted crotch; Teflon treated for stain and soil resistance; and full-size cargo pockets with internal dividers and external EMS specific pockets. Men’s EMS trousers are available in both black and dark navy, in 28-44in waist sizes and from 30-36in inside leg. Women’s EMS trousers are available in dark navy only, in sizes 2-16 with both regular (30-32) and long (34-36) inside leg. EMS Backpack
Worldwide aeromedical transfers AirMed is the UK’s leading fixed wing air ambulance company. Based in Oxford with a fleet of six air ambulance aircraft, the company is ideally placed for both its worldwide operations and for all secondary transfers within the UK and Europe. All transfers carried out by AirMed are consultant-led and all team members are highly trained in aeromedical operations and cover specialties such as obstetrics, paediatrics, neonatalogy and intensive care. During 2011, AirMed transported 600 patients with over 32 percent being critical care. Many of these transfers were on behalf of the NHS and ambulance trusts to transport patients for step-up care at the specialist centres and also to transfer them back to their local trust once specialist treatment had been completed. Other missions included emergency medical evacuations and repatriations from places like Uganda, Ascension Island, Kazakhstan, Brunei, the US, Thailand and Goa. The company is registered with the Care Quality Commission (England) for all of the regulated activities required to enable it to provide full medical care on board the aircraft for intensive care transfers. In addition, AirMed was awarded ‘Special Care’ Accreditation by EURAMI (European Aeromedical Institute) in 2010. This, combined with being a fully approved provider to the NHS and MoD, assures all clients that the highest possible standards of care are given and attention to detail is second to none.
AirMed’s perinatal service was launched in March 2011 and since then the company has transported over 40 high-risk obstetric and neonatal cases, including two sets of twins. It has three fully integrated incubator systems (two BabyPods and one Draeger), allowing complete flexibility in the carriage of mother and baby, either in-utero or following birth. AirMed can also provide all of your aeromedical training needs. www.airmed.co.uk
Visit Air Medical Ltd at ESS2012 on Stand 558 in Hall 3.
Saving your skin, with merino
The Responder 84 ALS Backpack in Alert Blue.
The Responder 84 ALS™ Backpack is here to serve. It is constructed from rugged 1000D durable water resistant nylon with YKK zippers, compression straps, haul handle and hydration compartment. The Backpack includes a removable airway kit bag (blue) and IV kit bag (red) with lockable zipper pulls and foldout organiser panels. The Internal Tank-Trap™ securely carries an oxygen tank and adjusts for position. An outside ‘Shove-it’ pocket provides a place to quickly stow a helmet or jacket. http://5.11t.ac/emscat
Visit 5.11 Tactical UK at ESS2012 on Stand 60 in Hall 2.
Armadillo Merino® specialises in next-to-skin merino wool garments for the improved protection, performance and comfort of front line officers. Protecting your skin is essential. The skin is your largest sensory organ with more than four million sensory receptors providing live feedback on temperature, pressure, pain and touch. It is your skin that determines your perception of comfort not your outer layers. We need to give as much attention to providing an effective skin side layer as to the outer layers towards improving the operational effectiveness of our teams. Merino wool has natural properties that create a buffer zone around the body, significantly improving the wearer experience over a wider range of working environments, especially when worn under PPE. The soft, fine merino wool increases your tolerance to heat and cold, with improved moisture management and the bonus of not producing body odour even after multi-day use. Garment layering is another effective way of enhancing user comfort and protection when working over a wide range of environments. Merino base layers improve the users’ comfort and
Police Maritime Firearms Officers deploying from Weymouth in preparation for the Olympics and Paralympics. Armadillo Merino base layers aided these officers in managing the heat, cold, wet and windy conditions experienced throughout the Games.
their operational range when worn as a layering system without having to strip off or layer up. www.armadillomerino.com
Visit Armadillo Merino® at ESS2012 on Stand 144 in Hall 2.
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Approved Supplier List announced for purchases under the OJEU threshold The Consortium Fire and Rescue has launched an Approved Supplier List (ASL) for purchases by the emergency services whose value is under the OJEU threshold. The idea came about following feedback from procurement professionals using The Consortium’s frameworks. They felt that an additional solution was needed for under-threshold items that both complies with internal regulations and ensures suppliers have been through a process of due diligence. Quick and convenient With budgets and resources under increasing pressure, The Consortium says the ASL will offer a quick and convenient way to obtain relevant quotations and purchase from appropriate suppliers. The Consortium will use its expertise and experience in public sector procurement to ensure a rigorous selection process so customers can be confident in purchasing from suppliers on the list. The ASL will offer a free-to-use, web-based database of pre-approved suppliers, which can reduce the time spent sourcing information by public sector procurement departments. It will be available from the same website as The Consortium’s framework agreements that are already accessed regularly by decision-makers in the emergency services. The Consortium is now inviting suppliers to
apply for inclusion on the list. Interested suppliers will need to complete a questionnaire designed to evaluate them against a thorough due diligence process so that customers can be confident that companies on the Approved Supplier List are suitable companies from whom to procure. Once approved, the price for suppliers is £500 + VAT for 12 months and includes: entry to the Approved Supplier List; a table listing advert; listing in up to six product categories; a designated supplier page; and a link to their company website. The Consortium will also be providing appropriate marketing support to promote the ASL, although they are keen to stress that the ASL is entirely separate from the framework agreements and they will not permit product types already included on the frameworks to be advertised on the ASL. Product range flexibility The Consortium is also highlighting that the evaluation does not assess products, only the supplier’s organisation, in order to provide a more flexible and agile solution that meets the needs of suppliers and customers. Mark Herrington, Head of Services at The Consortium explains, “There are a wide range of under-threshold items that the emergency services need to purchase and we feel that they are best placed to assess the suitability of these goods for their own needs, taking into account the quality and unique features that each brand offers.
Mark Herrington, Head of Services at The Consortium
“The advantage for suppliers is that new products and solutions can be offered to the customer quickly (provided that they do not conflict with framework products) without the need for each item to be evaluated individually.” www.fireandrescue.co.uk
Visit The Consortium at ESS2012 on Stand 460 in Hall 3.
Videowall solutions for control room applications NEC Display Solutions Europe will be presenting innovative LCD videowall solutions for control room applications at The Emergency Services Show 2012, on Stand 226. Partnering with Electrosonic, an international audio-visual systems integration and service solutions company, NEC will present its new MultiSync® X463UN ultra narrow display in a 2x2 configuration, demonstrating its videowall solution for 24/7 mission critical environments. This model’s razor thin bezel is almost 24 percent thinner than that of its predecessor, the X462UN. The high-definition 1080p resolution display’s direct LED backlight technology provides outstanding uniformity, further supporting the perception of a virtually bezel-less videowall. Being the best in class LCD videowall product, the X463UN is an ideal solution for control room applications. The MultiSync® X463UN supports NEC’s unique heat management system that enables the user to monitor and control the heat inside the display with user controllable fans. Heat
consistent and engaging the impact of the content,” said Thorsten Prsybyl, Product Line Manager for Public Displays, NEC Display Solutions Europe. “Combined with the rich display quality and management and control functionality, this gives users in the critical command and control environment the peace-of-mind that easy operation is assured and that the content is the best it can be.”
management is crucial for larger walls and mission critical installations to secure reliability and longevity. This model also includes NEC’s dual slot technology, which allows for the integration of single board computers and other option slot products without the need to stow external equipment. “Videowalls are a powerful communication mechanism and the thinner the bezel, the more
Win an NEC MultiSync® EX231W LCD monitor Anyone visiting Electrosonic and NEC at The Emergency Services Show 2012, located on Stand 226, will be entered into a prize draw to win a super slim NEC MultiSync® EX231W 23in widescreen LCD monitor, delivering trusted performance and quality, with new standards of minimalism and eco innovation. www.nec-display-solutions.com www.nec.com www.electrosonic.com
Visit Electrosonic and NEC Display Solutions Europe at ESS2012 on Stand 226 in Hall 1.
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Demand for Zodiac rescue boats remains strong Demand for Zodiac MILPRO emergency rescue boats has remained strong over the past year despite the financial constraints under which many fire and rescue services find themselves operating. Avon Inflatables, the UK arm of Zodiac MILPRO, has reported supplying the impressive Zodiac ERB 400 boat to 15 different fire and rescue organisations around the country in the past year and expects the current level of demand to continue as services make it their first choice when they renew and update their equipment. Visitors to the Avon Inflatables stand at The Emergency Services Show 2012 (Stand 26 in Hall 2) will have the unique opportunity of being able to see the latest ERB 400 alongside the completely new Zodiac Rescue Track, which is expected to become an essential item for many rescue services in the UK and around the world. Versatile rescue package Manufactured in the Avon Inflatables factory in South Wales, the Rescue Track has been designed to provide a safe walkway over treacherous surfaces such as mud and ice. It is carried as a compact package that is inflated from a standard breathing apparatus air bottle to immediately unroll and create a rescue track 1.3m wide and up to 10m long. Additional units can be joined if necessary to provide a vital means of access of virtually unlimited length.
If victims are more easily reached from water, the Zodiac Rescue Track can also be used in conjunction with the ERB 400 so that together they can create a quickly deployed and highly versatile rescue package. The ERB 400 is available with a high-pressure inflatable floor that enables the boat to be made ready for use in moments when inflated from a compressed air cylinder. The boat is also available with a choice of either rigid or slatted rollup decks that make it suitable for a wide range of tasks and load-carrying requirements in flood evacuation or water rescue situations. The boat can be powered by either a 30 or 40hp engine, which will be chosen according to the rigidity of its floor. Exceptional value for money The Rescue Track and the ERB 400 are both manufactured from the rugged combination of
hypalon/neoprene and polyester fabric. The durability of Zodiac products combined with the exceptional service support from its UK headquarters at Avon Inflatables, can be expected to give them a long working life that translates into exceptional value for money when set against tightly constrained budgets. Zodiac MILPRO (Military and Professional) is widely respected and supplies craft for professional users such as fire and rescue teams, police, coastguard, special forces, the offshore industry and other military users. The boats it manufactures range from 4m to 12m long and are available in configurations that include inflatable and rigid inflatable boats with aluminium or fibreglass hull designs, inflatable or foam tubes, diesel inboard or petrol outboard engines.
www.zodiacmilpro.com
Visit Avon Inflatables Ltd at ESS2012 on Stand 26 in Hall 2.
Control room furniture with emergency services credentials Leading control room furniture manufacturer Winsted will be demonstrating equipment including its flagship Sight-Line console at the annual Emergency Services Show, on Stand 452 in Hall 3. Sight-Line consoles are modular, reconfigurable and expandable, providing a range of ‘future-proof’ advantages for emergency services applications. The company’s complementary design service includes 3D-rendered images, CAD drawings and ‘walk-through’ animations of proposed control room equipment configurations. Winsted can now provide photographic quality renders, enabling clients to see just how their furniture will look in-situ. Police command centre One client benefiting from this innovative approach is the police command centre at Devonport Royal Dockyard, Plymouth, where Winsted has supplied a console to fit within the confined space available without impairing functionality for the control room operators manning it. The unit also offers cost-effective
enabling their configuration to be tailored specifically to meet precise operating requirements. Winsted’s comprehensive line-up of products and related accessories can be supplied from stock, or customised, and the company’s R&D programme benefits from continual input based on customer feedback.
modularity, allowing future configuration changes to meet evolving operational requirements. The Prestige Insight console specified incorporates all the benefits of Winsted’s popular Sight-Line range, but packages them within a compact profile that saves space and maximises the number of operators able to staff the control room. For this project, Winsted also produced computer aided design (CAD) drawings and colour renders illustrating ergonomic solutions to the police command centre’s furniture performance. Winsted’s wide range of equipment also includes flexible and engineered products, including monitor walls, workstations and digital desks. The company’s modular furniture offers construction advantages
Eco-friendly commitment Since exhibiting at The Emergency Services Show 2011, Winsted has proved its long-term corporate commitment to eco-friendly principles by securing ISO 14001:2004 certification. This achievement demonstrates the company’s environmental responsibility and builds on its ISO 9001 quality management system standard certification. Winsted’s investment in gaining ISO14001 shows that the company has gained independent verification of its efforts to both minimise any harmful effects on the environment caused by its manufacturing activities and achieve continual improvement of its environmental performance. www.winsted.co.uk
Visit Winsted at ESS2012 on Stand 452 in Hall 3.
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Two stands, one focus – excellence in patient handling
The ACETECH system provides system-wide, on-board intelligence to improve ambulance vehicle efficiency and safety.
Ferno is recognised as a global leader in the manufacture and distribution of emergency patienthandling equipment, exporting high performance products to more than 75 countries worldwide. Ferno will be exhibiting on stands 556 and 156 at The Emergency Services Show 2012 and will unveil a range of new equipment for emergency services professionals.
The EZ Glide chair has been designed to meet the demanding needs of medical and disaster response services.
Powered ambulance trolley Visitors to Stand 156 in Hall 2 will be able to see the new EZ Glide® PowerTraxx™ chair in action as well as the Harrier LT ambulance trolley and ACETECH, Ferno’s fully integrated vehicle performance monitoring and control system for emergency response vehicles. The EZ Glide chair has been designed to meet the demanding needs of medical and disaster response services. It leads the industry with its 227kg weight capacity, enabling patients to be moved up and down stairs safely while the operator has full control at all times; able to slow, stop or even reverse direction at the touch of a button.
The Harrier LT is a lightweight trolley, which combines exceptional lifting power with a high capacity battery. It is the only powered ambulance trolley in the UK capable of lifting up to 350kg – and it will perform an amazing 77 lifts of 100kg with just a single battery charge. The ACETECH system is the first of its kind for UK emergency medical vehicles and provides system-wide, on-board intelligence to improve ambulance vehicle efficiency and safety, while reducing an ambulance service’s operating and fuel costs. Search and rescue operations Meanwhile at Stand 556 in Hall 3, Ferno will show a range of products, particularly ideal for search and rescue operations in difficult environments, including its vast range of basket stretchers and the Paraguard Excel – a compact and versatile stretcher used to rescue casualties from building collapse, industrial incidents or confined spaces. Its versatility and ease of use make it particularly useful for high building and helicopter rescues. An exclusive range of premium, bespoke helicopter/flight suits for air ambulance crews will be modelled for visitors to the Ferno stands. Complete solutions Yorkshire-based Ferno maintains high standards in business ethics and constantly strives to exceed the needs of its customers. It has a highly skilled and experienced team of designers to develop the latest technologies and deliver complete solutions for the emergency services. Products are designed to ensure the best care and comfort for patients while ensuring the safety and wellbeing of carers. www.ferno.co.uk
Visit Ferno at ESS2012 on Stand 556 in Hall 3 and Stand 156 in Hall 2.
Cosalt’s clothing solutions Cosalt will be exhibiting at The Emergency Services Show at Stoneleigh Park this year, where visitors to the company’s stand (57) will be able to see a number of exciting new products on display, including the new wildland coverall and the winning structural fire kit ensembles being supplied to the South East and Eastern Region fire consortium and the North West fire consortium. The framework agreement for firefighters’ protective clothing in the South East and Eastern regions includes fire tunics and overtrousers, hoods, helmets, boots and gloves. At the heart of the agreement is the option to choose Cosalt’s fully managed service. This can cut costs and improve efficiencies for the fire and rescue services through a complete support package that covers testing, sizing, fitting, supply and personnel management. Since April 2011, all of the company’s existing range of structural fire suits are certified under the European Union’s Marine Equipment Directive (MED) for use at sea. Also on show will be Cosalt’s two-piece public order coverall, which is fully compliant with HOSDB standards. www.cosalt.com
Visit Cosalt PLC at ESS2012 on Stand 57 in Hall 2.
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Hybrid cars save the environment… Hybrid training could save your life As vehicle manufacturers continue in their attempts to make a gallon of fuel last longer – utilising new technologies such as stop-start microhybrid systems, full hybrid systems, as well as fully electric driven vehicles – the vehicles they manufacture as a result are becoming a much more common sight on the UK’s roads.
Car buyers, drawn in by the promise of lower fuel costs, lower (or even free) road tax, as well as the feel good factor of doing less damage to the planet, are turning to these vehicles in their thousands. Sales of hybrid and electric cars in the UK are up by 46 percent compared to the previous year, with a total of 22,795 registered up to the end of September 2012 (SMMT). With some 300,000 hybrid and electric vehicles on the road in the UK, it is understandable that some of these may be involved in RTCs, occasionally requiring the use of extrication and extinguishing equipment. These vehicles contain high voltage components, which can operate at up to 650V AC, which could cause injury or death to anyone involved in the first response, vehicle recovery, or collision investigation phases of dealing with RTCs. Investing in training One of the ways in which these agencies can help to protect themselves from these dangers is by investing in training from an experienced company like ICT Workshop Solutions. Nestled near to the gateway of the Yorkshire Dales, ICT Workshop Solutions offers a range of
training courses covering the subject of hybrid and electric vehicles, and the safety procedures and equipment required to work on and around the high voltage systems within these vehicles. For first responders, there is a one-day IMI Awards Level 2 qualification entitled ‘Electrically Propelled Vehicle Hazard Management. This course is ideal for firefighters, paramedics, traffic police and highways agency staff. It demonstrates, both in theory and practice, the ways in which the high voltage systems can be disarmed. Darren Perrot and Peter Wood recently completed this training course with some of their colleagues from South Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service. They said, “This is a very useful subject knowledge area for emergency services. I would recommend this course to other fire and rescue organisations. The course was very enjoyable and informative.” Collision investigators’ course For collision investigators, and those who may need to delve deeper within the vehicle mechanical and electrical systems, a more in-depth three-day IMI Awards Level 3 qualification ‘Electrically Propelled Vehicles – Repair and Replacement’, may be more appropriate. This goes into detail about how the drivetrains can differ, how the motors and regenerative braking systems work, and how to safely remove and replace high voltage components such as batteries and capacitors. Mark Richards, a Forensic Vehicle Examiner from Devon and Cornwall Police, attended the Level 3 course with some of his colleagues. He said, “I am very happy with the course content, and the number of practical demonstrations offered, and would like to attend another course with ICT.” ICT Workshop Solutions can also offer equipment packages such as barrier and signage kits, as well as high voltage insulated tool sets, to complement the training courses. Technical ability and experience ICT has been offering vehicle diagnostic training and equipment solutions to vehicle technicians for many years. This technical ability and experience means that the company can provide a range of training and equipment to suit a wide range of needs. Other training courses offered include: automotive engine management and diagnostics; pass-thru diagnostics; automotive diagnostic procedures; engine component diagnostics; steering, suspension and wheel alignment; and air conditioning and climate control. ICT Workshop Solutions is a family-run company, providing vehicle training courses nationwide, as well as at its new training centre in Yorkshire.
Fleet and driver behaviour monitoring RSG Engineering has been providing Court of Law recognised, journey and incident vehicle data recorders for over 10 years. The company has built on this experience by working closely with both fleet managers and collision investigators in the demanding emergency services market to provide you with the FleetMotus, a fleet and driver information, monitoring and management system available either as a stand alone product or in conjunction with RSG’s high resolution data recorders for highly detailed vehicle information. The vehicle utilisation, driver behaviour and the overall fleet management features and services provided by the FleetMotus will deliver you the tools needed to monitor your fleet, streamline its deployment and reduce accident damage and abuse of your vehicles. This regular and automated monitoring has been proven to save money from day one, with quoted savings being around a 25 percent reduction in accidents and a saving of 10-20 percent in fuel costs alone.
FleetMotus Nexu Fleet vehicles tend to be upgraded frequently. As a result fleet managers inevitably face the task of multiple installations and de-installations. With this in mind RSG offers the FleetMotus Nexu, a ‘plugand-play’ vehicle tracking device that simply plugs into a vehicle’s OBDII port. The compact device allows for a simple and covert installation and with the correct configuration can be tailored to start working as soon as it’s plugged in. FleetMotus Magna The Magna is a simple to install fixed unit with a minimum of three wire connections. The compact unit has five inputs, one of which is normally used to monitor the vehicle battery and the rest continuously monitoring the emergency auxiliary equipment. Three digital outputs can also provide driver behaviour feedback. Both units have combined features of live vehicle tracking with 20-second updates, a live dashboard showing vehicle status, full historic journey data, Geofenced areas of interest and vehicle type/location tagging. Scheduled reports are sent automatically in the form of e-mail alerts.
www.ictworkshopsolutions.com
http://rsg-ontop.com
Visit ICT Workshop Solutions at ESS2012 on Stand 369 in Hall 1.
Visit RSG Engineering Ltd at ESS2012 on Stand 77 in Hall 2.
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Excelerate Technology launches Enhanced Resilience Satellite Network at Emergency Services Show UK emergency services, partnering with Excelerate Technology, are pioneering some of the world’s most advanced uses of new communications solutions. With the launch of its new Enhanced Resilience Satellite Network service at The Emergency Services Show 2012, Excelerate is doing even more to support UK blue light services with robust and secure rapidly deployable communications. Oliver Tovey, the GWAS officer responsible for the mobile command vehicle, said, “We used our mobile command unit to plug into and monitor our own Great Western Ambulance Service CAD system, so that we could keep an eye on overall demand on the non-aligned system in the area. Using the access provided by mobile satellite broadband we can keep an eye on local hospital demand in the area, so that when we are at an event that has quite an isolated focus we can make a decision on whether to treat the patients there – on-site – or whether we have the capacity to take them off-site to a hospital. “Whilst we are at any event we are monitoring our CAD system through broadband, so we have access to and can see all activities and demand on our total resources. Any jobs that the general public would normally call 999 on we are able to intercept locally, using our mobile command unit, and respond to locally with event-specific crews. That takes the workload off our Emergency Operations Centre and keeps total GWAS resources fully operational.”
One of the most remarkable features of the UK emergency management sector in recent years has been its accelerated adoption of data, video, voice and internet communications via satellite and wireless solutions, and the highly imaginative and valuable uses to which these solutions have been put. These new solutions are delivering completely new levels of communications effectiveness to all three blue light services, and are being taken up with great enthusiasm throughout the UK. The reasons are obvious – they deliver huge increases in speed of set-up and massively improved multi-command and multi-agency communications efficiency.
Technological revolution The company driving this technological revolution has been Excelerate Technology, which has achieved clear market and technological leadership delivering some of the world’s most advanced, rapidly deployable communications solutions working in close partnership with UK fire and rescue, Excelerate’s new Enhanced Resilience Satellite Network will give blue light services even greater police and ambulance services. The systems reassurance for avoiding communications disruption during critical incidents. company has put special emphasis on the key issues of communications security and resilience, Technology on Stand 102 at The Emergency Services Show 2012 or visit the company’s website critical when services are under pressure or terrorist (www.excelerate-group.com). attack, and at The Emergency Services Show 2012 it will be launching its latest development, the Enhanced Resilience Satellite Network. This will London Olympics and Queen’s give blue light services unparalleled security through Diamond Jubilee the provision of completely independent backup With over 100 satellite-enabled command vehicles satellites and networks, thereby ensuring that if one deployed around the UK for the London Olympics, network is compromised in any way a backup is the Royal Wedding and the Queen’s Diamond always available. Jubilee, the last two years have been a particularly busy period for emergency services using Excelerate Excelerate’s satellite systems have been solutions. successfully tested by customers for resilience to The Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS), ECM. As part of its diverse range of options for Satellite broadband gives Surrey at the T4 on the Beach music festival during the customers, Excelerate is also able to offer new KA Police ANPR ‘massive’ crime summer (which attracted a crowd of about 75,000 satellite services. fighting edge people), deployed its mobile command unit, Excelerate maintains its own dedicated, satellite Mobile satellite broadband from Excelerate supplied by Excelerate Technology, to support networks and in-house management centre, so it is Technology is helping Surrey Police’s Automatic ambulance crews and the mobile field hospital able to guarantee continuous, ‘failover’ service to its Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) team fight stationed at the event. Because the unit was satellite clients at all times. The Enhanced Resilience crime with hugely improved speed and efficiency. broadband-enabled it could be used to plug into the Satellite Network and the DDMI (Digital If a vehicle driven by a known criminal, a murder Computer Aided Despatch (CAD) system at the Dashboard Management Interface) have both suspect, or a car thief, passes by an unmarked service’s main Emergency Operations Centre, the recently been adopted by the national HART ANPR vehicle operated by Surrey Police’s ANPR system used to receive emergency calls from the ambulance programme. team it can, within seconds, scan the number plate, For more information on the Enhanced Resilience public and to deploy ambulance crews and vehicles recognise the number on a hot list, and register an to patients. Satellite Network and DDMI visit Excelerate alarm on-screen for an operator. Within a few more
“Excelerate Technology will be launching its latest development, the Enhanced Resilience Satellite Network, at The Emergency Services Show.”
Emergency Services Times December 2012
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seconds a police car parked a few hundred yards along the road can be alerted by the ANPR van operator and the vehicle pursued. Shortly afterwards the vehicle of interest can be stopped and the suspect apprehended. The impact, according to Paul Palmer, Head of Surrey Police’s ANPR team, has been ‘massive’. “On another screen we can have all the fixed sites running, so if we are in a particular area, say in the northern part of the county, we can place the mobile system within the area without the fixed site cameras and still monitor the fixed site cameras and vastly expand our area of operation and deployment opportunities. Also, if something big comes in we can deploy to it straight away,” said Paul. “When we are out on a dedicated operation we have units that are just waiting for those alarms to ping. In Surrey we have three dedicated teams taking on that kind of work. When the alarm goes off, our cars will be waiting for them. Our operators monitor the system all the time. When these vehicles come into Surrey they highlight them to us and then we go off and intercept them.” There will be a Surrey Police ANPR presentation at the Excelerate Technology stand at The Emergency Services Show. See the Excelerate website for details.
Mobile satellite broadband has given Surrey Police’s ANPR programme a ‘massive’ crime fighting edge.
To achieve these objectives, the vehicle would of course include the many new advanced communications technologies now available for use in mobile command vehicles and throughout incident grounds, such as mobile satellite broadband and wireless video. But the service was also determined that a very strong effort would be put into determining how these technologies could be best used to deliver clear benefits to firefighters at every level.
Sherpa is Excelerate’s remarkable lamp-post climbing camera and communications system.
West Midlands Fire Service launches new command vehicle When the West Midlands Fire Service, one of the largest urban fire and rescue services in the UK, undertook the process of deciding what communications solutions it required in its new mobile command vehicle, it started with a clean slate and a clear agenda. The vehicle would reflect the real-world needs of fire commanders on the ground, it would be capable of supporting improved multi-agency command cooperation, and it would be future-proof. With a major urban conurbation such as Birmingham to manage, including high density housing, factories, warehouses, shopping centres and sporting venues, plus Olympic responsibilities in 2012 (football events in Coventry), the service was determined that its investment in mobile command communications would deliver tangible long-term benefits.
“Over 100 satelliteenabled command vehicles have been deployed around the UK for the London Olympics, the Royal Wedding and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee.” Paul Burnham, Group Commander, Emergency Response, and a leading member of the team managing the vehicle’s design and acquisition, said, “Obviously, to resolve an incident successfully good command and control is absolutely imperative, and for effective command and control you need an up-to-date operational picture. “What we wanted to do was take advantage of advances in the technological world to support incident commanders and give them enhanced capabilities. That’s why we looked at working with Excelerate towards developing a mobile operational platform that could talk across different communications channels and receive imagery, thereby helping incident commanders make better informed decisions. “West Midlands Fire Service is the second largest fire service outside London and we respond to a
huge number of varying incidents. What we have also got is a very robust debriefing process. If there are certain things that appear during our debriefing process we can then identify ways in which we can improve the way commanders manage an incident or the way that we can support the incident commander with information, to help the commander resolve the incident.” Excelerate Technology won the tender for the supply, integration and ongoing support of the many communications solutions that needed to be incorporated into the vehicle. Most importantly, given Excelerate’s experience in handling so many different installations in a wide variety of types and sizes of vehicle, the company has a unique understanding of how the various solutions on offer can be effectively integrated into vehicles (and upgrades retrofitted into existing vehicles) to support improved fire fighting practice. Having such an experienced supplier was hugely helpful to West Midlands Fire Service as the vehicle build progressed. Paul Burnham said, “We had constant dialogue with our suppliers and they were flexible enough to be able to adapt as our user requirements grew, and of course future-proofing the whole system allowed us that freedom.” Excelerate Technology will be running a series of user presentations at The Emergency Services Show 2012. Olaf Baars, Deputy Chief Fire Officer for Royal Berkshire Fire and Rescue Service, Paul Palmer, Head of Surrey Police’s ANPR team, and Mark Hudson from the Technical and Operational Support Directorate of West Midlands Fire Service, have been confirmed as speakers at press time. To learn more about these and other speakers and to register for presentations please check the Excelerate website or The Emergency Services Show website – www.emergencyuk.com. www.excelerate-group.com Tel: +44 (0)8456 585747 E-mail: enquiries@excelerate.info
Author: Stephen Prendergast
Emergency Services Times December 2012
FIVE BRANDS UNDER ONE ROOF
At Volkswagen Group we are able to offer vehicles which produce as little as 89g/km of CO2. At the same time our diverse range spread over five brands means we can also offer vehicles producing up to 560PS with 0 to 62mph acceleration achieved in just 3.6 seconds. With body styles ranging from compact 3 door to spacious 5 door estates, SUVs, MPVs and Commercial Vehicle based passenger vehicles we are confident that we have a solution available to suit your needs. The versatility of our products doesn’t end there – we offer a number of 4x4 drivetrains across our brands from intermediate performance vehicles to high performance off road vehicles, we even offer Commercial Vehicles with four wheel drive. Further more, our ‘one stop shop’ bluelight conversions are carried out by one of our two fully approved convertors. Our approved convertors have been carefully selected for their experience and for being able to provide our bluelight solutions with the utmost quality that you would expect form a Volkswagen Group vehicle. It is for this reason that our approved conversions adopt the base vehicle warranty period providing you with extra piece of mind.
VOLKSWAGEN Group United Kingdom Limited Yeomans Drive, Blakelands, Milton Keynes, MK14 5AN
Tel: 01908 548043 www.audi.co.uk www.seat.co.uk www.skoda.co.uk www.volkswagen.co.uk www.volkswagen-vans.co.uk
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Mission (nearly) impossible – How Excelerate Technology delivered Devon and Somerset’s Olympics command vehicle upgrade in record time Near impossible odds overcome by Excelerate Technology Group working (fast) with Bott Ltd. and the communications solutions When Devon and Somerset Fire being installed. and Rescue Service found “Working with Bott and Excelerate themselves able to fund a prewe managed to turn the project around Olympics upgrade of their rather in about three to four weeks,” said outdated incident command vehicle Steve. “A week or so before the they could have been forgiven for Olympics we had the acceptance at thinking it was not going to be Bott, and a week after that we had an possible to complete the project acceptance at Excelerate’s within the three to four month headquarters, to go through the window available. Not only did the technology and the initial training. vehicle need mobile satellite The vehicle was ready and on the run broadband communications the day before the Olympics. installed, but the interior also “We have future-proofed the whole needed completely reconfiguring. set up so that we can add bolt-ons as The project would require the and when we want. This vehicle is involvement of both a vehicle going to give us a golden opportunity specialist and a communications to have a look at the capability of these solutions integrator, working closely systems for future command vehicle together, on extremely tight acquisitions. We have also looked at deadlines. other advanced command vehicles, As if that were not challenge such as Royal Berkshire Fire and enough, however, part way through Rescue Service. the project the vehicle specialist Devon and Somerset FRS’s refurbished command vehicle, turned around in record time by Bott Ltd and Excelerate Technology. “Excelerate have made a number of initially selected for the project recommendations, which we have went into administration, so a new vehicle specialist had to be found – fast – to be able command unit was judged not to be of the required taken on board. They have always been available to answer queries and questions about the technology to complete the work on time. standard for supporting Olympics-related ELS side of things. Where Excelerate have been very operations. Steve Purchall, the project’s manager at good is that they have been able to show us what Devon and Somerset FRS’s Response and other emergency services are doing throughout the Resilience department, said, “The previous vehicle was basically a Renault Master Van with a few PCs, country, and they have always recommended that we future-proof the vehicle in case we want to a limited capability with telephones, and basic upgrade and integrate additional solutions. That internet over a 3G connection. It was very, very will save us a lot of money in the long term. limited with very low capability.” “We have gone from having a simple computer Devon and Somerset’s ELS responsibility is for with a 3G connection to a much more sophisticated the whole of the South West of England (Its main solution that is going to give us a better command ELS base is located at the headquarters at Exeter facility at an operational incident. It is obviously and it is one of nine services with specialised ELS now a great asset for the organisation. The satellite facilities throughout the UK supported by central broadband allows us to access information on government). The pre-Olympics ELS vehicle almost everything we have in the organisation. All upgrade requirement formed part of the Government’s Olympic emergency planning model the computers have been configured to access all the information you would normally have access to for supporting emergency response in London and Steve Purchall, Devon and Somerset FRS throughout the service – our intranet, all our other Olympics sites. Regardless of whether the operational procedures, all of our technical usage would be local or national, however, the bulletins, all of our operational risk information. It requirement was extremely urgent. There was no Step forward Excelerate Technology, the UK’s will allow us to gain all of that information first possibility of running over deadline. leading supplier of data, video, voice and internet hand at the scene of an operational incident.” via satellite and wireless solutions to the UK Speaking about the benefits of introducing the Excelerate’s extensive experience emergency services, along with vehicle specialist new command vehicle, in spite of all the stresses Fortunately Devon and Somerset FRS did not Bott Ltd. Under Excelerate’s project leadership, and strains of working to such tight deadlines, have to reinvent the wheel once it had accepted the this team delivered a completely retrofitted vehicle Steve Purchall said, “We now have an up-to-date challenge. Excelerate’s extensive experience on time and on budget, as well as undertaking staff command support vehicle that will offer great installing and supporting advanced training and familiarisation, allowing Devon and benefits, and allow us to be more professional at communications solutions for the new generation Somerset FRS to fulfil its Enhanced Logistics operational incidents.” of mobile command vehicles being introduced by Support (ELS) commitments to the highly all three branches of the UK’s emergency services successful 2012 Olympics. www.excelerate-group.com meant that Devon and Somerset could draw on Tel: +44 (0)8456 585747 lessons learned from many previous installations. Urgent operational requirement E-mail: enquiries@excelerate.info Excelerate’s engineers were able to advise on the Devon and Somerset FRS’s urgent operational Author: Stephen Prendergast best options for both the vehicle’s internal layout requirement arose because their existing mobile
“We have gone from having a simple computer with a 3G connection to a much more sophisticated solution that is going to give us a better command facility at an operational incident.”
Emergency Services Times December 2012
Fire fighting equipment specialist
Firemain is the UK’s leading independent provider of fire fighting foam, large volume portable pumps and monitors, hoses up to 12in, foam proportioning equipment, branch pipes, nozzles and ground monitors. Firemain Engineering can assist with all your fire fighting hardware considerations.. Firemain has a dedicated team, which offers a complete range of fire fighting equipment and the largest range of foam concentrates available in the UK. With almost 25 years in providing high hazard fire fighting solutions to industry, from large fuel storage tanks to aircraft hangars, the company is confident in its products and performance.
Firemain offers high quality foam proportioning equipment, large capacity pumps, monitors and high volume equipment for the petrochemical, oil and gas industries. Firemain Engineering is just as likely to supply fixed foam systems to industry, MoD or marine applications.
Firemain Engineering prides itself on its complete solution, from design advice, supply, commissioning and after sales maintenance. Firemain wishes to be involved closely with its customers to provide the support it feels its customers deserve.
Firemain offers a custom design service, it will supply customised foam suppression systems, fabricated and tested in-house. Firemain Engineering is dedicated to you, its customers. It wishes to support you now and continuing long into the future.
Firemain understands the huge costs associated with major fires and offers to assist with your risk assessments, providing guidance and advice.
Firemain’s long standing partners include: Williams Fire & Hazard Control, Ansul, FireDos and Tyco.
Firemain Engineering Ltd Unit 6, Harrier Court, Eurolink Business Park, Lea Green, St Helens, Merseyside WA9 4YR Tel: 01744 850063 Fax: 01744 812014 E-Mail: info@firemain.com
www.firemain.com
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Lyon celebrates a decade of Spend less on successful Technical Symposia your vehicles Antares understands the difference between cost and value, and the company is continuing to work with UK ambulance trusts to reduce the ongoing maintenance cost of vehicles by providing the latest generation of the ASM family of auxiliary power management systems, reducing the frequency of battery changes to a little as every eight years with some trusts. A battery set costs around £1000 plus the associated labour, plus downtime and disposal of old batteries. Anecdotal evidence from fleet managers that have vehicles that are not using Antares systems, says the company, seems to suggest that they require battery changes every 12-18 months. So by using Antares power management systems the savings could therefore be quite significant.
‘Fantastic’, ‘Informative’ and ‘thought provoking’ are just some of the comments from delegates attending the 10th Lyon Equipment Work at Height Technical Symposium. Held every two years, the 2012 Symposium, which was held from 18-19 September in Tebay, Cumbria, attracted a capacity audience from around the globe, with delegates attending from 14 different countries.
This year’s delegates enjoyed a diverse series of practical demonstrations in Lyon’s newly expanded training facility. These included comparison testing of heat resistant ropes and protectors, rescue
systems from cableways and wire suspension systems and the latest developments in access using wire-based horizontal support lines. Keynote speakers included Michel Beal, owner of BEAL ropes, who explained the challenges in creating the world’s first fully type-approved semi static floating rope for technical and water rescue; and Bernard Bressoux, Quality and Technical Director of Petzl, who described the processes necessary to maintain quality and performance in high volume PPE manufacture. There were also lively talks on the selection of helmets for work at height and water rescue use, safety netting for offshore and under deck applications, personal rescue systems for post fall situations and radically new design concepts for fall arrest and work positioning harnesses. A comprehensive review of the 2012 Symposium is on the Lyon Equipment website and includes images and video of the event.
fewer purchase orders and reduced installation time. For drivers in situations where there is a need to see or record activities in and around the vehicle, there is no better ‘one package’ solution. In addition to this, after further investment and development, Premier Hazard’s market leading TriCore LEDs are now available in dual colour. The brightest LED in the global market now offers unlimited flexibility, without the need to increase the number of light heads used. For further information or demonstrations of these products visit Stand 15 at The Emergency Services Show 2012.
Significant savings This latest generation integrates charging systems, batteries, power management and provision of AC mains power for critical care transfers, providing a complete solution for the trust and vehicle builder, including all cabling and batteries. This approach means that should the vehicle have any operational issues related to the electrical system the vehicle builder has the full support of Antares’ UK-based team to ensure that the vehicle is returned to active duty as soon as possible. Antares is also reducing the upfront cost of vehicles with new additions to its touch-screen CANbus control system. Use of this system will improve vehicle reliability, reduce the wiring complexity of the vehicle, and integrate many functions currently controlled by many disparate subsystems into one system, and provide IP67 infection control capability. The functions currently provided by large wiring boards covered in a spaghetti of wires, relays and fuses can be achieved quickly and easily with a single unit with the footprint of an A4 file. When combined with the daylight readable touchscreen interface, which also has up to 14 hard buttons, the possibilities are phenomenal. Integrating these systems reduces both the cost of components, and the labour required to install them, bringing down the cost of your vehicle. The PC-based diagnostic software also eases any fault finding attempted by the workshops, getting your vehicle back on the road more quickly.
www.premierhazard.co.uk
www.antares.co.uk
Visit Premier Hazard Ltd at ESS2012 on Stand 15 in Hall 2.
Visit Antares (Europe) Ltd at ESS2012 on Stand 2 in Hall 2.
www.lyon.co.uk
Visit Lyon Equipment at ESS2012 on Stand 162 in Hall 2.
See and be seen by other road users To support the need to be seen by other road users and pedestrians, Premier Hazard has added a new dimension to its product portfolio – a complete range of camera and DVR systems to provide additional protection to vehicle operators. Offering from simple reverse camera systems, to eight-channel recording complete with GPS tracking, these packages are the only ones, on the market today, which provide everything required for vehicle installation. Save time and money The camera packages include all required cables, cameras and DVRs to complete a quick and easy installation. Save time on locating compatible products from multiple sources. Save money with
Emergency Services Times December 2012
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‘Rescuing’ the situation Saving someone from drowning is all down to time. Can the person be reached before it’s too late? Having easy to use, effective life saving equipment to hand is vital. Used by emergency services across the UK, the Balcan Emergency Life Line (BELL) is a tried and tested rescue device The BELL offers the perfect combination of ease of use, speed of deployment and accuracy. It is also easier to store and transport than lifebuoys and throwbags. The BELL has proved itself countless times and as well as the police and fire and rescue teams, its NATO stock number means it is also widely used by the armed forces.
Like all great inventions, the BELL is simple to use. Just remove the end cap, hold the rope handle
and throw. As the BELL flies through the air the high strength line is deployed. The stranded swimmer simply holds onto the rope or the capsule as the rescuer pulls them to safety, which is an effortless task as people are completely weightless in water. The BELL can reach people up to 40m away from shore and the device can be rethrown in seconds, as you don’t have to repack it before using it again. The BELL range comprises the single use BELL Pro 40m and the repackable BELL RP40 and BELL RP25. All BELLs feature a high quality braided polypropylene line with a 260lb (118kg) breaking strain. Most recently, Lincolnshire Fire and Rescue tested the BELL. “I found the BELL easy to use, rapid to deploy and I’m surprised just how far it went,” said one officer. “I’d recommend using it in a rescue situation without a doubt.” Balcan Engineering’s John Rinfret invented the BELL. “Drownings occur for two main reasons: either no one is there to help or the available lifesaving equipment does not have a long enough range,” he says. “There’s little that can be done about the first instance but I knew there was something I could do about the second. That’s why I invented the BELL.
“When we launched the product, it was immediately recognised as a vast improvement on all types of traditional lifesaving devices. “The BELL can be thrown further than any other line. The people who’ve used them find them quick, accurate and easy to use. They can also be retrieved and rethrown much faster than other devices. This means rescuers can reach people quickly. Getting help to a drowning person is vital if their life is to be saved.” The BELL can be found on Stand 195 in Hall 2, at this year’s Emergency Services Show. www.throwlines.com
Visit Balcan Engineering Ltd at ESS2012 on Stand 195 in Hall 2.
Toughbook rugged computers save valuable time With a greater than ever range of computing solutions that includes the new Toughpad, Panasonic Computer Product Solutions will be available to show delegates and industry professionals at The Emergency Services Show 2012 how market leading Toughbook computers have helped save emergency service personnel, victims and witnesses valuable time by speeding up the process of completing time-consuming paperwork. With the capability to be installed neatly in integrated docking stations in emergency response vehicles and even in concealed locations in covert police cars, Toughbook computers aid communications and often eliminate the need to return to base, saving hundreds of man-hours. Durability and portability The market-leading, convertible rugged notebook with reversible screen offers the perfect combination of durability and portability and has transformed operating efficiency of police on patrol.
The CF-19 comes with increased computing power through its Intel® Core™ i5 3320M vPro™ Processor, tougher ruggedised standards and further improved connectivity in the compact and neatly designed CF-19 form factor. Weighing just over 2kg and featuring an extremely bright 10.1in LCD with dual touch or touch screen user input is possible through a variety of means while docked in a vehicle, in tablet form or as a conventional
notebook. Through using Toughbook rugged computers for a variety of communication and data access tasks, UK police have increased their visibility on the street and the time saved equates to an extra 200 officers per year1. The CF-19 uses an ambient light sensor for advanced power management and with a magnesium alloy casing and a long battery life of up to 10 hours means it can support emergency services personnel for the entire duration of a shift. Also on the Panasonic stand there will be the full Toughbook range of computers, including CF-31, CF-D1 and CF-H2 field, designed for specialist emergency service duties and all supplied with a service time of just five working days from send off to return as standard, these mobile solutions will not only free up valuable time but reduce equipment down time and reduce operational costs. www.panasonic.eu
Visit Panasonic Computer Products Solutions at ESS2012 on Stand 307 in Hall 1. 1 Source: Leicestershire Police Case Study.
Specialist pre-hospital burn care products on show For more than 25 years Water-Jel, as a world market leader, has been offering its tried and trusted burn care products for the pre-hospital treatment of burn injury victims. Frontline emergency medical services, burn care professionals and burn victims alike have long benefited from Water-Jel’s experience in every area of application for burn injuries. The company has become a firm friend of the emergency medical services, fire and rescue services, sea air rescue, all areas of the military armed forces, industry, catering, Formula 1, and motor racing worldwide, for the
management of burn injury victims. The product range covers frontline emergencies and first aid as well as end user sales in pharmacies. Brands like Water-Jel burn dressings, Burn Jel EU, Sun Burn Jel or Muscle Jel are well known to the company’s satisfied end users.
Emergency Services Times December 2012
New to the market is WaterJel’s radio oncology treatment system, R1R2, which is the company’s answer to the problem of treating the side effects, which can occur on the skin during and after radiation treatment. www.waterjel.net
Visit Water-Jel at ESS2012 on Stand 418 in Hall 3.
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Emergency Services Times December 2012
ADVERTORIAL | 35
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Mammut heads to The Emergency Services Show Mammut has been designing and manufacturing outdoor clothing, footwear and equipment since 1862. For 150 years the company has stayed true to its Swiss origins and continues to take its inspiration from some of toughest terrain in the world. This year Mammut is coming to The Emergency Services Show with an exciting range of products. Footwear From mountaineering to multi-function, Mammut has developed a range of footwear technologies to ensure its designs combine low weight, protection from the elements and comfort. The Appalachian GTX (pictured) boasts a GORE-TEX liner and aggressive Vibram sole while the Mt Trail XT GTX provides all day comfort with its unique Rolling Concept technology and memo foam lining.
Ropes In 1862, Kasper Tanner set up Mammut in response to the demand for strong, reliable rope. Over 150 years later, although technologies have moved on, the company’s ethos stays the same. It leads the way in both dynamic and static ropes that utilise the latest technologies such as superDRY™. This waterproofs both the sheath and the core of the rope, which in turn optimises the handling and increases resistance to dirt and abrasion – meaning that Mammut’s ropes last longer. Helmets
The Appalachian GTX.
Clothing From technical waterproof jackets and trousers to softshells, baselayers to trousers, Mammut clothing New for 2012, the El Cap helmet. keeps users warm, dry and comfortable whatever the weather. Weighing only 440g, the Albaron New for 2012, the El Cap helmet sets new Jacket is a technical and lightweight jacket offering standards in safety and design. Outside, there is a unrivalled protection from the elements. robust outer shell with an innovative The Parinaco Jacket boasts Scholler® ‘2K-EPS’ dual-density foam core – minimising impact and maximising c_change™ technology. This safety. Other features include a discreet intelligent membrane works with the visor, 12 ventilation openings and body releasing heat and humidity on headlamp clips. The El Cap meets periods of high activity and closing up standard EN 12492 and UIAA during periods of rest, trapping standard 106. warmth, making it ideal for rescue teams. Hardware Mammut’s softshell range For 2013, Mammut will combines protection from the introduce the next elements and breathability. Six generation of self and jackets in the Ultimate range assisted-rescue hardware. of softshells means there’s a Where time is of the design to suit a variety of essence, the RescYou can be activities and climates. deployed from a harness The company’s Base quickly and easily. Two Jump Advanced II clamps are attached to the Pants have been often rope and then the six-fold imitated but never pulley is simple and bettered. For 2013, intuitive to use. This these water resistant groundbreaking device trousers now eliminates the need for incorporate complex pulleys and coldblack® complicated rescues and is set technology to offer to become essential kit for UPF protection and The Parinaco Jacket boasts Scholler® c_change™ technology. emergency workers. reflect heat.
Accessories Mammut’s range of award-winning headtorches offers a variety of lighting solutions for the most demanding users. The multi-functional X-Shot uses LEDs to provide four levels of brightness and a boost mode. The Ambient Light Dry Bag offers both diffused light and doubles as both a waterproof stuff bag. www.mammut.ch To arrange an appointment to view the Mammut range at The Emergency Services Show 2012 call 01625 508218 or visit the Mammut stand in Hall 2, Stand 125.
Emergency Services Times December 2012
RescYou, the next generation of self and assisted-rescue hardware.
VEHICLES | 37
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Fight crime and costs with the ŠKODA Octavia vRS Performance, comfort and great value for money, the ŠKODA Octavia vRS will make a hero of any Fleet Manager.
Fighting crime With a 200PS turbocharged petrol engine, or the 170PS turbo diesel unit, the Octavia vRS is anything but gentle. That power, combined with the excellent handling and disk brakes on all four wheels, means that the Octavia vRS isn’t a car to be trifled with. Keeping the Force happy When your car’s the equivalent of your office, the Octavia’s award-winning space and comfort becomes extremely important. With tinted glass available for covert use the team should be comfortable no matter what situation they find themselves in. Keeping the public happy The ŠKODA brand is well loved for its dedication to quality and value, two words that should appeal to any fleet manager who has the country looking over their shoulder at the balance sheet. And with
competitive pricing and 60-month emergency services extended warranty, the Octavia vRS is an easy decision to justify. Highly Commended Model ŠKODA don’t like to boast but this year the Octavia vRS has won a range of awards: • 2012 JD Power winner of Lower Medium Car • 2012 Parkers Best Family Hatchback. Manufacturer Not only that, you can rest assured that ŠKODA is a reputable brand, with the manufacturing awards the brand has won: • 2012 Auto Express Manufacturer of the Year • 2012 JD Power 2nd in Manufacturer League Table • 2012 Fleet New Most Improved Manufacturer. Ready for anything As well as great value for money, ŠKODA will
convert every vehicle to fit your needs, fitting everything from livery and lights to detail on the car’s exterior. The Octavia vRS is available as a hatch if you need to be small and nimble, or estate if you want to load lots of equipment or insert dog handling units with cages. Don’t take our word for it Here’s what Roy Mariner, Fleet Manager at Hampshire Constabulary, had to say, “We have used the ŠKODA Octavia vRS petrol for some years now as an RPU car. The vehicle has proved to be exceptionally good value for money, very reliable and an effective tool in its operational role.”
For more information contact: Jane Barker | Emergency Services Supply Account Manager T: 01908 548043 | E: jane.barker@vmg.co.uk
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Turning the blue lights green – British ambulance services unite in becoming sustainable Ambulance services across the country have united in slashing their carbon emissions. Through some innovative technologies and adjusting the way in which their organisations operate, many are already reaping the rewards of lower fuel bills. Many are just starting on their carbon reduction journey and others are further along the route of embedding sustainability in their ranks.
The NHS is one of the largest employers in Europe with 1.3 million people employed in the service. It is responsible for five percent of traffic on the road at any one time and is one of the largest direct and indirect producers of CO2 in the UK. The whole of the NHS has been tasked with cutting carbon emissions by 10 percent by 2015 and 80 percent by 2050.
“Britain’s ambulance services are inviting a range of manufacturers and suppliers to work with them to develop the next generation of greener ambulances.” Many of the ambulance trusts have carried out carbon footprinting in order to understand where their direct carbon emissions come from. In Scope 1 and Scope 2 emissions, over 60 percent of emissions come from their fleets and the remaining
40 percent coming from the estates. Most of the indirect emissions in Scope 3 assessments come from the procurement of drugs and account for a total of 60 percent of the overall national NHS carbon footprint. Reducing the carbon footprint means more than just planting trees at ambulance stations across the country (although we are already doing that through the NHS Forest scheme!) and the logistics of reducing carbon emissions isn’t as simple as getting staff to drive more slowly (not really a possibility in front line responding) and turn lights off. Reducing the carbon footprint Across the ambulance estate, efficient lighting upgrades, motion sensors and PIR lighting have been installed. In ambulance stations across the country there has also been the implementation of cavity wall and loft insulation, garage heating controls, air conditioning and boiler upgrades, pipework insulation and air condition control upgrades. South West Ambulance Service is implementing a warm air extraction and, using free cooling technology in the IT server room, increasing the ambient temperature. North West Ambulance Service and Yorkshire Ambulance Service have been installing voltage and boiler optimisation devices at some of their sites. South Central Ambulance Service has installed some solar thermal panels and some solar PV panels on some of its stations. Aerodynamic ambulances From a fleet perspective, the ambulance services are working hard to reduce the main bulk of carbon emissions, if not eliminate them, through a variety of innovative developments. Yorkshire Ambulance Service has been working with Leeds University to look at the potential savings available through aerodynamic ambulances.
Initial studies have identified that by changing from box body ambulances to vans a potential saving of 20 percent could be made (purely on aerodynamics) with a further potential of 9.5 percent on drag by incorporating an aerodynamic blue light bar into ambulance designs. This could equate to a saving of 12 percent in fuel efficiency. Scottish Ambulance Service has recently welcomed a pure electric ambulance into its PTS (Patient Transport Service) fleet, the first in the country. East of England Ambulance Service and South Central Ambulance Service have trialled the Vauxhall Ampera as a workable answer for marked managers’ cars or part of their PTS fleets. Yorkshire Ambulance Service has recently finished a 10month trial of a pure electric Nissan Leaf as an integrated part of its PTS fleet. South Central Ambulance Service has been running a trial of solar panels on a roof of one of its rapid response vehicles (RRVs) to see if the service can trickle charge the vehicle’s auxiliary batteries to reduce the need for the engine to be run while on standby and waiting for emergency calls. This trial has been very successful and is now being rolled out. Yorkshire Ambulance Service has been tackling this same problem by trialling a methanol fuel cell and is currently looking to see how it can trial this with a hydrogen fuel cell. Trials have also been run on blue light speed limiters that limit speed unless the blue lights and sirens are turned on for an emergency response. Nationally, green tyres and winter tyres have been trialled to identify the green credentials of the rolling resistance. Eco driving programmes have been introduced into ambulance driver training programmes in many of the ambulance services with patient transport service drivers being trained across the country on the skills of driving more economically, safely and saving between five and 10 percent on ambulance trust fuel bills.
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Cycle response teams across the country play an important part in the response times of the ambulance service, with cyclists being capable of responding within the eight minute response time in city centres. The human-powered response works to reduce the emissions in polluted city centres and continues to achieve the high response times in congested areas. National network The Green Environmental Ambulance Network (GrEAN) is the national network of ambulance trusts who are working to become more sustainable through carbon reduction programmes. GrEAN was set up in May 2011 as it was identified that the British ambulance services are very different to the rest of the NHS. Being predominantly fleet based organisations, the ambulance services face many different challenges in relation to carbon reduction and GrEAN is endeavouring to reduce the carbon footprint nationally. The group has worked to unite the ambulance trusts in sharing information on national trials, ensuring that vital information is passed across the country as to the value of different technologies. The GrEAN group has put together a ‘Green passport’, a guide for all ambulance service personnel to find out what they can do to reduce their carbon footprint at work and at home and provide a resource for carbon management education. The group has also carried out a national carbon footprinting assessment to identify differences in the carbon emissions of each service.
The East of England Ambulance Key Carbon Reduction Project is linked to its long-term Integrated Service Model strategy and Advance Clinical Triage. This new model of care aims to improve service quality by offering a more appropriate response to patients. This could mean providing an alternative to an emergency ambulance response such as telephone advice (hear and treat), care from a specialist falls car service, or being directed to a different service based closer to home. Alternative fuels The ambulance services across the country use 150,000 litres of diesel on a daily basis. The national ambulance fuel bill has increased by £26m annually year on year for the past few years. These facts show that it is unsustainable and with the classification of diesel as a carcinogenic substance (ref BMA), alternative sources of fuel have to be found that are less polluting. Building greener ambulances for the future Britain’s ambulance services are inviting a range of manufacturers and suppliers to work with them to develop the next generation of greener ambulances. GrEAN is now working with fleet managers, vehicle manufacturers and the suppliers of a wide range of equipment and new technologies to design and build ambulance service vehicles that are ultraefficient and emit ‘low-to-no’ emissions. The aim is to establish a number of consortiums who will design and build operational vehicles,
which will provide value for money, minimise emissions and the environmental impact, maximise fuel efficiency and ensure a high quality service. Manufacturers and suppliers are invited to join representatives from the UK’s ambulance services at an event to learn more about the project. The event is being held in February 2013 and will look at vehicle requirements and how different parties might work together as part of a consortium to develop new vehicles. Successful vehicles will be trialled across British ambulance fleets to test the new technologies and have the potential to be fully integrated into fleets. Email carbon.management@yas.nhs.uk for further information. www.yas.nhs.uk
Author: Alexis Keech, Environmental and Sustainability Manager, Yorkshire Ambulance Service.
New conspicuity material From Rennicks UK stands out and stands the test of time Rennicks UK has utilised the latest technology to develop a new conspicuity material, offering highgrade visibility for the long term. The new system comprises reformulated Nikkalite® Flexible Crystal Grade microsprismatic sheeting, used in conjunction with AdvantEdge edgesealing technology. The Nikkalite® Flexible Crystal Grade Microprismatic sheeting is more flexible and now has an enhanced top layer pigment, offering long lasting performance against the elements, while AdvantEdge produces an industry leading,
impenetrable, highly accurate edge-seal, which prevents water ingress and dirt damage to the material. The end result is a tough, durable system, which provides outstanding visibility and is designed to cope with the longer service times many emergency services’ vehicles now face.
years and fire vehicles up to 15 years, so it is important that the livery remains bright and vibrant during these time frames. “The AdvantEdge seal is key to the system’s longevity, as it ensures no water or dirt ingress into the material and the edges remain in good condition, helping to prevent peeling or fading. “Representing the ultimate package for the conspicuity market, the end result is a tough, long lasting and highly durable material that is flexible enough for the contours of vehicle bodywork – and offers outstanding visibility in all conditions.” www.rennicksmts.com
Bright and vibrant Iain Borthwick, Managing Director of Rennicks UK, said, “The material offers a market-leading solution, with a tough, bright pigment and unique conformability characteristics geared up to meet the needs of the emergency services. “Budgetary restrictions are impacting on the length of time these vehicles stay in service, with ambulances often in operation for five to seven
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Rapid response vehicles trial enters second phase in West Midlands Three new rapid response fire fighting vehicles have taken to the streets, in the second phase of a trial being carried out by West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS). The specially adapted Toyota Hilux Invincibles could be sent to any type of incident reported to the brigade, depending on the information collected and received. Each carrying three firefighters, in November they joined the extensive range of vehicles already deployed by WMFS. They are based at Coventry, Dudley and Tipton, but could be deployed anywhere within the West Midlands. Since February, a Land Rover Discovery and a Range Rover had been trialled as Brigade Response Vehicles (BRVs), answering calls to automatic fire alarms and low-level incidents such as grass and bin fires. In 93 percent of cases, no extra resources were needed.
right through to how many vehicles and firefighters we deploy, and from where.” Director of Operations Phil Loach said the service was facing the challenge of continuing to make the West Midlands safer, with reduced funding. “We are expecting BRVs to provide a costeffective alternative to a fully-staffed Pump Rescue Ladder,” he explained. “We’re striving to develop economical, effective and safe ways to match our resources to the risks posed to our firefighters and Greater flexibility In the second phase of the trial, the Toyotas – complete with a powerful water pump, 300 litres of water, a ladder, vehicle cutting equipment and water rescue kit – are available as a resource to consider sending to all incidents. Station Commander Ben Brook, who is leading on the project, said, “Brigade Response Vehicles give us greater flexibility in how we respond to incidents, and allow us to better match resources to the type of calls we receive and the risk they pose. We’re continually reviewing how we respond to incidents, from our control room’s professional assessment of the information we get from callers,
to our communities. “We’ll continue to send the best possible response we can, using the most appropriate vehicles and equipment. A fully-crewed fire engine will still respond to our highest risk incidents, but we are now exploring ways to use other vehicles to respond to lower risk incidents and to ensure we have the right number of firefighters at higher risk ones.” Risk-assessed approach Vij Randeniya, Chief Fire Officer for the West Midlands, added, “We are facing unprecedented financial challenges, and are prepared for further cuts when the Government announces the next funding figures in December. BRVs, and the professional, risk-assessed approach we will take to deploying them, are just one of the necessary but innovative ways we’re responding to the new financial world in which we must now operate.” www.wmfs.net
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A glimpse of the future at blue light show It was only a ‘minor’ diversion for many delegates, but the ex-Met panda car parked at the entrance to the 39th NAPFM conference was an apt reminder of how far traffic policing has changed since the 1970s. The event itself has also changed in this time, with some of the larger manufacturers, who in the past would have taken a whole car park of exhibition space, taking a less lavish, more hard-nosed and pragmatic approach to exhibiting, with a number of businesses with obvious synergies even sharing stands. The show, which took place at the Peterborough showground, always looks impressive, professional and well organised, but I wasn’t the only person to notice how it’s changing. One NAPFM veteran said, “The show today is a lot different in one important respect, and that’s the way deals are done. Where once it might have been over an informal drink at the bar, it’s a lot more professional nowadays.” The UK police vehicle market is still worth many millions of pounds a year, with the country’s police forces still big spenders on cars, bikes and light commercials. Dominating the market are Ford, Vauxhall, Peugeot and the VAG Group, with Hyundai increasingly making its presence felt and the likes of Mitsubishi and Mercedes Benz keen to reassert themselves. Police motorbike sales are still dominated by BMW and Honda while the light commercial market is the preserve of Ford, Vauxhall and VAG. More sobering though are the firms which no longer tender for police business – think Suzuki, Nissan, Mazda, Toyota, Lexus, Citroen, FIAT, Proton and a resurgent MG among others.
BMW had a wide and impressive range of cars and bikes on display.
Wide range from BMW BMW had a wide and impressive range of cars and bikes on display; with the burgeoning MINI brand raising a few smiles with its Californian beach patrol concept along with a striking MINI Cooper D ALL4 for the fire and rescue service. Its parent company is deadly serious in how it markets its range, with cars like the new 3 and 5 series in saloon and tourer guises while not the cheapest on offer by far still some of the most cost effective tools for frontline policing in demanding ARV, traffic and response roles. And BMW’s growing range of X models – in this case the 3 and 5 – are still a popular choice for motorway work and in roles with the fire and rescue service. FIAT is enjoying a new lease of life with the Turkish-built Doblo range. If it looks familiar, that’s
There were a number of important new debuts on the Vauxhall.
because it is – Vauxhall also markets it as the Combo but the Italians have stolen a march on the competition with the debut of a smart looking and well-designed cell van. Manufactured in conjunction with Coleman Milne of Bolton, Lancashire, the Doblo is a credible way of carrying two officers and, if necessary, two prisoners, in the roomy cell area. Power comes from the trusty Multijet diesel engine, which can return up to 54mpg. Another benefit is the FIAT Professional warranty, which is a generous three years.
“The UK police vehicle market is still worth many millions of pounds a year, with the country’s police forces still big spenders on cars, bikes and light commercials.” Also on show was the new Euro5 FIAT Ducato. It trounces the opposition from Citroen and Peugeot when it comes to key ‘real world’ fuel returns, which are some 10 percent better than both French-badged rivals. It might look similar but the FIAT is uniquely available with automatic transmission, along with traction control and ESP and thrifty stop–start engine management system to maximise fuel economy in heavy urban traffic. Ford’s stand was once again one of the biggest at the event – and for good reason. These are heady times for the company with a raft of new engine
technologies about to be introduced in a host of models, its Ecoboost range of three-cylinder petrol engines now available in the Focus, Fiesta and, in 2013, new Mondeo models. On show were a number of significant newcomers, including the aggressive new Focus ST estate, the latest Transit and Rangers both in striking fire and rescue livery, alongside the popular Transit Connect. Popular with paramedics Honda’s CR V (compact recreational vehicle) has been a popular choice with paramedic fleets for the last eight years or so, and rightly so. Its popularity is set to continue with the introduction of an all new successor, which is still built in the UK and is lighter, smaller, more economical and just as practical, with ‘on demand’ four-wheel drive and excellent diesel engines. Hyundai might be a relative newcomer in the 999 market but that’s not stopped the company’s Gavin Thompson and his specialist team heavily promoting its i20 and i30 models, with the i40 saloon and tourer looking to increase the Korean company’s presence in a wide assortment of roles. Latest news from the company is the sale of i20s to the Merseyside force to replace the Corsa, while police fleet chiefs were among the first in the UK to see the handsome new Santa Fe up close and personal. Continued investment Mitsubishi is one of the few Japanese manufacturers to have stayed faithful to its 999 range thanks to continued investment in its bespoke Cirencester facility, which builds police specification vehicles for various roles. While other Japanese rivals have all paid lip service to the emergency services market, Mitsubishi is
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committed in many forces with vehicles like the Shogun – a legend with many fleet managers – Outlander and Evo (now about to be deleted from the UK market) remaining popular choices. Recently, some ex-HATO Shoguns were de-fleeted at a whopping 250,000 miles – suffice to say they scrubbed up very well indeed and will fetch good prices at the closed auctions into which police vehicles are entered. Peugeot made history last year with its launch of the new diesel HYbrid 4 and this year debuted the new 208, its new small car, that’s put the ‘super’ into supermini. It’s been 25 years since the company launched the 309 into the police fleet market and since then it has been a force to be reckoned with thanks to models like the 306, 307, and 308. Along with its light commercials, the Bipper, Partner and Expert, it has a wide variety of vehicles for a multitude of roles, with its SVO operation at its Coventry headquarters, a dedicated in-house facility where all work is carried out to the company’s exacting standards. Audi, SEAT, Skoda and VW VAG has one of the biggest and best ranges of police cars and vans on offer to fleet managers, with Audi, SEAT, Skoda and VW all well represented at the Peterborough event. VW is by far the biggest and most successful car company in Europe and is on a roll at the moment, with the new Golf mark 7 soon to be launched in the UK and the Passat range still well received here. Making its debut at the show was the Passat Alltrack, a four-wheel drive variant useful for police and paramedic roles. Audi, meanwhile, has come
on in leaps and bounds in a number of forces, where its A4 and A6 are popular traffic and response cars, especially in diesel Quattro guise. Waiting in the wings is SEAT, with the Alhambra people carrier in high demand for a number of roles with police, ambulance and fire and rescue services. One SEAT watcher said such is its high demand that the company has been asked to increase production for the UK market. What more can be said about Skoda. Top of the UK customer satisfaction rankings, its popularity in the UK retail market is matched by its growing presence in the 999 market, in a range of guises, including the Octavia and Yeti. One vehicle not there – unfortunately – was the new mid-sized Rapid, which is launched soon in the UK. Armoured Insignia debut There were a number of important new debuts on the Vauxhall stand, including a chance to see the new armoured Insignia for the first time, the launch of the latest m.y. 2013 Astra hatch along with a unique IT initiative, a prototype Insignia with a detachable iPad mounted in the fascia. The company is fully committed to the electric car, its Ampera, a striking look into the future – now. A fully equipped demonstrator certainly stood out from the crowd and it’ll be interesting to see which enterprising fleet manager has the foresight to order one for their force. Smaller, but no less effective, is the latest Corsa, with the highly efficient ecoFLEX engine and all important five star NCAP rating, while also taking a bow was the zero emission HydroGen 4 based on the Chevrolet Equinox powered by hydrogen gas – a brave
Volvo’s stand in the main hall featured a selection of all the company’s latest models.
decision by GM in predicting the future of the car. Last but not least, Volvo’s impressive stand in the main hall featured a selection of all the company’s latest models. Its saloons and estates are solid, sturdy and boast a hint of Swedish style, and while Volvo is now in Chinese hands it’s still maintaining a presence in the important UK 999 market with its XC70 range taking a prominent position at NAPFM in various liveries for police and fire and rescue roles. Also present and correct were the popular S80 models with their diesel engines. Finally, one forward looking open air display saw a number of manufacturers show off a variety of low carbon vehicles in the first Low Emissions Zone. Audi, Ford, Halls Auto Electrical, Hyundai, Peugeot, SEAT, Skoda, Vauxhall and VW all took spaces with varying models. www.napfmevent.org
Emergency Services Times December 2012
Author: Roger Blaxall, Motoring Correspondent.
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The rescue application of Jet Ski®s Jet Ski®, Waverunner® and Seadoo® are all trademarks for a group of craft termed Personal Watercraft or PWCs. Emergency services are looking to this type of craft to help them meet their operational responsibilities. The concept of the PWC was first introduced in 1968 by BPR Inc but found little success. The design was later refined by Kawaski, which went on to introduce the first Jet Ski® in 1974. In 1986 the first two-person PWC was released, which laid the ground for the other PWC manufacturers in the market today to get involved. Unlike conventional, propeller-driven boats, PWCs are propelled through an impeller-driven jet drive system. The impeller, located inside the craft, draws in and compresses water from underneath the craft and expels it through a nozzle at the rear. The compression causes the craft to be driven forward and the nozzle can be directed to steer the craft. This concept removes the need for any appendages that extend below the craft or external moving parts.
Jet High Surf Accessories - RWC set up with rescue board and tow lines.
Rescue Watercraft (RWCs) Rescue Watercraft are PWCs that are operated by trained rescue operators and may have been adapted for rescue purposes. This concept was pioneered in the late 1970s by Brad Southworth and Ronny Kling who designed a ‘wedge’ that was able to be clipped onto the hull of the stand-up craft to make it a stable working platform. Kawaski loaned its Jet Ski®s to US lifeguard agencies in North Carolina and Oregon who still use them for rescue purposes today.
“These highly versatile and adaptable machines could potentially fulfil a range of roles in flood rescue.” Despite their 40-year history, RWCs are only recently receiving widespread appreciation. They have always been of great value in surf rescue – their characteristics of being quick and agile are well suited to the turbulent environment. Now, however, RWCs see operations in maritime law enforcement, harbour patrols, inshore and inland rescue, water event safety, along with flood and swiftwater incidents.
Here in the UK they can be found in use by: Essex and Dorset police forces; Merseyside Fire and Rescue Service; RNLI Lifeguards and Lifeboats (Bude and Enniskillen, Northern Ireland); Hornsea Inshore Rescue; and HM Coastguard (Arnside, Lancashire). Also, many agencies have reported trialling these craft and have been impressed by their capabilities.
RWCs in floods The Pitt Review highlighted that more appropriate rescue craft were needed for flood rescue. In an academic paper, opinions and case studies have been explored to find whether RWCs could be of benefit to flood rescue operations. From rescue professionals, concerns were voiced about speed, noise, debris and capacity with regard to DEFRA’s Flood Rescue Concept of Operations. Points in support of the idea were the design of the craft allows it to be operated in shallow water and in confined spaces, easily launched and operated, adaptable to a range of roles and it was found that the concerns above have been addressed through training and technological advances in the industry. Examples of where RWCs have been used include in New Orleans, in response to Hurricane Katrina, and in Japan, to help with the clean-up of the tsunami. During Exercise Watermark a specifically designed RWC, the RescueRunner, was invited to display its capabilities, which received a positive appraisal.
Voluntary PWC enthusiasts have committed themselves and their craft to assist in saving lives. During the 2011 flood in Thailand 13 members of the Patong Jet Ski Club accepted a request for assistance from the emergency services. Through their efforts over 600 people were rescued. Despite their lack of technical rescue training, their basic understanding of the craft allowed them to be successful.
Photo: David Ferguson.
Conclusion These highly versatile and adaptable machines could potentially fulfil a range of roles in flood rescue, including person recovery, transporting supplies and reconnaissance, with the aid of GPS and command systems. It is understood that not one craft could perform all operations in flood rescue but it appears that RWCs have the potential to enhance the capabilities of a flood rescue system. With such versatility and in times of austerity a suggestion could be made for a joint venture between agencies to help meet operational demands. For the full report please contact Craig Needham at craigbneedham@gmail.com
Emergency Services Times December 2012
Author: Craig Needham, Graduate in Rescue & Emergency Management (FdSc) and Seasonal RNLI Lifeguard.
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The National Police Air Service: A national service, regionally coordinated for local delivery The National Police Air Service (NPAS) was launched on 1 October 2012. It has been delivered through the first National Collaboration Agreement between police bodies, with West Yorkshire Police as the lead force. This ensures that NPAS is led and owned by the police service and delivers the operational benefits and financial savings that have been presented to individual police bodies. Air support is considered a vital tool in the delivery of policing services. This is particularly true where the use of an aircraft mitigates serious risk or gives the police a capability to undertake some roles that cannot be achieved by any other means. Chief officers across the country are unanimous in their support for the police service to retain an air support function. They also recognise that the previous structure for delivery was inefficient. In 2009 there were 30 police helicopters in England and Wales located across 27 bases. Many of these helicopters worked within individual force boundaries, rarely undertaking tasks outside the force, despite often being the nearest available asset. In 2009, the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) undertook a fundamental review of the National Police Air Operations Strategy, concluding that the overall national picture was highly fragmented, more costly than it needed to be and its impact less than it could be for the resources that were spent on it.
“It is anticipated that NPAS will save up to £15m a year compared to previous arrangements for police air support when all forces join the service.” A joint ACPO/National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) project team, headed by outgoing Hampshire Chief Constable Alex Marshall QPM as the ACPO lead on air operations, was set up to implement the recommendations identified in the review to form a National Police Air Service (NPAS). NPAS is being implemented in a regional phased approach from 1 October 2012 to January 2015 with the South East Region being the first to join. Integrated part of a wider strategy The Government is committed to delivering the structure to provide the police service with an air support capability, which: maximises the benefits of air support to the delivery of frontline police services; is achieved at lower cost than a service which is procured and managed on a local basis; is an integrated part of the wider policing strategy, supporting its objectives; and harnesses innovation in the aviation sector for the benefits of policing.
The underlying principle of NPAS is a national service, regionally coordinated for local delivery. The focus of NPAS is to deliver a more cost effective service that balances the need to save money in a challenging economic environment against the need to ensure the police service has a quickly deployable asset that can be used to protect and enhance public safety and tackle crime. It is anticipated that NPAS will save up to £15m a year compared to previous arrangements for police air support when all forces join the service.
day. Three reserve aircraft will also be provided when aircraft are offline for maintenance to minimise reduction in service.
Maintaining confidence NPAS ensures that essential air support can continue to be delivered where it is required thus ensuring that confidence in the service remains high. NPAS also enables forces to call upon the use of a number of aircraft within each region and nationally meaning that the police service’s response will, in many cases, be enhanced over current provision. Aircraft will be despatched through a centralised despatch and flight monitoring centre, based in West Yorkshire, to ensure that the nearest aircraft attends and the command and control of an incident remains with the local force. Twenty-five NPAS aircraft will be placed at 23 strategic locations that provide the operational capability to deliver an enhanced service to the public, with an aircraft being available 24 hours a
Improving public safety Once fully implemented NPAS will be a truly national (England and Wales) policing service that will be at the heart of improving public safety. It will bring improvements in operational efficiencies and allow for the introduction of innovative contracts that offer better value for money for the service and the taxpayer. This innovation is likely to include working in greater partnership with other blue light services and a move to a wider asset mix to cater for the range of urgent, non-urgent and scheduled tasks; all of which are currently catered for by helicopters, even when not the most appropriate asset. www.npia.police.uk
Author: Simon Newman, NPAS Programme Manager
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Regional fire control buildings made available for lease Emergency services and other specialist users in various parts of the country seriously considering relocation of their headquarters, control rooms, or training functions, looking to consolidate their operations or seeking effective interoperability should take a very close look at the Zenith Control Portfolio, a collection of five purpose-built, high specification control centres, is available for lease by the Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG). Located in Cambridge, Castle Donington, Taunton, Wakefield and Wolverhampton, each control centre extends to some 30,000sqft and benefits from a fully secured environment in out-of-town, prime business park locations with ready access to major road, rail and air links. All of the self-contained three-storey buildings incorporate a large double height control room with a first floor observation area and a range of flexible office space. Other accommodation includes full catering and canteen facilities, storage areas and specialist equipment and plant rooms. The control rooms can be used as dedicated emergency or disaster response spaces, operations rooms, call/control centres or hi-tech teaching spaces and are well-suited to any occupier seeking wellspecified accommodation.
“Each centre is equipped with the latest technology and is finished to a very high specification.” Available now Available for immediate occupation, each of the buildings is accessed through a secure gate-house, fitted with comprehensive CCTV, and includes diverse routing of critical power supplies with diesel-powered standby generators and parallel UPS fitted as standard. Other facilities include airconditioning, argonite gas and high-pressure water mist fire suppression systems and rainwater harvesting. In addition, the ground floors are fitted with a canteen, kitchen and servery, locker rooms with showers, switch and transformer rooms and a loading bay with goods lift. Each centre is equipped with the latest technology and is finished to a very high specification. The office areas include suspended ceilings with inset compact fluorescent lights, carpeted raised floors, VRF air conditioning, ceiling
mounted sprinklers and double-glazed windows. All sites have ample car parking and a bike store. This comprehensive range of features and benefits make the sites particularly attractive to potential occupiers seeking secure and resilient premises combined with comprehensive facilities. Resilient and secure environment Andy Venables, Director National Markets with GVA, is handling the lettings. He said, “These five buildings provide a virtually oven-ready solution for a range of potential occupiers looking for a high specification finish, in-built technology and a resilient, extremely secure environment. I anticipate significant interest from organisations seeking some or all of these characteristics.” Of the nine control centre buildings originally developed, four – in Durham, South London, Warrington and Fareham – have already been let for emergency service use, with the centre in Fareham, Hampshire to be used by the Maritime
and Coastguard Agency (MCA) as its new national Maritime Operations Centre. Shipping Minister Mike Penning officially opened the Fareham centre on 5 July 2012. He said, “I am very proud of the new Maritime Operations Centre and the first rate service it will offer those who need assistance around our entire coastline and beyond.” John Morphew, MCA’s Assistant Director Asset Management, added, “We are delighted to have reached agreement with the Department for Communities and Local Government on the transfer of the former Fire Control Centre at Fareham to the Maritime and Coastguard Agency. The control centre is a state of the art facility that will be at the heart of HM Coastguard operations for at least the next 20 years.” If you have any queries on the Zenith Control Portfolio, contact Andy Venables of GVA on 0121 609 8427 or e-mail: Andrew.venables@gva.co.uk. www.zenithcontrol.co.uk
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COMPANY PROFILE | 55
Three world-leading manufacturers from one supplier: North Fire PLC The Emergency Services Show 2012 will be the first UK trade event in which all three elite manufacturers – Rosenbauer, Metz and Argus – will exhibit from one stand, North Fire PLC. Since taking control of UK sales for Argus in August of this year, and with the launch of the new, in-demand Argus Mi-TIC personal thermal imaging camera at the show in November, it has become evidently clear why North Fire is seen as an innovator and supplier of only quality products. “We’re in a privileged position to have such a powerful portfolio of products,” said Oliver North, Managing Director of North Fire. “We are suppliers of aerial appliances, fire fighting equipment and thermal imaging cameras, and what better place to be when we can offer almost unrivalled quality in each of those three areas. In Metz we have the most established aerial appliance manufacturer worldwide, who are the UK market leader in the supply of turntable ladders. In Rosenbauer, we have the biggest supplier of fire fighting equipment worldwide and a UK market leader in the supply of fire helmets, and in Argus we have the UK market leader in the field of thermal imaging, with around 80 percent of the market, and with a new, robust, innovative product in the Argus Mi-TIC… Life is good at North Fire right now!”
Aerial Ladder Platform or Turntable Ladder? At The Emergency Services Show 2012 (ESS2012) North Fire is proud to present a range of aerial appliances from Metz – the superb L32 articulated Turntable Ladder (TL) and the refined B32 Aerial Ladder Platform (ALP). “What we are seeing again in the UK is whether brigades should opt for a turntable ladder or an ALP,” said Oliver North. “With both Metz variants we know we can perform over and above any other manufacturer’s versions. At ESS2012 it will be good to show that ‘the proof is in the pudding’ and exhibitors will be able to see directly the differences in aerial performance, body work, styling and, equally as important, the people behind it. Or if brigades are in two minds between the actual concept of Ladder vs Platform, they can see firsthand, the strengths and weaknesses of both.”
TWISTER boot is also expected to become the ‘standard’ fire boot, offering wearers previously unknown comfort and protection seen in firefighter footware. The boots will be available to try on throughout this year’s show, on the North Fire stand.
The Nautilus submersible pump in action.
HEROS-xtreme fire helmet North Fire was established in 2008 and looked to the excellent Rosenbauer HEROS-xtreme fire helmet as an example of why Rosenbauer’s reputation remains so strong worldwide. “Oliver [North] and I decided that the fire helmet could show each and every brigade just how good our products are and exactly how efficient after sales and service is here in the UK,” said Hans Detzlhofer, Rosenbauer Vice President. “We are now a clear market leader in the UK with fire helmets and now with the launch of the new TWISTER fire boot and Nautilus submersible pump, the fire services throughout the UK already know that we are as efficient as a supplier can be and very much ‘hands on’ once we have supplied products into a service.” On the back of the success of the HEROS-xtreme with fire and rescue services, ambulance and police services have now decided to opt for Rosenbauer helmets, be it the xtreme or HEROS-smart as their first choice. Hans Detzlhofer continued, “If the fire services throughout the UK have deemed the Rosenbauer helmet to be the best, then when the ambulance or police services want an EN443: 2008 (standard for fire helmets) certified helmet, then they are in the best hands with the North Fire supplied Rosenbauer helmet range.” The new TWISTER boot launch The new award winning Rosenbauer TWISTER boot will be launched at The Emergency Services Show 2012. After the success of the Rosenbauer helmets in the UK, the
The Argus Mi-TIC launch The Argus Mi-TIC will take the role of ‘Headline Act’ at ESS2012. “The demand for our new Mi-TIC personal camera has been so immense that we had no choice but to place it as pride of place in the exhibition’s ‘shop window’ so people are aware of the official launch,” said Angus Drummond, Argus Vice President. “With such a major step in thermal imaging camera innovation, and with some people making the trip to the show specifically for the new TIC, we felt it was important to go the extra mile and showcase it properly. And now with our new UK partner, North Fire and their ever expanding reputation, we feel the new TIC is in prime position to step up as ‘the new standard’ for thermal imaging in the UK.”
The Argus Mi-TIC will launch at ESS2012.
North Fire and all associated products will be on show at The Emergency Service Show 2012, in the registration area and Hall 2. Live aerial appliance demonstrations will take place outside throughout both days of the show, which runs from 21-22 November at Stoneleigh Park in Warwickshire. www.north-fire.com
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A new home for Trellchem chemical protective suits and Viking dry diving suits Ansell Ltd signed an agreement to acquire the Trelleborg Protective Products (TPP) business unit from the Trelleborg Group of Sweden in early May. Through world-renowned brand names like Trellchem® and Viking™, TPP develops and manufactures chemical protective suits and dry diving suits, along with inflatable shelters, dock seals and a range of custom-made products for various industries. The TPP acquisition fits nicely with the Ansell strategy to expand the portfolio in the field of personal protective equipment and achieve double growth. Ansell will operate the former Trelleborg business under the name Ansell Protective Solutions (APS), and as part of its Specialty Markets Global Business Unit.
100 years of protection Just like Ansell, the roots of what is now Ansell Protective Solutions go back over 100 years and ‘protection’ has always been the company’s middle name. The production of personal protective equipment located in the southern Swedish town of Trelleborg, started humbly in 1910 at a small rubber factory, with the manufacture of raincoats. Given the factory’s close location to the port of Trelleborg, it was a natural step to start producing diving suits, as well as splash protective suits for the shipping industry.
From raincoats to chemical protective suits and dry diving suits Over the years, the product offering has evolved to include chemical protective suits (which started during World War I), suits to protect against biohazards and radioactive contamination and respiratory protective equipment. In 1986, the former company acquired Viking™, a leading provider of products for diving in hazardous conditions.
Today, Ansell Protective Solutions provides personal protection for a wide range of professionals in hazardous working conditions, including first responders, military, aerospace and industrial customers, from all around the world, under the Trellchem® and Viking™ brands. In addition, APS offers Tretight inflatable dock seals and Trelltent™ tent and shelter systems. “We are very excited about joining the Ansell family,” says Magnus Andersson, Managing Director of Ansell Protective Solutions (APS). “Becoming a part of a global leader in the personal protective equipment business will bring substantial opportunities and benefits to our customers and business partners. It will also allow us to continue to strengthen the position of our market leading brands such as Trellchem®, Viking™ and Trelltent™.”
Worldwide presence Holding its offices in Trelleborg, Ansell Protective Solutions (APS) – formerly known as Trelleborg Protective Products – has regional offices in Norway, USA, Singapore, UAE, Shanghai, the Russian Federation and Lithuania. In 2007, the greater part of its manufacturing operations was moved from Ystad, Sweden, to Tauragé in Lithuania. APS products have, since then, been manufactured at its own facility in Lithuania.
Ansell Protective Solutions has around 170 employees turning over approximately US$25m annually, mostly through the Trellchem® and Viking™ brands. Quality, customer focus and innovation As a leader in its field, the APS business adheres to the same values of quality, customer focus and innovation, like Ansell, and is seen to offer important growth opportunities for the company, with complementary sales forces and new distribution channels. The acquisition therefore fits perfectly into the Ansell growth and expansion strategies. http://protective.ansell.com www.ansell.com
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Working with partners is key to delivering effective incident resolution In 2012 the field of hazardous materials management within an emergency responder environment is increasingly complex, as processes and technology develop to add ever more substances and associated hazards to the list of what the emergency responder community has to prepare and plan for and, ultimately, respond to. Fortunately, these developments are matched by industry in ensuring, that as far as is practicable, the manufacture, storage and transportation of the substances takes place as safely as possible. All members of the responding community are always eager to gather intelligence about the nature of the risks for which they should prepare. In planning for such a response the development of key scientific skills and knowledge becomes an ever-increasing part of ‘the day job’. Emergency responders are now able to equip themselves with supporting technology, the likes of which have either been previously unaffordable or not suitable for deployment into the live incident environment. The breadth of topics covered in this HAZMAT feature reflects some of the key contemporary issues that we face. As all responders meet the challenge of managing in austere times, the need to innovate and the ability to do more with less is key to delivering an effective response that is continually improving in line with the expectation of the communities which we serve.
“Partners and colleagues in industry and other public sector organisations add capability and expertise to the response arrangements.” Improved capability Fire and rescue services (FRSs) in particular, as the recognised lead UK responder to HAZMAT incidents, have developed a massively improved capability in response to the need to deliver the New Dimension programme. As part of what is now termed National Resilience, the huge uplift in knowledge and skills of fire and rescue service officers has afforded huge improvements based around the development of the CBRN(E) capability; the spin-off being a step change in the response to those incidents that happen across the UK on a day-to-day basis. Incidents in well regulated premises, back street yards, dark and remote roadsides and a wealth of other places receive a response based upon sound underpinning knowledge, good training and access to excellent equipment. Working with partners is key to delivering effective incident resolution and the combination of FRS teams with HART responders and police
specialist support makes for an excellent combination. We all recognise though that the responder community is far wider than this, and is continually evolving. Partners and colleagues in industry and other public sector organisations add capability and expertise to the response arrangements. Technology and innovation The technology and innovation on display at The Emergency Services Show 2012 will support those that lead the future development and delivery of the HAZMAT capability. The fact that the Joint Emergency Services Interoperability Programme (JESIP) is also being formally launched at the show demonstrates the key vision required to continually provide excellence in service delivery. As the Chief Fire Officers’ Association (CFOA) lead for Hazardous Materials I am particularly pleased to be able to welcome the launch of the revised Fire and Rescue Service guidance for Incidents Involving Hazardous Materials to coincide with the show. Opportunities for experts to meet, develop and discuss matters of mutual interest are very valuable and in a time-precious world, occasions such as
The Emergency Services Show provide the ideal basis for such interactions. Dave Walton Lead for Hazardous Materials Chief Fire Officers’ Association www.wmfs.net
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Reducing the operational and financial impact of asbestos incidents Of all potential hazardous materials (HAZMAT) that may be encountered during operational incidents for fire and rescue services, asbestos is arguably the most common. It is therefore no surprise that this hazard (shown below) is considered in it own right from a national generic risk assessment (GRA) point of view.
Inhalation of asbestos fibres is a major hazard to human health. If inhaled, the smallest of the fibres may remain deposited in the lungs. Symptoms resulting from this may not occur for 15-60 years following exposure. The principle diseases known to be caused by exposure to asbestos fibres are asbestosis, lung cancer, malignant mesothelioma and asbestos pleural disease. Asbestos fibres are unlike many HAZMAT risks due to their persistence in the environment – fibres can be found in urban areas as high as 1000 fibres per cubic metre of air1. Asbestos exposure therefore cannot be avoided but must be managed from an occupational perspective.
While asbestos is intact and undisturbed, it will not lead to health problems; however, during operational incidents and fires, the potential for release of fibres is very real. What is most important is the level of exposure to fibres. Difficult to monitor exposure Within the regulations, there is a control limit set at 0.1 fibres per millilitre of air. However, there is a practical difficulty when it comes to operational response as identification of asbestos traditionally requires the use of specialist laboratory equipment, with the appropriate microscope technology, and currently there is no effective method of monitoring asbestos exposure in real time. Fire and rescue service procedures have therefore been applied at all ‘asbestos suspected’ incidents. While this is rightly the safe approach to take, it does have consequential issues that must be considered.
Decontamination difficulties From the perspective of West Midlands Fire Service (WMFS), which is typical for UK fire and rescue services, structural fire fighting PPE that is believed to be contaminated with asbestos will be handled via a specialist laundry. This process is well established and would not normally lead to resilience issues. The more problematic situation occurs when considering breathing apparatus (BA). The traditional method for decontamination would either involve sending the unit away for specialist cleaning or stripping the set down and categorising items into either hard items or soft; the soft items then being sent for laundry. Apart from the cost associated with cleaning, both routes can lead to significant numbers of sets being unavailable for several days. While a certain level of pool stock is maintained for just such an occasion, a protracted multi-pump fire can deplete this stock and then there is a potential vulnerability if another such incident was to occur while stocks were down.
microscopes. A method for preparing and analysing bulk asbestos samples has been developed, which can be completed at the incident scene. With the advent of Detection, Identification and Monitoring (DIM) teams having access to mobile units, the addition of this capability has be relatively straightforward, utilising staffing and mobilising protocols for this team. By mobilising this capability to scene, it is possible to confirm the presence or absence of asbestos. However, following development work undertaken with the Health and Safety Laboratories, a method for evaluating BA sets to confirm whether they are contaminated or not has also been developed. This means that where asbestos is present, it is still possible to assess BA sets so that only those that are truly contaminated go for specialist cleaning.
“By mobilising this capability to scene, it is possible to confirm the presence or absence of asbestos.” Incident scene solution The solution to this difficulty involves the use of a combination of low and high power light
Reduced cost The capability within WMFS has been operationally available for the last two years. During a four-month assessment, of the 56 sets assessed, only four were found to be actually contaminated, vastly improving resilience and reducing cost. 1 Source data from the World Health Organisation provided by the Health Protection Agency www.wmfs.net
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Author: Rob Mitchell, Hazardous Materials Advisor, West Midlands Fire Service
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Hazardous materials incident guidance for fire and rescue services The Fire and Rescue Service (FRS) Operational Guidance Programme was instigated through the Our Fire and Rescue Service Practitioners’ Forum in 2008. Its aim is to ensure there is a framework to develop, review and maintain operational guidance for the fire and rescue service to safeguard firefighter safety, ensure interoperability among services and effectively resolve emergency incidents. The Department for Communities and Local Government (DCLG) will publish the HAZMAT Operational Guidance through The Stationery Office (TSO), in November 2012. It is set out in the form of a procedural and technical framework and consolidates the myriad of documents previously issued by Government departments responsible for the fire and rescue service on the subject of hazardous materials. The scope of this guidance is wide ranging due to the extensive nature of HAZMAT incidents encountered by the fire and rescue service. It is applicable to any event, regardless of scale, from small incidents, such as the careless use of domestic cleaning products, to large-scale industrial accidents. The Operational Guidance is focused on the operational, tactical and technical aspects of HAZMAT incidents to assist FRSs with: the development and implementation of safe systems of work; and interoperability at large or cross-border incidents where more than one fire and rescue service is in attendance.
“It is applicable to any event, regardless of scale, from small incidents, such as the careless use of domestic cleaning products, to large-scale industrial accidents.” Recognises local differences It is written as an enabling guide based around risk-critical operational principles rather than a strict set of rules and procedures. This is done to recognise local differences across the UK in terms of risk profiles and levels of resources. The key issues in the new consolidated HAZMAT Ops Guidance document are: • Transportation, packaging and storage of hazardous materials – this section contains updated information on REACH (Registration, Evaluation, Authorisation and restriction of CHemicals) regulations and GHS (Globally Harmonised System) • UN class 1 – Explosives – contains information on: the risks associated with ISO shipping
Photos of a model form of FRS Interim decontamination.
containers emphasised; fireworks retail premises hazard zone guidance amended to align with HSE guidance (100m not 200m as stated in the GRA); and guidance on peroxide IEDs added • UN class 2 – Gases (including acetylene) – contains significant change to acetylene cylinder cooling procedures. The main change is the withdrawal of the guidance to cool heat-affected acetylene cylinders for 24 hours. This has been replaced by a minimum of two hours cooling (one hour water cooling followed by one hour monitoring). • UN Class 7 – Radioactive materials – the IAEA guidance to first responders added including initial cordon distances; introduces the concept of ‘dose constraint’; recommends the appointment of RPSs within FRSs, dependent on IRMP; reiterates the use of contamination meters for assessing contamination after decontamination has taken place – low to moderate impact depending on the individual fire and rescue service’s approach to radiation incidents • UN Class 9 – Miscellaneous dangerous substances and articles – this section also includes guidance and information on HAZMAT incidents not classified in UN Class 9, eg chemical suicide, Methamphetamine and other illicit drug laboratories • Asbestos containing materials (ACM) – contains further guidance on ACM hazard assessment process (ie High Hazard and Lower Hazard); Safe Undressing Procedure; risk assessment of PPE/RPE • Decontamination – contains a standard generic system for firefighter decontamination; Safe Undressing procedures for GTS and PRPS. The following sections are short summaries of: • G-SOP • Acetylene • Decontamination.
Generic Standard Operating Procedure (G-SOP) On-site fire and rescue service emergency operations should always be based on structured, standardised and risk assessed safe systems of work. These are commonly known as Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). All good SOPs allow flexibility, within defined boundaries, so that competent staff can use professional judgement to choose the most appropriate procedures and tactics when faced with unique, or rapidly developing, emergency situations. This controlled but dynamic management of risk must have firefighter safety at its core, while acknowledging that a professional, highly trained emergency service will be exposed to some controlled risk to achieve the community’s expectations.
The new guidance contains a Generic Standard Operating Procedure (G-SOP) specifically written for firefighters attending emergency hazardous material incidents. It was formulated by bringing together existing ‘good practice’ from FRSs throughout the United Kingdom. This good practice has been heavily influenced over the years by the HAZMAT training courses provided by the Fire Service College in Moreton-in-Marsh, and the Scottish Fire Services College in Gullane. International operational guidance has also been considered, particularly that used in the US, Canada and Mexico (eg National Fire Protection Association’s standard 472 for Professional Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials Incidents, Hazardous Waste Operations and Emergency Response regulations etc).
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The G-SOP is structured around the ‘response phases’ of an emergency incident common to all fire and rescue service operations. The six ‘response phases’ are: 1. Mobilising and en-route 2. Arriving and gathering information 3. Planning the response 4. Implementing the response 5. Evaluating the response 6. Closing the incident. The G-SOP also reflects the hazards and control measures detailed within the relevant fire and rescue service Generic Risk Assessments (GRA). It is deliberately written concisely and in an easy to navigate, colour-coded format so that it can be used as a reference guide for operational staff; an aide memoir containing a summary of the most critical information is also provided. The G-SOP should be viewed as a flexible guide and not a set of rigid rules. Individual FRSs should decide what works best for them in terms of the level of detail their organisation requires. They should then design training and development programmes that incorporate their specific equipment, risks and resources. Use of the G-SOP offers many benefits as it: recognises that the majority of HAZMAT incidents are minor in nature and generally involve limited quantities; builds upon the actions of those first in attendance and assists with identifying the roles and responsibilities of each key level of responder; provides a flexible management system that expands as the scope and magnitude of the incident grows; and provides a consistent management structure, regardless of the classes of hazardous materials involved.
G-SOP Summary Phase 1: Mobilising and en-route 1.1 Assess the level, scale and type of incident 1.2 Mobilise appropriate resources to the incident, marshalling areas or predetermined Rendez-Vous Points (RVP) 1.3 Access incident specific information en-route 1.4 Notify relevant agencies. Phase 2: Arriving and gathering information 2.1 Approach the incident safely and estimate the potential Hazard Zone 2.2 Recognise hazards and risks from a safe location and implement an initial cordon 2.3 Liaise with persons on and off site 2.4 Consider the Immediate Life Risk 2.5 Identify the problem and the likely impact 2.6 Estimate the resource requirements (NB make-up) 2.7 Implement the Incident Command System (ICS). Phase 3: Planning the response 3.1 Identify the objectives 3.2 Develop a Response Plan with specialist advisers and other agencies 3.3 Identify the level and type of PPE required 3.4 Identify effective decontamination procedures. Phase 4: Implementing the response 4.1 Review and monitor cordons to control access at the scene 4.2 Communicate and control the response plan 4.3 Establish and operate decontamination 4.4 Implement deliberate reconnaissance to gather further information 4.5 Implement effective fire fighting, containment and pollution control techniques 4.6 Work with people and agencies that may provide additional advice and assistance. Phase 5: Evaluating the response 5.1 Evaluate the effectiveness of the response 5.2 Adjust the response plan if necessary. Phase 6: Closing the incident 6.1 Close down fire and rescue service operations 6.2 Hand-over control of the incident site 6.3 Facilitate incident debriefs 6.4 Anticipate post-incident considerations.
The G-SOP contains the latest updated guidance on generic initial cordon distances that should be considered by first responders. It also includes an example of a HAZMAT incident recording/risk assessment template, which can be used by HAZMAT advisers to assist with phase 3 – Planning the Response. It is currently taught at the Fire Service College as part of the Hazardous Materials and Environmental Protection Officer (HMEPO) course.
Acetylene cylinders involved in fire Probably the single largest update to fire and rescue service procedures in the new operational guidance concerns the cooling procedures for acetylene cylinders that have been involved in fire. The section on ‘UN Class 2 – Gases’ dispels some of the myths that have developed within fire and rescue services over certain dangers associated with acetylene cylinder incidents. It also recommends a new cylinder cooling procedure based on the results from scientific tests that have been carried out in Germany.
Cylinder cooling As soon as a cylinder is discovered at a fire, regardless of the contents, the Incident Commander (IC) should make every effort to extinguish any fire affecting the cylinder and apply cooling sprays directly on to any affected cylinders. It is important to quickly cool cylinders with water if they have been heated in a fire, either by direct flame contact or by radiant heat. Firefighters carrying out this task should continually risk assess the situation and take advantage of all available substantial shielding/cover. They should consider using ground monitors and lashed jets where severe or prolonged heating has taken place and should always wear appropriate PPE. If firefighters encounter cylinders that have been fully involved in a severe fire for an unknown period of time they should treat them with extreme caution and adopt defensive tactics.
“Probably the single largest update to fire and rescue service procedures in the new operational guidance concerns the cooling procedures for acetylene cylinders that have been involved in fire.” Acetylene decomposition Acetylene is distinguished from other flammable gases by its ability to continue to ‘self-heat’ after the fire has been extinguished. When involved in a fire, acetylene can begin to decompose, that is, break down into its constituent elements of Hydrogen and Carbon. The decomposition reaction is exothermic, that is, it produces heat. Acetylene cylinders are designed to contain and inhibit decomposition, however, if left unchecked decomposition could lead to the failure of the cylinder. This means that unlike other fuel gases, acetylene may continue to be a hazard after the fire has been extinguished and requires specific operational procedures. However, only a significant heat source such as direct flame contact can initiate decomposition. Mechanical shock alone to a cold cylinder cannot initiate decomposition. Single cylinders Single acetylene cylinders that have been significantly heated or damaged by fire must not be moved. They should be cooled as soon as possible with water spray and a Hazard Zone designated around them (up to 200m for cylinders in the open with no shielding). Where cylinders are heavily involved in fire an Exclusion Zone should also be considered. Cooling phase Water cooling should be continued for at least one hour. Ground monitors and lashed jets should be used, any firefighters carrying out essential tasks within the Hazard Zone must have appropriate PPE and make full use of all available substantial
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GTS safe undressing procedure.
cover/shielding. After a minimum of one hour of water cooling the cylinder’s temperature should be checked to see if it has been effectively cooled. NB ‘effective cooling’ means bringing the cylinder shell temperature down to ambient temperature. The ‘Wetting test’ and/or thermal imaging equipment should be used to do this.
Monitoring phase When effective cooling of the cylinder shell has been achieved, water cooling should be stopped. The cylinder should still not be moved for a further one hour and an appropriate, risk assessed Hazard Zone should be maintained. This monitoring phase is required due to the possibility of internal decomposition occurring. NB Leaking acetylene cylinders have a higher risk of decomposition occurring. During the monitoring phase, temperature checks of the cylinder shell should be made every 15 minutes. If any increase in temperature is observed a further one hour continuous water cooling should be applied to the cylinder before its temperature is re-checked. When the cylinder remains effectively cooled for the whole of the monitoring phase (ie the shell temperature remains at ambient temperature for one hour without being water cooled, and is not leaking, there is no risk of cylinder failure and it should be handed over to the responsible person or agency on-site. NB A cylinder that is leaking significantly should not be moved and should be allowed to vent safely. The fire and rescue service should assess any fire or explosion risks caused by the escaping gas and continue cylinder shell temperature monitoring. Multiple cylinders or substantially concealed single cylinders Where cylinders are very closely packed, and/or concealed/buried by debris, there may be a risk that the cooling water may not come into contact with a substantial proportion of the cylinder shell, therefore limiting the effect of cooling. If the Incident Commander considers that significant areas of the cylinder are ‘dry’ then the cooling phase should be extended.
Decontamination Government departments have issued over 3000 separate pieces of HAZMAT-related operational guidance since 1947. Many of these documents have touched on decontamination. The decontamination section of the new guidance consolidates all of the existing guidance. It sets out the various types of decontamination systems and procedures that might be employed at emergency hazardous materials incidents. The guidance explains the ‘process of decontamination’ and the four basic concepts of contamination, which are: avoid contamination, prevent exposure; surface contamination versus permeation contamination; direct contamination versus cross contamination; and types of contaminants. The decontamination process is vital to reduce the potential of transferring contaminants beyond the Hazard Zone and exposing people to harm from the hazardous material. Since the terrorist attacks of 9/11 much research and development has taken place into CBRN(E) decontamination and it is important to ensure that this work is used to enhance the safety and efficiency of decontamination at conventional HAZMAT incidents where it is appropriate to do so. The operational guidance takes into account the variations between UK fire and rescue services in the circumstances affecting the rapid provision of full decontamination facilities such as the size of the turn-out area, transport networks and other geographical features.
“Different decontamination methods will be required for chemical, radioactive and biological contamination.” Wherever possible reference is made to the tactics, procedures and equipment developed by the fire and rescue service National Resilience programme for CBRN(E) response. This is to ensure that fire and rescue service interoperability is maintained and all fire and rescue services work to the same principles and definitions. There is no universal decontamination method that will work for every HAZMAT incident. Different decontamination methods will be required for chemical, radioactive and biological contamination. Chemical decontamination, for instance, may involve mass dilution, whereas minimal quantities of water should generally be utilised for biological and radioactive contamination.
Having said that decontamination methods may vary, the general framework of procedures and the structure of Firefighter Decontamination should not. It is vital that operational staff are completely familiar with their set-ups and standard operating procedures. These should be flexible enough to allow for variations in the methods and scale of decontamination. The guidance contains examples of good practice from around the UK, Europe and the USA. The guidance considers the different methods of decontamination and recommends a generic fire and rescue service decontamination system. It is a good practice model that should be considered at any HAZMAT incident irrespective of the level or method of decontamination selected. Firefighter decontamination (primary decontamination) is divided into two levels: 1. Initial decontamination – is the decontamination of firefighters using equipment that is immediately available on a pumping appliance. It should be used in all cases where unforeseen contamination of firefighters has occurred; where there is an immediate life risk; or where, at a minor incident, the hazards posed by the substance can be adequately controlled by the procedures. 2. Full decontamination – is the decontamination of firefighters on-site using decontamination equipment, structured procedures and staff who have been trained fully in its use. Both levels of firefighter decontamination usually involve two processes. Firstly, ‘contamination reduction’ and then ‘safe undressing’. There is also specific procedural guidance in the new document on: • Interim decontamination – the use of standard equipment to provide a planned and structured decontamination process for large numbers of the public prior to the availability of purpose designed decontamination equipment • Gas tight chemical protective clothing safe undressing procedure – an aide memoir for crews carrying out firefighter full decontamination using the National Resilience gas tight chemical protective clothing • Powered Respirator Protective Suit (PRPS) safe undressing procedure – an aide memoir for crews carrying out firefighter full decontamination using the National Resilience PRPS. www.wmfs.net
Emergency Services Times December 2012
Author: Bob Hark, CFRAU Project Manager (retired)
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68 | HAZMAT
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Environmental risks of fire fighting and a new development in the fight against pollution The environmental hazards that result from fire fighting activities have been known about for some time; the Sandoz chemical warehouse fire in 1986 in Switzerland wiped out a 400km stretch of the River Rhine and several drinking water abstractions; Buncefield polluted an aquifer used for public water supply, and countless other fires have caused fish kills and extensive environmental damage. The exact nature and severity of the pollution will depend on what is on fire. Accepted wisdom says that fires involving toxic chemicals will pose the greatest environmental risk. This is generally true, but to assume that the absence of overtly hazardous chemicals means that there is little or no need to consider the environmental impact is seriously flawed. In September 2011, a fire at a warehouse storing shampoos and domestic detergents caused a fish kill effecting over 20km of the Birmingham canal network. Even more recently, in late September 2012, a fire involving several thousand tonnes of waste wood chip resulted in approximately 22,000m3 of run-off entering the local canal. Subsequent testing showed that the run-off had the same potential for pollution as raw sewage. Long lasting impact Clearly, fires involving the most innocuous materials can have a very serious environmental impact without having any inherent toxicity associated with them. Add to this the potential use of fire fighting foam and the pollution potential could be increased ten fold, resulting in a highly damaging and long lasting environmental impact.
“Environmental protection should really be viewed as a human health issue.” Fire and rescue services may be excused for wondering why they should be concerned with the environmental impacts of fire water run off. There are, however, two very good reasons why they should be concerned. Firstly, the environment should not be regarded as simply the plants and animals that comprise it. Clearly the protection of life comes first, but if the environment isn’t healthy, then the people living in it won’t be either. Contaminants released into the environment can enter the food chain and ultimately find their way in to the food we eat; environmental protection should really be viewed as a human health issue. Secondly, there is potential criminal liability for any organisation that causes or permits a pollutant to enter a water course; and this applies to fire and
rescue services. The burden here is admittedly very high: outright negligence would be needed for a fire and rescue service to be at risk of prosecution. That said, the Environment Agency should be notified of relevant incidents (guidance on this may be found in Vol 2 of the Fire and Rescue Manual) to ensure that they are involved in the response and any risk of liability is removed. So it is clear that fire fighting activities can have an huge impact on the environment, and it has been seen why fire fighting run-off should not be ignored, but what can be done to mitigate or prevent the impacts of the run-off? Dealing with fire water run-off The current methods of dealing with fire water run-off centre around containment or diversion using water-filled booms that form a seal with the ground. These techniques allow the contaminant to be either collected and pooled so it can be pumped to a tanker or foul sewer or diverted directly to the foul sewer. In some situations the pooled water can be re-circulated and put back on the fire, but this method can contaminate pumps and hoses, also it gradually concentrates the pollutant to a point where the environmental risk is even higher. Discharge to foul sewer comes with the risk of poisoning the treatment works and causing an even worse environmental incident. Partnership approach Clearly the current methods are limited and are not always successful, often due to local geography and/or lack of available foul sewer connection. In direct response to this, West Midlands Fire Service and the Environment Agency have entered into a partnership to develop a method of treating the
run- off on site and thereby solving the problem at source. The aim is to develop a mobile asset that can intercept the run-off and feed the contaminated water through a series of different treatment vessels, cleaning the water to a standard where it does not cause an environmental impact. The project is currently at the second field trial stage and has already proved effective in reducing the impact of fire fighting foam. Future tests will be focused on the removal of hydrocarbons such as oils and fuels, pesticides/organohalides, acids/alkalis and WMDs. This novel approach could not only reduce the environmental impact of fire fighting activities but also provide solutions to some troublesome issues, for example that of the controlled burn. Currently there is a conflict between protecting air quality versus the aquatic environment. If the contaminant is removed from the run-off, then this conflict is resolved and the Incident Commander can satisfy the Health Protection Agency and the Environment Agency in one move. Water supply problems Another potential problem this unit could solve is that of water supply. There are several places where mains water pressure is not what it once was, leaving open water sources or tankered supplies the only real option for water supply. However, if the run-off is treated on site, then there it can be recirculated back onto the fire, reducing overall water consumption without contaminating pumping equipment, thus enabling the equipment to be redeployed. Following the research phase of this project, the aim is to develop a modular unit that will be vehicle-based and able to deploy in two to three hours within a defined area of operations. This working prototype will be trialled in the West Midlands and represents a huge leap forwards in protecting the environment from the impacts of fire fighting activities. www.wmfs.net
Author: Matthew Gable, a Senior Emergency Planner with the Environment Agency and the regional lead for the Memorandum of Understanding with the fire and rescue services. He is also a scientific advisor for West Midlands Fire Service.
Emergency Services Times December 2012
70 | ADVERTORIAL
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PBO Fibre, New Generation Material for Fire Fighters Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) Performance of PBO fibre PBO fibre is the world’s strongest fibre. The strength of PBO fibre is 37cN/dtex which means a 1mm diameter rope made from PBO fibre can support up to 400kg. As shown in figure 1, the strength of PBO fibre is almost twice that of p-Aramid and 10 times that of PBI fibre. PBO fibre does not melt or decompose below 600 degree C. PBO fibre also boasts the highest flame/fire resistance among all the fire retardant fibres. Figure 2 shows the limiting oxygen index (LOI) of various fibres where the LOI is the minimum concentration of oxygen that will support flaming combustion. The LOI of PBO fibre is 68 which is far higher than other fire resistant fibres such as PBI and p-Aramid fibre. Applications for PBO fibre The outstanding properties of PBO fibre as mentioned above enables the design of high performance products in many high-tech fields. Formula One (F1) is widely known as the world’s highest category of automotive racing and driver safety is the top priority. The design of the cars is strictly set up by Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA) and as stipulated in the regulations the cockpit of the cars must be constructed of a hybrid structure of PBO fibre blended with Carbon fibre. Carbon fibre gives the cars rigidity for speed and PBO fibre gives the cars impact resistance for driver protection in case of high speed accidents. F1 drivers’ helmets must also contain PBO as reinforcement. Needless to say, both these applications require high heat and fire resistance in addition to tensile strength and lightness in weight. PBO fibre is also used in elite Grand Prix Yacht racing such as the America’s Cup and the Volvo Ocean Race. PBO fibre is used for ‘sheets’ (ie. rope to control the sail) for protecting the surface of the rope from heat and abrasion caused in the winching process. High strength steel rod had been used previously as the main material for standing rigging on sailing yachts but now PBO fibre composite cables have become more popular due to its strength and lightness. The durability of PBO fibre or abrasion resistance is also the key in several applications. Most of continuous variable transmission belts (CVT) for large motorized scooters and snow mobiles are made from PBO short cut fibre reinforced rubber. PBO fibre reinforced fabric is also used in motorcycle biker suits. PBO fibre is becoming increasingly popular for Fire Fighters Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) worldwide. PBO garments have been accepted in the USA, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, Sweden and the UK. Not only does PBO have the highest flame resistance of all comparable retardant fabrics but it also has higher abrasion resistance providing the fire fighter with security and safety in extreme conditions. Field tests on PPE made from PBO fibre are currently under way in many European and Middle Eastern countries. TOYOBO CO., LTD. High Performance Fibres Department, ZYLON Group, 2-8, Dojima Hama 2-Chome, Kita-ku, Osaka 530-8230, Japan http://www.toyobo-global.com/seihin/kc/pbo/ E-mail: pbo_zylon@toyobo.jp
Emergency Services Times December 2012
HAZMAT | 71
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Role-specific PPE – are you over-protected? A letter dropped through my letterbox today. It had a typed address and was marked as private and confidential. Being quite keen to open the envelope to read the letter, I reached for the garden shears… Hold on, you’re thinking, what’s this about letters and garden shears? You don’t need shears to open an envelope! Ah, but think of it this way, with shears you can open any size or shaped envelope. So why bother with anything else? We tend to apply the same logic to the choice of chemically resistant personal protection. Type 1 gas-tight suits (GTS) will protect you from hazardous stuff (or so it is believed), so why carry anything else? There is no doubt that a GTS offers a good level of protection from, for example, spilled chemicals. But what if they catch fire? Not so good. Or perhaps where there are complex tasks to be carried out, confined space working or there are only very small quantities of material? The single solution is showing some limitations. The generic standard operating procedure (G-SOP) of the CFRA operational guidance manual on hazardous material (HAZMAT) incidents details the important steps to take in selecting personal protective equipment (PPE). First, of course, is information gathering, using a combination of observation, referencing guidance and asking advice. Next, appropriate PPE needs to be selected based on the information obtained along with a number of factors, such as: physical properties (eg vapour, liquid, solid etc); risk of contamination of the responders; quantities, concentration, temperature and hazards of the HAZMAT; degree and duration of contact with HAZMAT; and the complexity of the tasks to be carried out. Other personal factors include the degree of strength or physical effort required, the likelihood of heat stress, manual handling risks, working at height risks and working conditions
“Surely there is a case for having a wider choice of barrier and respiratory protection for the responder?” PPE options available In instances where swift actions may need to be carried out, usually on first attendance, you can add to that list how long it takes to get on, or even if any additional PPE over and above fire kit and BA is needed. It is for this type of scenario that the Emergency Action Code (EAC) system was designed, to provide ‘quick and easy’ recommendations on PPE and initial actions. A recent consultation exercise opened by the National Chemical Emergency Centre (NCEC) on the future of EACs and their design very clearly highlighted that EAC is being considered beyond the very initial phase of the incident (this wasn’t much of a shock). It was perhaps in response to this
that Additional Personal Protection (APP) codes were bolted on to EAC some time ago. APP codes are recommended where it is felt that the liquidtight suits (Type 3) stipulated in EAC will not offer the responder enough protection from exposure (it is of course assumed that ‘bulk’ quantities of materials are involved). The additional personal protection recommended is GTS instead of LTS, sometimes in combination with fire kit and BA. Interestingly, this can give rise to unintended consequences such as in the case of liquefied gases where, due to their thermal hazards, this combination of fire kit and BA with GTS is recommended. However, given that you cannot possibly wear fire gloves inside GTS, this means the level of thermal protection to the hands is greatly diminished from wearing just fire kit with gauntlets. If I were tasked with turning off a frozenup leaking gas valve, I know which I would rather wear! While there are overgloves that can be worn with GTS, these are not stipulated in the APP. Given that EAC is, in effect, being used as a default PPE code, we need to consider our options. Firstly, do we still need EAC? The majority of those responding say the answer to this question is yes. So if we park that argument for now, do we then change the EAC to reflect the practice or change the practice to reflect the EAC? Or, can we look to change both? It so happens that the CTIF Hazardous Materials Commission (a body representing hazardous material specialists within international fire and
rescue services) recently proposed a revised EAC that includes reference to GTS as well as LTS. Their proposal was to develop and show a new EAC in combination with the existing ADR markings. The proposal was not accepted, for reasons mainly connected to resistance to the idea of introducing an EAC at all. However, this is not an issue for the UK as we already have an EAC system. It might therefore be possible to adapt the CTIF’s ideas on EAC to UK requirements. Except if you only have the option of GTS (or fire kit), what would be the point? Wider specification This is where changed practice does come in. We know we should choose the right tool for the job, so surely there is a case for having a wider choice of barrier and respiratory protection for the responder? For example ‘splash’ suits and powered respirators. There are already examples of these being used successfully by other agencies. A wider specification of what should be carried on frontline and specialist appliances could be developed along with specific guidance on selection. After all, I keep both scissors and shears at home and if I want to open a letter, while the shears would do the job, I think I prefer to use the scissors. Wouldn’t you? http://the-ncec.com
Emergency Services Times December 2012
Author: Bill Atkinson, Scientific Advisor to WMFS & Knowledge Leader NCEC
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EENA 112: promoting the 112 emergency number throughout the EU Gary Machado is the Executive Director of the European Emergency Number Association (EENA 112), a Brussels-based NGO set up in 1999, and is responsible for the association’s strategy. EENA is dedicated to promoting high-quality emergency services reached by the number 112 throughout the EU and serves as a discussion platform for emergency services, public authorities, decision makers, associations and solution providers in view of improving emergency response in accordance with the public’s requirements. EENA also promotes the establishment of an efficient system for alerting the public about imminent or developing emergencies.
Emergency Services Times (EST): What is the European Emergency Number Association’s mission? Gary Machado (GM): EENA believes that European citizens have the fundamental right to know about the existence of the 112 emergency number, which can save their lives. The association is also convinced that, when in distress, every member of the public calling 112 within the European Union should get the appropriate help, as soon as possible, at the place of the emergency. Moreover, members of the public in distress should be entitled to the same high quality safety and security standards within the territory of the Member States and they should receive the same high quality aftercare in case of accident or disaster. The public should also have the right to be informed as soon as possible about the behaviour they need to adopt in case of an imminent or developing emergency or disaster, throughout the EU. The EENA membership base includes about 700 emergency services representatives from 43 European countries, 57 solution providers, nine international associations/organisations as well as 26 Members of the European Parliament. EST: What are the present hot topics in the field of emergency response centre services in Europe? GM: There are, of course, many hot topics in the field of emergency call centres in Europe. Many countries are considering reducing the number of emergency call centres and making sure they are interconnected virtually in a network. Calls can therefore be answered anywhere within a country in the same way. It is also more efficient to handle a large number of incoming calls simultaneously. Emergency response centres (or PSAPs) also need to be provided with accurate caller location information. EENA is working with the European institutions to try to define accuracy requirements for caller location.
eCall is also a priority since it should become mandatory in all new vehicles by 2015. EENA participates in the HeERO project, together with 39 other partners from nine European countries. This project focuses on deploying and testing eCall to determine recommendations for all stakeholders. Emergency response centres also have to adapt to the use of internet technologies by the public. Products and services such as VoIP, Facebook and Twitter are used every day by the public and EENA is working closely with the emergency services and the industry in the NG112 Committee (www.ng112.eu) to define the standards and the requirements so that emergency services can take full benefit of these technologies.
“Emergency response centres have to adapt to the use of internet technologies by the public.” EST: Could you tell us more about the Next Generation 112? GM: As explained above, new means of communications will change PSAPs’ life. All over the world, members of the public expect to be able to contact emergency services with technologies such as VoIP, picture and videos, text messaging that they use to communicate every day. Thus, European citizens have clear expectations about the availability of 112 emergency services with enhanced capabilities of technologies being used in daily life. A new technology with a new architecture is needed to resolve this issue – the ‘Next Generation 112 architecture (NG112). NG112 enables citizens to contact emergency services in different ways, using the same types of technology as those they use to communicate every day. This would enable members of the public who are deaf or hard of hearing to access 112 in a reliable fashion. EST What is your message to emergency services from the UK? GM: I would like to thank them for their daily work. I regularly visit emergency services call centres and meet their staff all over Europe: I know that it is a hard job that deserves recognition. Also I would like to invite call takers, control room
supervisors, operations and technical managers, directors of call centres and all people working for emergency services agencies to join our European network of emergency services (112 ESSN). This platform aims at sharing best practices and experience between emergency services staff from all over Europe. More can be found at www.eena.org by clicking on the ‘membership’ page or by e-mailing Tony O’Brien (tob@eena.org). www.eena.org
Emergency Services Times December 2012
74 | COMMUNICATIONS
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GERYON: exploring the next generation of emergency telecommunications Telecommunication systems play a critical role in emergency services by providing reliable communication services for both the general public and first responders. GERYON is a €3.5m project that has been funded by the EU to explore and develop the issue of interoperability and service provision. Based upon the next generation of networking architectures, such as 4G and IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), the project seeks to propose and demonstrate service interoperability across currently incompatible networking technologies and to develop additional emergency-oriented services to provide the next generation of emergency telecommunications. In the case of emergencies, the general public can summon emergency services via the Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) over public telecommunication systems (eg the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) or mobile phone systems). For the emergency services, communication is managed by Terrestrial Trunked Radio (TETRA), a professional mobile radio (PMR) system offering several distinct advantages, such as, secure and reliable services, push to talk, group calls and fast call set-up. In addition, it also provides a much larger geographic coverage than traditional mobile networks. Within the UK, all major emergency services utilise the same TETRA technology, allowing various agencies to easily communicate with each other; this reduced communication time can be a life saver in emergency situations. However, as different TETRA technologies (eg TETRA and TETRAPOL) are utilised in Europe, the interoperability between various emergency services cannot be easily established. Furthermore, mobile phones have become important tools in emergency situations as they are ubiquitous in people’s daily lives. With the advent of 4G mobile networks soon to be deployed throughout Europe, the general public will have easy access to high-speed data services, such as picture messaging and video conferencing. Therefore, in addition to talking with an agent from the PSAP, the general public could utilise the mobile network as an enhanced tool, enabling a variety of information sources about the emergency situation to be provided. For example, receiving a picture or video of an accident from a member of the public will provide invaluable intelligence to the emergency services in ensuring appropriate resources are deployed in a timely manner. Unfortunately, the networks that support emergency telecommunications and mobile phone networks are not interoperable with each other. Interoperability and service provision The GERYON project (www.sec-geryon.eu) seeks to propose and demonstrate service interoperability across currently incompatible networking technologies and to develop additional emergencyoriented services to provide the next generation of emergency telecommunications. The purpose of the project is to: • Enable interoperability between different emergency networks, including existing first responder telecommunication networks based on TETRA and next generation mobile networks
based upon 4G; therefore, users of all systems are able to freely communicate with each other • Provide enhanced multimedia services (eg video conferencing) to emergency networks.
“GERYON has been funded by the EU to explore and develop the issue of interoperability and service provision.” The project started with understanding end users’ requirements of future emergency services. Engaging with first responders across Europe, this phase of the project has provided a useful insight into the priorities of different stakeholders. For instance, a key question asked of emergency services was with respect to the types of enhanced telecommunication services they would like to have. The top three services selected were the red button service, real time video transmission and picture transmission. Based upon the findings from the requirements analysis, the project is currently in the system design phase, with a view to establishing a demonstrable prototype in 2014. The project involves seven organisations from across Europe, consisting of three academic institutions and four industry partners. In the UK,
a team from the Centre for Security, Communications and Network Research (www.cscan.org) within Plymouth University is undertaking the research. Led by Dr Lingfen Sun, a team of academics and researchers are currently focusing on the design and development of GERYON mobile terminals to provide rich multimedia services for emergency communications through normal mobile phones, and the development of the information security schemes to achieve the interoperability between various emergency systems/networks. Collaboration of EU partners Through the collaboration of the EU partners, we believe that GERYON will provide an interoperable and reliable solution for the next generation of emergency communications systems. We would welcome stakeholders’ contributions to collaborate to make the GERYON approach suitable for UK emergency systems and to provide appropriate solutions for future emergency communications. www.sec-geryon.eu www.cscan.org
Author: Dr Nathan Clarke BEng (Hons) PhD CEng SMIEEE FBCS CBP ACE, Associate Professor in Information Security & Digital Forensics, Digital Forensics Laboratory (CSCANDFL), Centre for Security, Communications and Network Research.
Emergency Services Times December 2012
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76 | COMPANY PROFILE
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Product innovation in abundance from Thomas Jacks For the latest in night vision, thermal imagers, protective eyewear/gloves, personal identification beacons/tactical lights and tactical carry gear, see Thomas Jacks on Stand 16 at The Emergency Services Show 2012. Thomas Jacks Ltd has been appointed the exclusive UK distributor for Wiley X™ protective eyewear/gloves and Hazard 4® tactical gear. Wiley X™ is a long established US manufacturer of milspec protective eyewear and gloves, primarily to the military and law enforcement markets, but with crossover to other markets where high velocity protection eyewear is required (shooting/ industrial/ motorcycle etc). Wiley X™ eyewear uses the most durable and lightweight materials: shatterproof Selenite™ Polycarbonate lenses with scratch resistant T-Shell Hardcoat™ and virtually indestructible Triloid™ nylon frames. Frames and lenses must withstand the impact of a 0.25in/6.35mm diameter steel ball fired at a speed of 150fps repeated 20 times from different angles. In addition, they must also withstand the weight of a 1.1lb/499g pointed projectile dropped from a height of 50in/1.27m. The company’s ballistic-rated glasses meet, or exceed, all current milspec ballistic eyewear standards.
“Pulsar’s new Quantum series of thermal imagers will be seen for the first time at The Emergency Services Show 2012.”
change battery holder (two supplied), an AV out facility for an external digital recorder and an external battery capability, they offer facilities hard to match at the price. And then there’s the manufacturer’s three-year warranty as standard.
Pulsar’s new Quantum series of thermal imagers will be seen for the first time at The Emergency Services Show 2012.
Cordura® fabric that’s tough yet comfortable, rugged fastening hardware, silent zip pulls on YKK zips that can be used with gloves, Hazard 4® designs are highly modular via bar-tacked Mollé. Anybody with a requirement for practicality and durability in their carry gear will love Hazard 4® products. The military specifications are ever prevalent, whether you’re on a reconnaissance mission in the desert, hiking through an alpine forest or taking your laptop to a business meeting. Thermal imagers Pulsar’s new Quantum series of thermal imagers will be seen for the first time at The Emergency Services Show 2012. Featuring 384x288 resolution sensors and 640x480 OLED screens they offer high performance at competitive prices with man-sized detection out to 900m in a compact hand-held unit. With switchable white hot/black hot options, a 2x digital doubler, manual brightness/contrast controls, an internally focused front lens, a quick
The optional X-Flare attachment to the QuiqLiteX light gives 360° visibility from over a mile away.
Hands-free light Also on show for the first time is the new QuiqLiteX hands-free, wearable and USB rechargeable tactical light. Fitted with two CREE® LEDs and available in white/white, red/white or blue/white variants, the QuiqLite X can be used as a hands-free read/write light or as a more powerful search tool with the white/white offering up to 150 lumens output! On top of this you have a Safety Strobe mode so that you can clearly be seen, which can be further enhanced with the optional X-Flare attachment that gives 360° visibility from over a mile away! When used with the blue/white variant this clearly delineates the wearer as an emergency services operative when they have stepped away from their vehicle. www.thomasjacks.co.uk
See Thomas Jacks on Stand 16 in Hall 2.
Wiley X™ models featuring its patented, removable, soft foam Facial Cavity™ seals block out even fine irritants and peripheral light, protecting the eyes and allowing polarised lenses to perform at peak levels. On top of this, over 90 percent of the range can be fitted with prescription lenses either directly or via RX inserts. Wiley X™ gloves offer the ultimate in hand protection, with many featuring both Kevlar and Nomex, while allowing for maximum dexterity. Tactical gear Hazard 4® Progressive Tactical Gear™ features tactical bail-out/messenger bags, slingpacks, milspec photo bags, cases, apparel and accessories. This military specification gear is hard wearing and practical with tactical implications at the heart of its design. What puts Hazard 4® above the competition is its innovation and attention to detail. Featuring
The new QuiqLiteX hands-free, wearable and USB rechargeable tactical light.
Emergency Services Times December 2012
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Emergency Services Times December 2012
CONTRACTS & PEOPLE | 79
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Warwickshire £3.6m mobilising system deal FRS adopts new for telent Fire and Rescue lighting system Northumberland Service and Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service have awarded a contract to telent for a new mobilising system, which will allow control room operators to take 999 fire calls and to communicate with and despatch fire appliances to incidents. The £3.6m contract is being funded following a successful joint bid to the Government to replace their mobilising systems, which are both due for replacement. Northumberland and Tyne and Wear each received £1.8m. Each fire and rescue service will be able to take the other’s calls using the new system, increasing resilience and removing the need for secondary control rooms in each fire and rescue service. To increase resilience further they are also looking at working with another fire and rescue service in the UK so that on a rare occasion when both control rooms may be unable to take emergency calls due to a large number of simultaneous incidents, the other fire and rescue service could take the calls. The new system will utilise the very latest voice and data communications technology, including Airwave, which Warwickshire Fire and Rescue Service has taken delivery of two new Canguro SceneStar LED lighting units from Vimpex Limited. The unique scene lighting equipment incorporates a trolley-mounted 14,000 lumen LED lighting head, 4.5m telescopic pneumatic mast and Vimpex’s specially developed LED power unit. Easily wheeled into position, quickly deployed, erected and powered up by one person, the Canguro SceneStar system provides battery-powered scene lighting thus completely eliminating noise and emissions. One Vimpex LED power unit will give approximately 3.5 hours of light. The unit not only provides power to the lighting but also allows for the connection of an auxiliary power supply such as a generator, thereby allowing for extended use. The power unit’s waterproof casing contains the battery, charger and low voltage battery protection device. Should the use of generators be unacceptable or unsuitable, two additional battery packs can be added to the system providing over 12 hours of bright illumination. Once used, the LED power unit can be charged either via 110 / 230V AC or low voltage DC input. www.rescue-tools.co.uk
(From L to R) Chief Fire Officer for Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service, Alex Bennett; telent Sales Director Jason Spring; and Chief Fire Officer for Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue Service, Tom Capeling.
will enhance the current call handling and appliance despatch process. The services are working to ensure that the new system will be up and running in June 2013. Northumberland Fire and Rescue Service’s Control Room will be relocated from Morpeth to its headquarters at West Hartford while Tyne and Wear Fire and Rescue’s Control Room will be relocated from Newcastle West Community Fire Station in West Denton to its headquarters at Barmston in Washington. www.telent.com
Paramedic suit revamp for Wales Air Ambulance Emergency air service staff are required to wear uniforms that comply with aviation standards and also meet their on-the-job clinical needs. Helicopter charity Wales Air Ambulance, a life-saving emergency treatment and transport provider, has recently revamped its flight operator uniforms with the latest paramedic suits manufactured by ParAid Medical. The company was chosen to supply over 40 suits, which will be used by the helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) team. The team handles around 2000 emergencies each year across the service, which is based in Caernarfon, Welshpool and Swansea. Jason Williams, Clinical Operations Manager at Wales Air Ambulance, said, “Our HEMS team reports to all kinds of emergency situations, including those that may be found down a coal mine or in a trash bin, so it is essential that our employees are dressed in uniforms that are durable, safe and comfortable to wear to ensure they can do their job properly regardless of environmental conditions. We needed products that could withstand
In brief . . . Acting on behalf of Surrey County Council, a team of specialist lawyers from Michelmores’ Technology, Media and Communications (TMC) Group has advised on a contract to provide a fully managed and integrated voice and data communications solution for a range of public, and possibly voluntary, sector organisations in Surrey, Berkshire and the immediate proximity. The contract, which was awarded to BT, is the first single shared services agreement of its kind in England and requires the supplier to act as a systems integrator and to regularly compete services over the life of the contract. It has a potential value of up to £120m. The contract will provide for a managed wide-area network, local area networks, IP voice services and other managed IP services, known as UNICORN (Unified Communities Over Regional Network). www.michelmores.com
At Luton Ambulance Depot, a cutting edge heating system from Reznor has ensured that the East of England Ambulance Trust can continue to deliver its exemplary service to more than half a million emergency calls every year. Appointed to replace an ineffective and costly heating system, leading supplier of gas-fired warm air heating and ventilation systems, Reznor, supplied two V3 room-sealed warm air unit heaters – helping to improve the internal environment, reduce heat loss and cut maintenance costs at the 850m2 depot in half. www.reznor.co.uk
The Wales Air Ambulance team wearing their new flight suits provided by ParAid Medical.
all the punishment they will receive on the job and we’ve found that ParAid Medical’s products always help our employees get the job done.” Darryl Smith, Operations Director at ParAid Medical, said, “Welsh communities rely on the valuable services that are provided by Wales Air Ambulance. We are proud that ParAid Medical is the chosen supplier for their teams’ uniforms, which will be used as their armour in an array of dangerous and critical medical emergency situations. Being selected to create their flight suits shows off our ability and expertise in creating highquality, practical use products.” www.paraid.co.uk
Emergency Services Times December 2012
Following a successful career of more than 30 years in the NHS, East of England Ambulance Service NHS Trust Chief Executive Hayden Newton has announced he is retiring after more than five years in the role. Mr Newton, who took over the leadership in May 2007, officially handed his notice to the EEAST board on 1 October. He will retire within the next six months, depending on how quickly a new chief executive can be recruited. www.eastamb.nhs.uk
Dräger has appointed Michael A Norris as the new Managing Director of its UK business. Born in Ohio, Mr Norris joins Draeger Safety UK Ltd from global power giant Cummins Inc and joins Draeger Safety UK at an important time in its development, as the company looks to widen and deepen its reach in markets such as fire and rescue, law enforcement, oil gas and petrochemical, as well as the chemical and general industry sectors. www.draeger.co.uk
80 | CONTRACTS & PEOPLE
In brief . . . Sheffield-based Borri has supplied a transformer-based uninterruptible power supply (UPS) solution to deliver maximum protection and support the Yorkshire Ambulance Service NHS Trust’s emergency call centre in Wakefield. The company supplied two B9000 100kVA units, which will keep the emergency contact number and IT systems available to the public, and removes any single point of failure. The IT servers are equipped with dual power supplies so one UPS can be isolated for maintenance or have its supply fail completely, with the other continuing to safely support the load. All legacy equipment is fed via static switches, which ensure the emergency call centre will continue to operate by getting power from at least one of the critical UPS feeds. www.borri.co.uk
Chief Constable Alex Marshall of Hampshire Constabulary has been picked to lead the new College of Policing. Mr Marshall, who has more than 30 years policing experience and led on the creation of the National Police Air Service, was chosen from a strong field of candidates to be the college’s first Chief Executive Officer. The College of Policing will become operational in December. It will protect the public interest by enhancing police standards, identifying evidence of what works in policing and sharing best practice among officers. It will provide a range of functions from supporting the education and professional development of staff and officers to setting standards for specialist skills training such as investigation, intelligence and firearms. www.npia.police.uk
London Ambulance Service has appointed Ann Radmore as the organisation’s new Chief Executive. Ann, who is currently the Chief Executive of NHS South West London, started her NHS career as a national management trainee. She was appointed Sector Chief Executive for South West London in 2009 and was previously Chief Executive of NHS Wandsworth. Ann said, “I very much look forward to working with the London Ambulance Service to play my part in taking these essential services for Londoners from strength to strength and developing them as part of the integrated care services of the future. I have lived in London all my life and worked in the NHS since 1983 and feel privileged to have the opportunity to work for this crucial, lifesaving service.” Ann will take up the role around the end of the year. www.londonambulance.nhs.uk
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Simulation systems for CBRN training centre The Defence Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Centre (DCBRNC) at Winterbourne Gunner has taken delivery of CBRN training simulation systems from Argon Electronics. The new systems include both instrumentation and simulation software. CBRN Programme Team Leader Phil Strudley says, “The acquisition of this latest equipment is an important step for the CBRN training centre, providing our trainers with a range of sophisticated tools that allow us to simulate a wide range of threat scenarios.” The CBRN team worked closely with Argon to ensure that the contract was fulfilled on time and within budget. “The equipment was specified, ordered and delivered within 16 weeks,” adds Phil Strudley. “This shows what can be achieved with a good working relationship between our DE&S team and a specialised UK manufacturer.” The Argon equipment includes the
role profile of any Chief Fire Officer in the country and his responsibilities include fire, community safety, emergency management, road safety, licensing, environmental health, trading standards and animal welfare. Councillor Lance Kennedy, Cornwall Council portfolio holder for Community Safety and Public Protection, said, “This recognition for Des is well deserved and a reflection on his qualities as a great leader and ambassador for Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service.”
Three fire and rescue services in the South West of England have joined forces with Virgin Media Business to speed up emergency response times and make it easier to share resources. Over the next few months, Dorset, Wiltshire, and Devon and Somerset fire and rescue services (FRSs) will rollout a new Public Services Network (PSN) compliant Wide Area Network (WAN) giving 4860 staff and 188 fire stations access to quick data transfer and digital telephone services. The new PSN linked with the Hampshire HPSN2 network will pave the way for a networked fire control system linking the four control centres for Dorset, Wiltshire, Devon and Somerset and Hampshire FRSs. Each one deals with calls from hundreds of citizens each week. Linking them will offer greater resilience during a major incident or in disaster recovery situations. Once the new system goes live, if a control room is flooded with calls, they will be automatically redirected to another one in a matter of seconds, ensuring every call is dealt with quickly. The shared network will also provide the foundations for the partners sharing the WAN to take full advantage of PSN services. FRSs using the WAN will be able to collaborate in other operational areas using secure cloud computing applications over the PSN. Les Louth, Director ICT, Wiltshire Fire and Rescue Service, said, “With budgets being squeezed the South West Fire Services had to look for ways to improve the aging technology infrastructure, without breaking the bank. The new network from Virgin Media Business will contribute to and support the opportunity to develop collaboration within the fire services. We’re supporting PSN services in areas such as common systems and applications, common standards operating procedures and data management. This is reducing the risk to the community and ensures the safety of our firefighters.” Lee Hull, Director of Public Sector, Virgin Media Business, said, “We’ve invested heavily in PSN services because we’ve seen the clear benefits it brings to the public sector, improving the way they work and helping to cut costs too. We’re delighted to be working with South West Fire Services to help support their collaboration and innovative new fire control systems.”
www.cornwall.gov.uk
www.virginmediabusiness.co.uk
company’s latest CAMSIM and LCAD hand held instruments, the MCAD simulator and the advanced PlumeSIM wide area CBRN field exercise and desktop training system. This enables instructors to manage multiple remote simulator instruments under a fully configurable virtual plume, in real time, over user-selected mapping. www.argonelectronics.com
Outstanding Leadership award for Cornwall fire chief Des Tidbury, Cornwall’s Chief Fire Officer (CFO) has been named Outstanding Leader of the Year at a national ceremony celebrating the country’s best managers. He was presented with the accolade at the Chartered Management Institute’s (CMI) Management and Leadership Awards in recognition of his work with Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service (CFRS). Mr Tidbury took over at the helm of CFRS shortly after the service was designated as ‘Failing’ by the Audit Commission and placed under Government intervention. With a new management structure in place, a commitment to developing an open and transparent culture and improved partnership working, he led the service out of Government measures just 18 months later. Since then CFRS has gone from strength to strength, being named as ‘Achieving’ under the Fire and Rescue Services Equality Framework and gaining praise for health and safety management by achieving the coveted BSI 18001. As Chief Fire Officer for CFRS and Director of Community Safety and Protection for Cornwall Council, Des Tidbury has perhaps the widest
Shared network will improve resilience in the South West
Des Tidbury, Chief Fire Officer of Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service.
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Ashwoods Chief Constable becomes a supplies hybrid Disability Champion Chief Constable Simon Cole, Chief van to WMFS Constable for Leicestershire and AssoIn another demonstration of its continuing commitment to protecting the environment, West Midland Fire Service (WMFS) has become the first emergency service in the UK to deploy an innovative hybrid van technology by investing in an Ashwoods Hybrid Transit from Ashwoods Automotive Ltd.
ciation of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) lead on Disability and Mental Health, has won the Business Disability Forum’s Disability Champion award as part of the Disability Standard 2011/12, which scores organisations’ performance on disability across the whole business from their products and services to recruitment and facilities. Mr Cole has excelled in his personal commitment to removing obstacles for disabled people within the police force and local community.
In brief . . . Two Small Fires Vehicles have been launched at Southsea and Basingstoke fire stations in Hampshire. The specialist vehicles will be on-call 24 hours a day to respond to small fires and antisocial fire-related incidents, across the areas of Portsmouth and Basingstoke. This means that, where appropriate, fire appliances will no longer need to attend small fires, freeing them up to attend life-risking incidents such as house or property fires. The mobilisation of the new unit to small fires also means that the training and community safety activities carried out by crews on the traditional fire appliances are far less likely to be disrupted. www.hantsfire.gov.uk
The vehicle is now one of several in the organisation’s fleet of hybrid vans and cars, which include the Honda Civic and the Toyota Prius and Auris models. Chris Beebee Fleet Manager at WMFS, said, “The aim is to significantly reduce the fuel and greenhouse gas emissions, while maximising financial savings. It is very straightforward to use and drivers don’t have to think about plugging it in to charge up the batteries, or worry that vehicle may not have sufficient charge to complete the journey.” The award-winning Ashwoods Hybrid drive technology reduces fuel consumption and CO2 emissions by 15-25 percent. The system is entirely self-powered; it stores energy every time the vehicle slows down then transfers it to the wheels via an electric motor. Unlike other hybrids or electric vehicles, it never needs plugging into a charging point – and operators don’t have to worry about the battery going flat. West Midlands purchased the vehicle through the Department for Transport’s Low Carbon Vehicle Procurement Programme (LCVPP), which aims to help public sector bodies in England and Wales to procure and assess Ashwoods Hybrid LCVs. DfT is providing subsidies of £3430 per vehicle for only the first 500 Ashwoods vehicles ordered – and all orders must be received by March 2013. The Ashwoods Hybrid Transit will be on display at The Emergency Services Show 2012, which takes place from 21-22 November at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry. www.ashwoodshybrid.co.uk http://tinyurl.com/dft-LCVPP
Chief Constable Cole’s involvement with national and local organisations demonstrates the depth of his dedication. As Chair of the police National Mental Health Forum, Strategic Equality and Fairness Board, and Community Safety Partnership Board, he works with both government colleagues and strategic partners in Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland.
Chief Constable Simon Cole says, “I’m delighted to win the award. I wish to thank all of the partner agencies who have supported me in driving positive change at a national level; changes which are making a real difference to the problems faced every day by Disabled people. I must also thank Inspector Siobhan Barber and Lynne Woodward of Leicestershire Police; and Matteo Sole of the National Policing Improvement Agency (NPIA) for their hard work and support.” www.businessdisabilityforum.org.uk www.disabilitystandard.com
HART team extends training with the fire and rescue service The East of England Ambulance Service (EEAST) has extended its partnership working with the Essex County Fire and Rescue Service (ECFRS). The service will be delivering breathing apparatus and gas-tight suit training to two HART teams to help operational staff to stay safe when delivering urgent medical care to patients in a hazardous environment. The two organisations have signed a three-year contract for ECFRS to deliver a specially designed, twoweek course for members of HART staff who have volunteered to participate, along with refresher training. The fire and rescue service won the business after competing in a tender process. Steven Moore, HART Manager, said, “We chose ECFRS as they presented the best package to us and have recognised professional expertise in this area as they do this type of work on a daily basis. “The training will allow us to deliver patient care in hazardous and chal-
lenging environments in a safe way. There are many occasions when patients are inside buildings needing immediate medical attention – once trained, our staff will be able to work alongside firefighters, saving valuable minutes and increasing the chances of a positive outcome.” ECFRS’ commercial trading arm, EFA Trading, won the contract. Divisional Officer Ian Adams said, “We are delighted to have beaten the competition to win this contract and are certain that the training we will be providing to paramedics will lead to a better service to the public during major incidents. “We already work closely with the East of England Ambulance Service on a daily basis at incidents. This extends our partnership working and hopefully will lead to some joint exercises so that the HART teams can practice the skills we are teaching them.” www.eastamb.nhs.uk
Emergency Services Times December 2012
Hilary Pillin, the programme manager who helped guide the national Hazardous Area Response Team (HART) programme rollout to fruition has left the National Ambulance Resilience Unit (NARU), following seven years working to implement the teams across all NHS ambulance trusts. Her departure follows the culmination of the HART rollout, which has seen over 650 staff recruited, trained and deployed in 15 teams across all NHS ambulance trusts. Hilary also offered support and guidance during the rollout of HART capabilities in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. Hilary will continue to work on challenging and interesting projects in other sectors using the skills and contacts she he built up over her 23 years in the NHS. She can now be contacted at hilary@connectorconsulting.com. http://naru.org.uk
Language Line Services has been awarded a position on the NHS Shared Business Services (NHS SBS) framework contract for interpreting and translation services. The framework enables any public sector organisation to secure language support under a single contractual agreement that guarantees both the quality and value for money of the services provided. Language Line Services has been providing language solutions to the emergency services and criminal justice sector for over 20 years. It currently supplies language solutions to all police forces in England, Wales and Scotland, including NRPSI based face-to-face interpreting services to forces across the South East of England. www.languageline.co.uk
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ALCAMiE: a unique approach to managing ‘blue light’ assets Babcock recognises that innovation is key in helping its emergency services customers to deliver in these challenging times. Using ALCAMiE, its unique and proven approach to asset management, Babcock is delivering long-term benefits that include cost savings up to 20 percent, increased resilience and critical frontline focus. This proven approach has been successfully used across multiple sectors to manage fleets. This includes a wide range of emergency services assets in the UK, from the Metropolitan Police Service’s (MPS) 4000+ operational vehicle fleet to the National Resilience Fire and Rescue Service fleet of 650 vehicles and 175,000 stock items.
Whole life asset management capability ALCAMiE (an acronym for Asset Life Cycle Availability in Engineering) provides a unique set of systems that enable the capture of fleet performance data and maintenance costs, and is based on Babcock’s best practice approach to fleet management. This has been honed over many years serving customers in defence, the public sector and the emergency services. It is unlike any other fleet management systems in the sector due to its whole life asset management capability, and the flexibility to be tailored to each customer’s specific requirements, taking account of the longterm vision and day-to-day operational needs. Through ALCAMiE, Babcock delivers a single integrated process within its dedicated 24/7 control centres. This means the company can see a job through from the initial call, managing suppliers, keeping the customer informed, to formally closing the job once completed – inputting data into the core asset management system throughout the process. This means Babcock is able to quickly prioritise jobs according to their criticality, because it has sufficient data about each asset to understand the impact of their downtime – ensuring that equipment is available, when and where it is needed. Further, Babcock will take every opportunity to minimise the impact of downtime, such as carrying out servicing at the same time as repairs.
company to optimise scheduling of maintenance and repair jobs so services and inspections don’t impact the higher vehicle availability required during peak periods. The result is fleet availability optimisation and a reduction in the overall fleet size to reflect more accurate force requirements. Range of benefits Since April 2010 Babcock has used ALCAMiE to transform the way the UK Highways Agency (HA) manages its fleet, and deliver a range of benefits including consistent cost savings of around £200,000 in a single year, a series of more efficient working practices, and a range of programmes that will continue to add value and drive down
long-term costs. More recently, this has included partnering with the HA to deliver a new singlecrewed traffic officer vehicle specification, which is bringing significant improvements and delivering savings in reduced leasing over the remaining contracted two-year period. ALCAMiE has been developed and honed over a number of years working with organisations that have similarly complex and technical portfolios of equipment. It doesn’t matter if Babcock’s partner is one of the largest police forces in the world or a regional fire and rescue service, ALCAMiE delivers the resilience they need for the management of their critical equipment. www.babcockinternational.com
Fleet optimisation Babcock has used ALCAMiE to help customers address issues around fleet optimisation by using data from tailored incident management software to generate reports. This data indicates trends and areas for potential improvements in efficiency, while helping to improve forecasts about future operational demands for each asset. This allows the
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Serco Combined Resilience: helping you to survive the turbulence created by today’s risks Serco will introduce its Combined Resilience team, comprising the International Fire Training Centre (IFTC), Emergency Planning College (EPC) and Gold Standard Exercising, at this year’s Emergency Services Show. We listened to our customers and brought together our capabilities and experiences to provide consultancy, training and exercising in one cohesive and integrated team. Our Combined Resilience team provides innovation, thought leadership, practical experience, resilience and contingency planning capabilities for all sectors in the UK and across the world. Serco’s expertise and adaptability can be evidenced when looking back at just a snapshot of the range of activities in which the company has been involved during 2012. We created an e-learning capability for aviation firefighters in the UK to reduce time spent away from the station and reduce costs, while maintaining CAA standards. We have prepared a solution that will, from January 2013, offer full academic accreditation to our training, allowing students to access undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in the fields of integrated emergency management, fire and rescue and crowd/event safety. Our consultancy team has been working with FTSE 100 companies, government departments, the emergency services and local authorities to develop robust business continuity and crisis management plans that are both practical, but value for money. The Emergency Planning College.
Multi-agency academy We are building, with our Emirati partners, a multi-agency academy in Abu Dhabi. Known as Rabdan Academy (www.rabdanacademy.ae), it brings together first responders, the private sector and government organisations into one world-class learning solution. Our monthly webinar series at the IFTC and EPC has been a runaway hit, allowing previous students to be refreshed and those wishing to find out more the opportunity to better understand Serco’s services and the challenges facing responders. Gold Standard Exercising was heavily involved in preparing all venues and teams across the UK to be
ready for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We see Gold Standard Exercising as an integral component of our resilience business, not a separate activity, and have designed it as a flexible exercising ‘tool kit’ that can support the planning, rehearsal and validation phases in both private and public sector organisations. We have had a great year, enjoyed working with many of you and are looking forward to the challenges in 2013. Our experienced team is immensely flexible, but pragmatic and is looking forward to supporting you in the future with consultancy, training and exercising solutions that are tailored for you.
Emergency Planning College The Emergency Planning College (EPC) is the UK’s leading centre for emergency planning, crisis management, business continuity and public safety training, consultancy and exercising. Working with both the private and public sectors the EPC is uniquely placed to share best practice and to form a ‘resilience bridge’ between companies, the emergency services and local authorities. We are the only organisation that focuses exclusively on multi-agency doctrine and training and in so doing support and enhance UK resilience. We also provide a central forum for knowledge sharing and the dissemination of best practice nationally and internationally to enhance
All of EPC’s training is delivered with adult learners in mind.
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Firefighters train on the IFTC fireground.
worldwide resilience against natural disasters, major incidents and malicious attack. The EPC is organised into four faculties that reflect the breadth of our remit: 1. The Integrated Emergency Management faculty delivers the diverse elements, which stem from the Civil Contingencies Act 2004 2. The Public Safety faculty provides training derived from the Guide to Public Safety at Sports Grounds and the Event Safety Guide 3. The Business Continuity faculty focuses on the implications of ISO 22301 and its impact on organisational resilience and crisis management 4. Our International faculty delivers consultancy, training and exercising to over 22 different countries through solutions designed for the risks, conditions and assets in individual countries. All of EPC’s training is delivered with adult learners in mind. Consequently our trainers deliver with a strong emphasis on interaction and participation. We have also recently introduced monthly webinars that highlight topical aspects of our latest work and have run seminars in 2012 on community resilience, strategic policing requirements and interoperability. In December we are holding the prestigious Reflections on Resilience 2012, which has attracted some of the UK’s leading resilience experts. All of the learning for which we are responsible is underpinned by the critically acclaimed Knowledge Centre on our website, which gives access to some of the most relevant and up to date research material on resilience. New for 2013 The Emergency Planning College goes from strength to strength. Below are just a few of the developments and improvements we made this year to offer a flavour of exciting new initiatives for 2013. We will be exhibiting at The Emergency Services Show from 21-22 November at Stoneleigh Park, Coventry so please come along and see us on the Serco Combined Resilience stand to find out more. Academic partnerships From January 2013 we are offering our customers the opportunity to gain higher education accreditation with many of our courses. We are able to offer this through ground breaking partnerships with three of the UK’s leading academic institutions. By attending EPC courses and undertaking appropriate assessment, you may accumulate credit points towards a range of
undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications. There will also be the opportunity to enrol directly onto higher education programmes and study via a combination of attendance at the college and distance learning. For further information on academic accreditation and progression opportunities please contact our Learning Development Manager, Angela Kokes via e-mail (angela.kokes@emergencyplanningcollege.com). Gold Standard Exercising Exercising is critical to ensure your organisation is prepared for and able to manage the risks that may affect lives, reputation and profit. Serco’s Gold Standard Exercising capability offers a range of solutions to assist with the development of your emergency plans and procedures and will ultimately test your preparedness and resilience within, and between, your organisation and key agencies.
“It’s vital for leaders and supporting staff to experience ‘real time’ exercises in a realistic and pressurised, but safe, environment.” Built on the strong foundations of Gold Standard, an exercising system developed by the UK Cabinet Office, with extensive input this year from practitioners within the resilience community, our ‘real time’ exercising capability offers a flexible, adaptable and scalable approach across all command levels. Gold Standard Exercising is a capability shaped by practitioners for practitioners. We can adjust the complexity and intensity to suit the audience, as we can the range of technical simulation support. From simple, but effective ‘table top’ exercises through to complex multiagency distributed exercises, Gold Standard Exercising is always tailored to your requirements, geography and risks. Underpinned by a deep knowledge pool of highly qualified and experienced subject matter experts, we can exercise across all key sectors – private, public and voluntary, within the UK and worldwide. When supported by our innovative media injects, Gold Standard Exercising enables complete immersion for participants, while
ensuring lessons on media preparedness and handling are also learned. Investment in collective training Mixing people, technologies and procedures we have brought together a complete system to fit around your decision-making team. Without the investment in collective training and exercising there is significant risk your ability to respond effectively and maintain business continuity may be undermined. Our experience has shown that it’s vital for leaders and supporting staff to experience ‘real time’ exercises in a realistic and pressurised, but safe, environment. Gold Standard Exercising has been extensively used in the UK and across the world to help train and prepare local government, businesses, major sporting events and foreign clients to deal with today’s risks. Alongside wider EPC support, Gold Standard Exercising was key in preparing for the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We exercised 14 venues, regional resilience teams and the senior management team of a FTSE 100 company responsible for key elements of the London transport network. Chris Bremner, our Exercise Course Director, will be on the Serco stand at The Emergency Services Show in November, to introduce delegates to the exercising services we can offer. You can also find out more from our website (www.epcollege.com/exercising). International Fire Training Centre We are the leading aviation and industrial fire training centre in the world. The International Fire Training Centre (IFTC) has been located at Durham Tees Valley Airport in the north east of England since 1981 and since that time has been training new and experienced firefighters from across the globe. Boasting a 20-acre dedicated training site with world class simulators and the largest confined space rigs in the UK, we provide a unique facility to train the best in the world. Each classroom is equipped with laboratory equipment to teach fire fighting theory and the centre also offers a virtual reality suite to test decision-making under pressure in real time. Training at the IFTC is designed for those working in the aviation, marine, industrial and offshore sectors. We offer hands on, totally authentic ‘real life’ emergency scenarios, including hot fire and black smoke situations. Dealing with chemical spills, confined space situations and casualty recovery are also included.
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In constantly trying to enhance the quality and range of services our customers receive, we have made many improvements during 2012, particularly in the way we communicate with our clients. We launched a new website in June that is regularly updated with news, articles and videos, we have created a rapidly growing network on Linkedin and have launched a regular programme of webinars to give our clients easy, zero cost access to expert knowledge on a range of topics. The International Fire Training Centre accommodation block.
Certified and accredited courses We train both dedicated firefighters and those whose duties include dealing with fires and other emergency situations. IFTC trainers are fire fighting professionals with extensive hands on experience across all sectors, including military, civil and industrial. All our courses are certified and accredited to meet international requirements, including CAA, ICAO, OPITO, JOIFF and STCW, offering you absolute peace of mind. Alternatively we can arrange internationally recognised bespoke courses to meet your particular needs. A number of our courses are also certificated and accredited within the UK with standards including BTEC, City & Guilds and PTLLS.
New for 2013 Looking forward to 2013, IFTC will be announcing several exciting initiatives – iLearn, online learning; a foundation degree in aviation fire service management; and the centre becoming an accredited City & Guilds centre. Acting on feedback from our customers, iLearn is an innovative online learning package to deliver knowledge and assess understanding. We have carefully ensured that the integrity, content and quality of our courses remain, but now our delegates can complete a section of their training before and after attending the IFTC. At the moment, this facility is available on two of our most popular courses and we will be rolling it out further during 2013. Not only does the introduction of online learning
help reduce the cost of courses, it also minimises disruption to your business as operational staff will be offsite for less time. iLearn is extremely convenient as employees can complete a proportion of the work online at their leisure. During 2013 we will offer a foundation degree in aviation fire service management – the first of its kind in the UK. This offers you and your staff a structured academic pathway and credits towards academic qualifications via all our mandated courses. Furthermore, IFTC is in the process of becoming an accredited City & Guilds centre. This will further strengthen our quality control and reinforce our levels of excellence, ensuring the training you receive at IFTC is of the very highest of standards. You can meet IFTC at The Emergency Services Show 2012 and find out more by visiting the website (www.iftcentre.com). We would be delighted to welcome you to our training centres, or to meet you at your own venue to discuss your training and exercising requirements. Our contact details are available online, details of which are listed below. www.epcollege.com
www.iftcentre.com
Author: Ronnie Coutts, Director, Serco Combined Resilience.
Preparing students to meet the demands of being a modern firefighter The changing economic environment has meant that applicants wanting to join the fire and rescue services need to get an edge if they want a worthwhile and rewarding career. Any advantage they get from pre-employment education and training improves their chances of getting that job in the local, industrial or aviation fire sectors. The University of Wolverhampton is at the forefront of fire and rescue service education through a wide range of programmes ranging from first degrees through to Doctoral research programmes designed to meet the requirements of a 21st Century public service. The university has been at the forefront of the development of vocationally focused preemployment undergraduate degree programmes for students who wish to serve in the uniformed services. The university, through the Department of Uniformed Services, located within the School of Law, Social Sciences and Communications, has already offered a Bachelor of Science Honours Degree in Policing for three years as well as a similar award for those seeking careers in the armed forces. Uncompromisingly academic The fire and rescue degree has been operating for the last three years and the first cohort of students will graduate in September 2013. This degree was designed in consultation with staff from West Midlands Fire Service as well as the Fire Service College. While it is vocationally relevant, the degree is uncompromisingly academic and challenging, with over half of the modules science or engineering based and with students having to serve the community as volunteers (or as retained firefighters) in addition to completing their studies. The degree
has been accredited by the Institution of Fire Engineers (IFE) as offering students exemption from the IFE professional examinations for Level 4 Certificate and Diploma level. The university believes the degree, because of its emphasis upon commitment by the students and the development of life skills through community work, is well suited to prepare students to meet the demands of being a modern firefighter. Practical training sessions The content of the degree is designed to provide students with the technical, practical and vocational education that will develop a wellrounded individual that is not only technically proficient but is also able to understand the community they are serving and the people with whom they are working. In addition to the robust educational element of the degree students are required to attend a number of practical training sessions and volunteer to support the community throughout the programme. The student body has grown over the past years and now stands at over 75 people, with others waiting to join the university in 2013. In addition to the BSc (Hons) Fire & Rescue degree the University of Wolverhampton is developing a range of post-graduate level qualifications and has one student studying for a PhD in The impact of post crash economics upon community safety in the fire and rescue service. In another exciting development, the University of Wolverhampton has entered into an agreement with
the International Fire Training Centre (IFTC) to become its academic partner. The IFTC, with 14 oil fire fighting rigs and the only Category 10 aircraft fire and rescue simulator in the UK, offers one of the most extensive and comprehensive fire grounds in the world. The IFTC is also the only UK training provider to be approved by the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) to deliver the full range of mandatory training programmes required under CAP 168 (Licensing of Aerodromes) and CAP 699 (Standards for Rescue and Fire Fighting Personnel Employed at UK-licensed Aerodromes). City and Guilds accredited these training programmes in October 2012 and the IFTC is the first UK training provider in this field to gain such accreditation. The partnership between the IFTC and the University of Wolverhampton will lead to the validation of two new programmes: BSc (Hons) Fire & Rescue (Aviation) and BSc (Hons) Fire & Rescue (Industrial) both of which will be offered first to IFTC students. Working together in partnership, the university and IFTC will be forging ahead, meeting the needs of the fire and rescue services and the needs of communities, industry and commerce in the 21st Century. www.wlv.ac.uk
Author: Mark Taylor MA GIfireE M Inst M, Course Leader, Fire and Rescue Degree, School of Law, Social Sciences and Communications, University of Wolverhampton
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US Masterclass assists USAR development Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) is one of the capabilities developed as part of the Government’s New Dimension programme and enables fire and rescue authorities (FRAs) to comply with Article 3 of The Fire and Rescue Services (Emergencies) (England and Wales) Order 2007, which requires them to make provision for rescuing people in the event of an emergency involving the collapse of a building or other structure and from serious transport incidents. The USAR capability is managed, maintained and developed via the USAR National Working Group chaired by the CFOA lead officer and Chief Fire Officer of Merseyside Dan Stephens. CFOA National Resilience, which evolved from New Dimension, has a number of officers that manage and implement business plans relating to the New Dimension capabilities that assist the working groups in the maintenance and development of the capabilities. As part of the USAR capability’s annual business plan, a work stream has been included to continue to develop competence and resilience across the 21 teams located throughout England and Wales. This has included the introduction of the Subject Matter Advisor (SMA) role. The purpose of the role is to provide specific guidance to the fire and rescue service in relation to the national deployment of National Resilience assets and the related support mechanisms that are detailed in the National Coordination and Advisory Framework (NCAF) document.
“The course helped broaden perspectives and increase the understanding of different systems and processes.” Masterclass in the US The provision of SMAs has necessitated the delivery of initial input regarding the role, provided centrally at the Fire Service College in Moreton-in Marsh. In addition a series of regionally hosted Continuous Professional Development (CPD) events have been arranged throughout October. An outstanding opportunity also presented itself in the form of a Masterclass in the US, which took place from 8-13 October.
Building on an existing relationship with the Charlotte Fire Department and the North Carolina Emergency Management Service, borne out of work over the last six years by the CFOA Water Rescue Group during tactical and strategic level water rescue classes; enabled the development of a programme specifically designed for USAR
technicians and SMAs. Consequently, a UK delegation was able to attend a programme of training in North Carolina. The delegates included Jon Hall, CFOA National resilience lead and Chief Fire Officer of Gloucestershire FRS, along with USAR technicians from Merseyside, West Midlands, Buckinghamshire FRSs and London Fire Brigade; as well as SMAs and strategic managers representing the majority of the USAR asset hosting FRSs across England, Wales and Northern Ireland.
Oklahoma Fire Department and the North Carolina Emergency Management Service. These officers were open and honest concerning the critical decisions that they had to make at major incidents. This created a forum that enabled mistakes and learning outcomes to be discussed, from USAR teams deploying to the terrorist attacks in New York on 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombings and Hurricane Katrina. UK international deployments to Turkey, Haiti and Japan were a similar source of discussion that provided an ideal opportunity to draw comparisons between UK and American approaches towards incidents requiring USAR involvement.
Live exercise scenarios The training consisted of classroom-based sessions, which delivered input on areas such as: operational logistics; GPS and mapping; National Incident Management System (NIMS); trauma and casualty care; disaster management and planning; and USAR command management and leadership. In addition, course delegates were required to deploy to a simulated devastated area, where they had to erect and manage a Base of Operations (BoO) as part of a three-day field exercise, which incorporated a number of workstations and live exercise scenarios, including equipment familiarisation. North Carolina USAR Task Force 3 provided USAR assets, with course input being delivered by highly knowledgeable and experienced officers from the Charlotte USAR Task Force, Fire Department of New York (FDNY), the FEMAregistered USAR Task Force 2 in Florida, the
Strengthen relationships The course helped broaden perspectives and increase the understanding of different systems and processes. It also helped strengthen existing relationships that can be further developed and lead to future learning opportunities for the SMA cadre. The national USAR capability team will now compile a summative report based on its evaluation of the course; in addition to the inclusion of feedback from the course delegates. The report will subsequently be made available via the USAR National Working Group forum and look to refine and tailor future training for SMAs. www.cfoa.org.uk
Authors: Trevor Tague, FRS National Resilience Assurance Team USAR Capability Lead Officer, and Kevin Longshaw, FRS National Resilience Assurance Team Technical Leads Manager.
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Training taken off-road The importance of relevant quality training in today’s working environment cannot be over stated. 4×4 and all-terrain vehicle (ATV) training is now a necessity for all drivers who use off-road vehicles, quad bikes and ATVs as part of their job. Worthwhile training is vital not only to new staff but also underpins the abilities of more experienced individuals by refreshing and updating long held skills. Working professionals equipped with 4x4s, ATVs and quad bikes can be extremely efficient, giving you the capability to get to places no other vehicles can reach, but it is not always simple or safe, unless you have had the best off-road training. An effective training process enables drivers to maximise their abilities in a safe and efficient manner.
Practical advice and tuition MTF Training is one of the few 4x4 training providers who use trainers that are both LANTRA and Driving Standards Agency (DSA) approved driving instructors and DSA fleet registered
trainers – the highest qualified off-road trainers in the industry. MTF has been providing professional driver training courses using DSA instructors for over 20 years. The company has responded to a growing demand to provide clients with comprehensive on-site driving and classroom facilities. Trainees will benefit from the custom built course that will enable them to learn about the abilities of their vehicles safely. The varied nature of the course enables novices or the more experienced to develop their skills. Their clients are assured of getting the very best in practical advice and tuition. Using MTF to deliver LANTRA Off-Road courses will help you fulfil your duty of care under the Health and Safety at Work Act legislation and Provision and Use of Work Equipment Regulations (PUWER). MTF On-Road courses (with DSA fleet registered trainers) also fulfil health and safety risk assessment and risk management obligations, keeping not only your drivers safe, but also keeping organisations safe from the new corporate manslaughter legislation.
With MTF Training you can discover the full capabilities of your 4x4 vehicle. Off-road driving can be hazardous, but MTF Training can show you how to control these risks. In addition to the driving courses, that are structured in grades from basic to instructor level, MTF Training also offers courses in ATVs, winch operating, trailer handling, defensive and SAFED Driving.
Senior Instructor Ian Shacklock, said, “Over the years we have enjoyed a good reputation within the industry. Training employees from government agencies, such as DEFRA, Trading Standards, the fire and rescue services, HM Coastguard and vehicle manufacturers, through to countless local authorities. “The fact that all courses are run by a DSA registered instructor does instil credibility right from the start, I think this is confirmed by the amount of repeat business we receive.” www.mtftraining.com
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Sheffield’s Fire & Police Museum sets its sights on national status The Fire & Police Museum comprises a collection of emergency services vehicles, equipment, uniforms, helmets, photos, documents and much more from all over the world and is housed in a purpose-built combined Police and Fire Station in Sheffield, South Yorkshire.
Sheffield, the firefighters started to look into creating a ‘museum of fire’ that could also be used for the education of fire and life safety as well as being a permanent home for the service’s collection. In 1981 the old Police and Fire Station on West Bar was given to the firefighters as a home for the museum. The building had stood empty for many years but its rich history meant it was the ideal location to create what would be known as the South Yorkshire Fire Service Museum.
bring more schools and groups to the museum and allow the it to create an outreach programme for the team to visit schools and attend events; extended the museum to allow more exhibits to be displayed on site; opened five further exhibition rooms, allowing more of the collection to be displayed; won ‘Best self-funded educational museum of the year’ Award 2012; and worked alongside emergency services from all over the UK to save and look after there historical collections. What’s the next step? Many people have congratulated the Fire & Police Museum on its work over the last year and for getting the museum to such a high standard without government support – something of which it is very proud. The next step for the museum is to find a private investor, preferably from the emergency services sector, to support its plans to become the National Emergency Services Museum.
How did the museum start? For many years fire stations have housed small cabinets and exhibits relating to the history of the services, but Sheffield’s collection was starting to outgrow its fire station home. In the early 1980s a group of firefighters from Sheffield were inspired following a visit to New York Fire Department and the New York City Fire Museum. On returning to
www.firepolicemuseum.org.uk
After many months of work the original engine house of the building and one room on the first floor were opened for visitors on one Sunday of every month. The museum plodded along until June 2011, when the museum had a major re-structure. This saw a new management team take control of the museum, headed up by the UK’s youngest Museum Director, 22-year-old Matthew Wakefield. Since June 2011 the museum has: changed its opening times from one day a week to five days a week in school term time and seven days a week in school holidays; created a new education plan to
Regional restructure for St John Ambulance With new regional offices, mirroring the NHS ambulance service footprint, St John Ambulance can offer a truly national ambulance service. These services include: A & E support; patient transport; bariatric transport; paediatric and neonatal transfer services; high dependency transfers; planned journeys; repatriation; Community First Responders; emergency response and major incident support; and event cover. These changes will ensure that St John Ambulance can continue to provide the highest standards of patient care while responding to regulatory updates by the Care Quality Commission (CQC) and others. St John Ambulance’s award-winning, dedicated ambulance crews operate 24 hours a day, 365 days a year providing reliable, flexible services through one of the largest ambulance fleets in the country. The service is currently restructuring its administration and management from 43 county offices to eight regional offices to allow it to offer a consistent, high quality service to its clients and the public.
Consistent service nationwide Martin Henderson, Head of Service Delivery at St John Ambulance, says, “We’re already a leading supplier of ambulance services but changing structure means that we can better meet the needs of our customers. We now offer the same consistent service nationwide so if you want a bariatric or paediatric ambulance in Cornwall or Cumbria we
can provide state of the art vehicles and equipment, and highly-trained professional personnel.” Any surplus income generated by St John Ambulance’s commercial ambulance services will help fund the charity’s life saving work, teaching first aid to the public. As well as training hundreds of thousands of people in life saving skills, St John Ambulance also administers first aid care to more than 100,000 members of the public every year. www.sja.org.uk
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Road Safety Week – get involved! Now in its 16th year, Road Safety Week is the UK’s flagship road safety event. Taking place from 19-25 November, it is coordinated by the charity Brake and involves communities and partners across the country. Take inspiration from activities that road safety professionals have run before. West Yorkshire Fire and Rescue Service ran road safety roadshows across the region, sharing the personal experiences of emergency services personnel when dealing with road crashes, and a bereaved Brake volunteer. The shows used engaging visual and audio materials as well as live performances from Leeds University students. Staffordshire Police held child car seat clinic events during Road Safety Week, in partnership with the local authority and Road Safety GB. The service also held a safe winter driving day, offering advice on the importance of a clear windscreen, good lights, tyres and brakes.
Road Safety Week aims to raise awareness about the devastation of road crashes and the part we can all play in making our roads and communities safer. It does this by encouraging grassroots involvement and promoting awareness, education and action, and is run thanks to the support of headline sponsors Brain Injury Group and Specsavers.
Road Safety Week is an opportunity for police, fire and rescue and ambulance services to run highprofile community engagement, awareness and enforcement campaigns to promote safer road use and prevent casualties. Slower speeds = happy people This year’s theme is Slower Speeds = Happy People. Brake will be highlighting the importance of people being able to walk and cycle without fear from fast traffic and calling on drivers to slow down to 20mph around homes, schools and shops. You can run your Road Safety Week initiative on this or any road safety topic.
Julie Townsend, Brake Deputy Chief Executive, says, “Emergency services play a critical role in helping to protect lives on roads, and they have enormous power to educate the public given their experience dealing with the aftermath of crashes. Hence, their involvement in Road Safety Week is invaluable. Road Safety Week is a chance to raise awareness about the devastation of crashes, and how we can all contribute to making roads safer. “We’re particularly focusing this year on the importance of protecting people on foot and bicycle. We’ll be calling on drivers to slow down to 20mph or below in communities to enable people
to get out and about on foot and bike, for health and enjoyment, without their lives being endangered – so we would encourage emergency services to help us communicate this vital message.”
“Road Safety Week is an opportunity for police, fire and ambulance services to run highprofile community engagement, awareness and enforcement campaigns to promote safer road use and prevent casualties.” Ways to get involved There are many ways to get involved, including: run partnership community awareness and engagement activities, such as road shows, demonstrations, speed checks and crash extrications; work with local media to increase public awareness and get coverage for activities such as enforcement campaigns or educational initiatives; deliver road safety workshops and presentations to young people in schools, colleges and youth groups; and sponsor a giant Road Safety Week banner for your community.
Launch new campaigns Road Safety Week is an opportunity to run special one-off activities, launch new campaigns, or generate extra involvement and publicity for yearround programmes. Martin Dowle, RTC Reduction Manager at Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service, says, “Cheshire Fire and Rescue Service has become extremely involved with this unique event. I encourage all fire services and organisations to get involved with Brake and Road Safety Week and to work together to reduce the devastation of death and injury on our roads.”
Emergency services can access more case studies and ideas on getting involved as well as register to take part by going to www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk and clicking on ‘road safety professionals’. Everyone who registers will be sent a free e-action pack, with downloadable road safety posters to display, plus advice and tips to help you run successful activities during the Week. Educational presentations One way many emergency services take part in the Week is by running educational presentations for young people. Brake runs a series of low-cost workshops throughout the year on delivering effective, interactive sessions for young people, of which professionals can take advantage, and receive a range of quality resources. They take place in various locations: see www.2young2die.org.uk/training. As Alan Jones, Chairman of the Police Federation’s national roads policing group, says, “Road Safety Week gives us a fantastic opportunity to shout loud and proud about improving behaviour and standards on our roads, and get life saving messages across to communities.” Take the opportunity to get involved today! www.roadsafetyweek.org.uk
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The Highways Agency’s CLEAR Initiative looks to tackle road congestion The first Incident Management Summit, chaired by the Minister for Roads, was held in May 2011 to review the investigation and closure procedures for motorway incidents. Representatives from the Highways Agency, Home Office and the police, fire and rescue and ambulance services all attended and committed to a new action plan that will tackle congestion and the £1billion cost to the economy, caused by motorway closures. The Incident Management Summit identified what improvements might be made to ensure that everything possible is being done to achieve the shortest timeline possible to manage incidents. The action plan will work to ensure that closures take place only when absolutely necessary and that, when they do, lanes are reopened as soon as possible. This will help to keep traffic moving, supporting economic growth for the future prosperity of the country.
Police, fire and ambulance services, along with other bodies involved in keeping traffic moving have signed up to the CLEAR Roles and Responsibilities booklet drawn up by the Highways Agency to help tackle congestion caused by lane closures.
“A new action plan will tackle congestion and the £1billion cost to the economy, caused by motorway closures.”
The CLEAR initiative aims to improve the way incidents are managed through analysis and review so as to identify the potential for improvements: Collision – collisions and other incidents can close carriageway lanes, adversely impacting on road users and the economy Lead – effective leadership needs to be established to coordinate the incident response Evaluate – understanding the scale of the incident ensures a proportionate response Act – all incident responders act in partnership, recognising and respecting differing organisational priorities Re-open – carriageway lanes are reopened as soon as possible to reduce the impact of incident closures on road users and the economy. The booklet was launched at a summit of M25 emergency responders held at the Highways Agency’s headquarters in London in July 2012 and helped responders keep traffic moving during the London 2012 Games. 3D laser scanners Since the start of the CLEAR initiative, in early 2011, the Department for Transport has already provided funding for 38 3D laser scanners to 27 different police forces to aid them in capturing incident details more quickly and to significantly shorten motorway closure times. Trials suggest that the scanners reduce clear up times by 39 minutes on average. The initiative has also led to research by the Highways Agency into how to best equip traffic officers to remove vehicles that are blocking lanes, including the use of load cells, vehicle skates and diesel spill kits. Working collaboratively the Highways Agency has developed a data sharing Memorandum of Understanding with the Vehicle and Operator Services Agency (VOSA), which will help to prevent future incidents on the Highways Agency network. Data is also being shared with the police,
fire and rescue and ambulance services. The Highways Agency has also been involved in two key groups for identifying and sharing best practice and lessons learned relating to information provision and incident and traffic management. These are the Five Nations (England, Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland) and CEDR (Conference of European Directors of Roads). The Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO) is currently in the process of updating the Road Death Investigation Manual, which was last reviewed in 2007, and the Highways Agency attended a number of workshops earlier this year chaired by Assistant Chief Constable Sean White, ACPO lead for the investigation of fatal and life changing road collisions across England and Wales. www.highways.gov.uk
The guidelines set out the roles of the different organisations involved in traffic incident management. They explain the different priorities of each organisation and how they will work together with the joint aim of managing incidents more effectively and reducing their duration.
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Aireshelta plc look forward to welcoming new & existing customers to STAND 493 Hall 3.
New products on display to include: Sealee Beam Type Aireshelta Sentry Box 1st Stage Decontamination Bund. Inflatable Vehicle Awning on Stand 320 Hall 1.
Aireshelta Plc, Station Yard, Station Road, Langley Mill, Nottinghamshire NG16 4BQ T: +44 (0)1773 768 352 M:+44 (0)7961 672 000 F: +44 (0)1773 715 327
+44 (0)1773 768 352 www.aireshelta.co.uk Emergency Services Times December 2012
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In focus: forensic collision investigation Forensic road collision investigation is a mechanical science used to reconstruct road traffic collisions for the courts, insurers and the operators of large fleets. There are four main areas: criminal litigation; Coroner’s inquests; civil litigation; and fleet analysis. Qualified collision investigators are, on the whole, deemed to be expert witnesses when appearing in Court. Police collision investigators attend road traffic collisions shortly after they have occurred. Their role is to collect evidence from the scene using electronic scene measurement equipment, photography and video. Reconstructing the collision involves analysing witness evidence, use of the scene evidence and building a mathematical model to work out how vehicles approached the scene and their speed of approach. Reports are prepared and submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service for a decision as to prosecution. The position of a police collision investigator is a responsible one, the maximum prison sentence for death by dangerous driving being 14 years. Police collision investigators are, in the majority, police officers, however, a number of police forces do draw on civilian staff. Collision investigators working on the criminal defence side come from varied backgrounds ranging from former police officers through to vehicle mechanics who have specialised in the field. Like all collision investigators, their duty is to the Court. Coroner’s inquests Police collision investigators attend the Coroner’s Court to present evidence at the inquests of those who have died as the result of a road traffic collision.
police personnel, offered by a number of UK centres, and De Montfort University’s University Continuing Professional Development (CPD) certificate, offered by AiTS. The former is only open to police personnel. The latter is open to all and is offered as either a six-week classroom-based course or a 9-month distance learning package. De Montfort University is registered for those that wish to use the ELCAS credits.
“The ITAI seeks, through the collective knowledge of its members, to improve the standards of safety of vehicles and roads of all kinds.” Training and qualifications Two professional bodies are involved in the field – the Institute of Accident Investigators (ITAI) and the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). ITAI recognises courses, which can be used towards membership of the Institute and ACPO approves courses for police collision investigators. There are two recognised/approved qualifications in the UK, the City & Guilds for police and civilian
Institute of Accident Investigators The aim of the ITAI is to promote road safety for the benefit of the public by improving the technical and general knowledge and skills of persons involved in the field of investigating road traffic collisions. It promotes the free and open exchange of knowledge and provides a forum for communication, education and representation,
through all of which it aims to enhance expertise. It also seeks, through the collective knowledge of its members, to improve the standards of safety of vehicles and roads of all kinds. The Institute is committed to promoting a professional approach to traffic accident investigation by encouraging honesty and integrity among investigators. At the current time the Institute is going through a period of change, required to provide better professional support, training and knowledge sharing. In addition to its quarterly newsletter and the regular publication of a technical journal, the ITAI will be publishing a series of best practice guidelines, which will be available to its members through the Institute’s website. This website is also being redesigned to provide more useful, relevant and up-to-date information, both for practitioners and the wider public. Professional development opportunities Alongside the Institute conference, which is held bi-annually, the ITAI is organising a programme of regular events, which include crash days, seminars and training, aimed at providing its members with professional development opportunities and the chance to meet fellow experts. www.itai.org
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Retroreflective sheeting and its use in road safety equipment Retroreflection, reflecting light back towards its source, uses three basic principles: specular reflection – as from a mirror or highly polished surface; refraction – the change in direction of light as it passes from one medium to another, eg air to glass; and total internal reflection – where light hitting the surface of a transparent material at certain angles bounces off the surface rather than passing through it. The retroreflective materials used in traffic signs, PPE and vehicle conspicuity markings typically employ one or the other of these systems. These basic principles have been well understood for hundreds of years and have been employed by every jeweller who has cut and polished a gemstone. Retroreflectors are designed to reflect a beam of light back along the same path as the incoming beam. There are two basic optical systems of retroreflectivity and these are shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1: The two systems of optical retroflectivity.
The glass sphere or bead The simplest retroreflector is a glass sphere or bead. When a light beam is directed at it, the majority of the light bounces off but a significant amount passes through the front surface (facing the light source) and is bent or refracted roughly toward the centre of the rear surface. Some light hitting the rear surface of the sphere is internally reflected back through the front surface of the sphere face and is again refracted onto a course parallel to the direction from which it came. A major improvement in retroreflectivity can be achieved by coating the sphere’s rear surface so that it acts as a mirror.
“REMA is the only UK association of manufacturers of retroreflective safety equipment.”
The development of retroreflective sheeting using glass beads In the 1930s developments in glass processing technology made available tiny accurate glass spheres or ‘beads’ only a fraction of a millimetre in diameter, which found their first application in the surface coatings of the cinema’s ‘silver screen’, giving a much brighter image. The 3M company subsequently applied a facing layer of transparent plastic to these beads and developed a flexible sheeting comprising a carrier film backed with a mounting adhesive and faced with a layer of silver/white bead adhesive into which a layer of glass beads was impressed to about half the diameter of the beads, with a final transparent face layer covering the front half of the beads. The beads were thus ‘enclosed’ within the composite sheeting. Improvements and refinements in the construction of enclosed bead sheeting came from both glass bead and sheeting production techniques. A typical modern enclosed bead construction is shown in Figure 2.
Engineering Grade. The moulding of tiny high accuracy and high definition cube corners, only 0.15mm to 0.25mm across, meant that for the first time the highly reflective prismatic optic could be incorporated into a very thin gauge sheet of flexible transparent plastic material such as vinyl or polyester (Figure 4 shows the size of microprisms and glass beads compared to a human hair). The first applications for the resulting product were in markers, delineators, high visibility workwear and ‘Hot Dots’, small self-adhesive roundels for children’s clothing and school bags that proved a hugely successful promotion.
Figure 4: showing prism size compared to glass beads and a human hair.
Figure 2: Modern ‘Engineering Grade’ bead construction.
3M achieved the next step up in retroreflective performance by eliminating the fluid face film layer and replacing it with a thin pre-formed sheet of high clarity plastic as shown in Figure 3.
Modern metallised microprismatic sheeting (as shown in Figure 5) has improved daylight colour and is particularly well suited to flexible products such as high visibility garments, temporary signs and traffic cone sleeves.
Figure 5: Metallised microprismatic construction.
Figure 3: High intensity grade glass bead sheet material construction.
Prismatic or cube corner reflector More efficient is the prismatic or cube corner reflector. If you take a solid glass cube and slice off one corner with a cut that passes along the diagonals of three adjoining faces you have the basic cube corner unit, which is a squat triangular pyramid shaped prism. When the pyramid is set up with the triangular base directed towards a beam of light, the light passes through the base with very little loss. Once inside the pyramid it is internally reflected off each of the three side faces in turn before being directed back through the base, exiting parallel to the incoming light beam.
About REMA REMA is the only UK association of manufacturers of retroreflective safety equipment. It works with both the BSI and the Department for Transport (DfT) on the development of standards and regulations for these products and aims to ensure that products sold and used in the UK comply with current requirements. Its website gives guidance on current standards and regulations with links to all its members and to key Highways Agency and DfT documents.
This gave a startling improvement in the retroreflectivity of High Intensity. Many years later it still represents the highest level of retroreflectivity that can be achieved by glass bead sheeting and several versions of this system are now available from other manufacturers. Nevertheless, when High Intensity was only just establishing itself in the market, the next generation of retroreflective technology was already making its appearance.
www.rema.org.uk
Developments in retroreflective sheeting using prismatic optics Microprismatic retroreflective sheeting was the biggest advance in retroreflective sheeting since 3M’s
Acknowledgements: With grateful thanks for their help, advice, information and illustrations to: Avery Dennison GRPD Europe, Rennicks (UK) Limited, Orafol Reflective Solutions and 3M United Kingdom Plc.
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UKRO to the rescue! Fire and rescue teams from across the world are striving to reach rescue standards set by the United Kingdom Rescue Organisation (UKRO), which are leading the way in rescue and casualty care. Not only do firefighters want to save lives, they want to hone their skills and take part in challenges on the world stage to really see who is the best. UKRO has spent the last decade driving forward challenges in a competitive environment to really test our emergency responders. The organisation has highly trained assessors developing realistic rescue scenarios that will test the most experienced firefighter. It is this battle against complacency that motivates UKRO, because the winners aren’t just the challenge competitors, but the public we serve every day. UKRO was formed out of a determination to reduce deaths on our roads, and has evolved to include RTC extrication, trauma, rope, USAR and water rescue. Positive influence UKRO has looked back over the last decade and felt proud of the positive influence it has had on advancing the standards of professional rescue, but it recognises there is still more to be done. Promotion and communication of its mission are key to this, and I am looking forward to reaching a wider audience. Our mission is simple, to advance professional rescue across the wide area of technical rescue skills that the fire and rescue service delivers every day. The UK Rescue Challenge provides the unique opportunity to share the learning and experiences and to ensure this informs the service delivered locally. The UK regional and national challenges are now highly regarded events. The last three years have seen very different national challenges, in Hampshire, London and Lincolnshire, all of which were a fantastic opportunity for fire and rescue hosts
to showcase their different services and areas of expertise. Each national challenge allows fire personnel to come together and share their experiences. Most importantly, challenge teams take the learning points back to their services and cascade it further so that the key messages about rescue techniques and developments in the field reach a wider audience. The aim of UKRO is for every fire and rescue service in the country to be represented in at least one challenge discipline at the national event. Nearly two thirds took part in 2012 and I have high hopes for Merseyside in 2013. In London 2011, the introduction of water rescue as a demonstration event was very well received. This progressed in Lincolnshire 2012 with the first water rescue challenge, which attracted nine teams and was an excellent achievement. UK Rescue Challenge Merseyside 2013 promises to develop the wider technical response agenda further. The CFOA conference that runs alongside the challenge will, from now on, be more closely aligned with the technical operational roles that UKRO are developing. This is a really positive way forward and my thanks to CFOA and CFO Dan Stephens at Merseyside in particular for this. In addition to its work in the UK, UKRO is an integral part of the World Rescue Organisation. UKRO launched the International Development Programme (IDP) with the aim of identifying and working alongside countries who wish to develop their vehicle rescue and pre-hospital care capability. This important area of work was highlighted in London recently at the World Rescue Challenge 2012. Teams from Ghana, Russia and Spain among
others were competing and these countries started as IDP projects with UKRO. This ethos of advancing professional rescue is not limited to our shores. As a voluntary organisation, UKRO would undoubtedly struggle if it wasn’t for the support of its committee members, fire and rescue services, the NHS, CFOA and the commercial sector. Exciting times lie ahead for UKRO, with plans to refresh the website, launch a presence on social media, attend more events and continue expanding the national challenge. UKRO would like to thank all those who volunteer, attend the challenges and conferences and support its ethos of improving casualty care. www.ukro.org
Author: Steve Apter, Chief Fire Officer, Isle of Wight Fire and Rescue Service and UKRO Chair.
Don’t PANIC! New phone App set to help those involved in road collisions It’s hoped a new smartphone App could help people who have been involved in a collision, hurt or seriously injured on Devon’s roads. The PANIC App has been developed in partnership with Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, Devon and Cornwall Police, South Western Ambulance Service and Devon County Council as part of the Learn 2 Live initiative. PANIC stands for Protect, Assess, Number, Injuries and Call, which tells the user exactly what to do in the event of a crash. Another feature is a location finder to ensure emergency services are given as accurate location as possible, which could save vital minutes. The App also has a basic first aid section giving emergency first aid information for those first few important minutes. Research confirmed that many young drivers did
not know what to do, whom to contact or what to say when involved in a collision. The Learn 2 Live partnership decided that they would revive an old acronym used in an information card system called PANIC but turn it into an App. During development a number of additional
features were added to the original – the App now includes an ICE screen (In Case of Emergency) It has a section where reminders can be set for tyre, oil, MOT and Road Tax alerts. There is also an area to store useful contact numbers such as a local garage and breakdown membership number. The fire and rescue service, police, and county council all contributed towards the development costs, with the Peninsula Trauma network, and the ambulance service providing specialist advice. The App, promoted to all the 15,000 students who attend a Learn 2 Live event across Devon and Cornwall, will be available in Apple, Android and Blackberry versions and is available on the Learn 2 Live website. www.learn-2-live.org.uk www.dsfire.gov.uk
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The EXtrication In Trauma (EXIT) Project The EXtrication In Trauma (EXIT) Project was started in 2010 by a team of firefighters, extrication experts, doctors and nurses all with a specialist interest in the care provided to those injured in motor vehicle collisions (MVCs). Its key aim is to provide a better understanding of the processes and interventions that are delivered to trapped patients. In the UK, trauma is the most common cause of death in those under the age of 35. On average 3460 traffic-related deaths are reported annually and for every trauma death, there are two people left with disabling injuries. It has long been recognised that deaths can be prevented by timely pre-hospital care and prompt transport to a hospital staffed for trauma care. A majority of major trauma in the UK is related to MVCs. Up to 40 percent of these patients will be trapped and require extrication. Of patients who are trapped following a MVC, uncontrolled bleeding and inadequate oxygen are the main causes of death and injury. These injuries can be difficult to prevent as it is difficult to administer acute medical care inside the confines of a crashed motor vehicle. It is generally considered that the longer a patient is trapped the more likely they are to die from their injuries. The EXIT Project To date information from over 300 accidents has been collected as part of the EXIT Project. The dataset includes a wide number of variables that
Each of these stages has huge implications for the trapped patient as well as the medical and rescue teams: therefore to establish the length of time spent on each is considered paramount. For example, to medical personnel, the vehicle and surrounding area is likely to pose a considerable risk until stabilisation and glass management have been completed, therefore meaningful assessment and treatment cannot begin until these stages have been completed.
may be of importance when predicting the course of an extrication. This information will be used to: predict the time taken for future extrications; ensure the correct resources (fire and medical) are deployed to scene; and, ultimately, to improve patient care. The data collected is based around the ‘crew approach’ to extrication. Utilisation of this approach provides team synergy in time critical situations. The six elements of extrication addressed by the ‘crew approach’ are: 1. Scene assessment and safety 2. Stabilisation and initial access 3. Glass management 4. Space creation 5. Full access 6. Patient immobilisation and final extrication.
What next By joined up working with pre-hospital medical and fire and rescue services the EXIT project hopes to: increase and improve the quality of research into this life saving stage of patient care (initial extrication); develop a tool to predict extrication times so that the correct medical and fire resources can be tasked to scene from the time of 999 call (intelligence-led mobilisation); develop care pathways for trapped patients; and reduce the number of patient deaths and long-term consequences of injuries related to MVCs. Get involved If this project sounds of interest to you and you can assist through data collection, organising training exercises or you just to find out more go to the EXIT Project website. www.theexitproject.org
Authors: Robert Fenwick, Tim Nutbeam, Charles Hobson and Vikki Sharpe.
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00 Rigiflex 47 n o s r e p 0 New 1
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Assisting the process towards new technologies
On the anniversary of a great storm that devastated part of Southern England in October 1987, I was reflecting on my experiences of the night and how in the intervening years, technology has advanced tremendously. The emergency services now have access to some wonderful tools and systems, but are they the ones we would have chosen back in 1987?
the new technology development in our specialist field. Often the new technologies that emergency services end up having to embrace are those offered by the manufacturers, developers and technologists, not the ones that these services would choose. When discussing SAR robots with a colleague, his observation was that what he really needs right now is a low-tech lightweight fabric for the many structures that his team has to transport across the world, not a high-tech robot with uncertain capabilities.
Rechargeable, portable highpowered lighting SMP Electronics, a UK-based manufacturer of Samalite products since 1994, has launched a new range of ultra lightweight area lighting units, searchlights and high-powered head torches using the latest maintenance-free, environmentally friendly LED and lithium ion battery technologies. The new units consist of a high-powered, 850-1000m searchlight and a powerful hands-free detachable telescopic floodlight, that gives a true 180° anti-glare, shadow free wall of bright light between 2100 and 4000 Lumens for 8+ hours run time at full burn, depending on the model chosen. The floodlights can also be used simultaneously with its searchlight, if required, and, when eliminating the need for noisy generators, fumes and hazardous trailing cables, they can be compacted into a very small and lightweight package, ideal when space is limited. The Samalite area lighting units are lightweight, at only approximately 1.85kg, making them ideal for rapid response units and helicopter rescue teams, where weight is crucial. They are equally ideal for portable floodlighting roadside accidents, scenes of crime, search and rescue and other emergency situations. LED searchlight
Civilience Limited is currently representing endusers, specifically search and rescue organisations, in two EU-funded projects. The two projects, named ICARUS and DARIUS, are developing flying, ground and underwater robotic platforms and the associated sensor technologies, in support of search and rescue operations. Global outlook Because of our widespread network and links outside the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism to responders within the US and within the UN system, we tend to have a more strategic view of the end user community, its needs and issues. This global view has highlighted concerns with the disjointed approach to much of
Civilience is trying to generate some support and interest in the process of how the response community can best benefit from the new technologies and the research and development work that is being done across the globe. In the long term, we feel that the end user community needs to create its own vision of the development of new technologies in support of saving lives. Join the discussion If you would like to contribute to the discussion of how we can improve the process of technical development, sharing information concerning new technologies, generating standards, specifications and, ultimately, creating the vision needed to guide the technologists and manufacturers, please talk to us at The Emergency Services Show 2012 or e-mail civilience@gmail.com.
David Dickson, Director at Civilience Limited.
Author: David Dickson, Director at Civilience Limited.
The new Samalite SL2000Li high-powered LED searchlight has a 2300 Lumen output with a 1000m beam and a run time of over five hours or can be switched to lower light levels to extend run times. The SL2000Li is lightweight, at only 1.6kg using lithium ion batteries, making it ideal for long search activities, especially when travelling by foot. With the searchlight’s wide and long beam it is able to illuminate great areas and distance at a time, reducing valuable search time and man hours. The Samalite area lighting units and searchlights are all fully weatherproof rated IP65, heat, water and fuel resistant, made from high impact resistant polyurethane casings and shatterproof polycarbonate lenses, and have three light settings from which to choose, reducing the brightness and extending the run times if required. The Samalite units can be purchased either in black or yellow colour for visibility. They are available with a number of accessories to enhance the usability of the products, including storage charging cases, canvas holdalls, lightweight telescopic tripods and vehicle brackets. www.samalite.com
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Stove and charger
Work area lighting
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Safety socks
water/warmer climate diving conditions where heat exhaustion can be a major problem. The suit heralds the introduction of a new technology based around lightweight and robust TPU (thermoplastic) materials, which offer lighter weight suits, which will complement Viking’s existing rubber suit range. The Viking HAZTECH can be specified with a whole range of components ranging from latex neck seals with fitted latex, or rubber hoods, rubber helmet yokes, rubber cuff rings with latex cuffs, and with neoprene lined boots or safety boots. http://protective.ansell.com
An entirely new kind of stove from leading outdoor hardware distributor Whitby & Co can be used to cook or boil water while at the same time converting heat to electricity. Utilising the latest in thermoelectric technology, this innovative and high quality stove burns twigs or wood pellets to cook or boil water while converting heat to electricity to recharge smartphones, GPS units, MP3 players and digital cameras – all while cooking dinner or boiling water for a brew. The BioLite’s folding legs and removable thermoelectric generator, which slots inside the stove, means it packs down to 8x5in and is easily carried on longer hikes as well as less demanding camping adventures. Whether it’s to check the forecast or maintain communications, the BioLite solves more than one problem for lone workers, no matter how remote the location. Available from March 2013, the BioLite has an SRP of £149.95.
Weighing only 3.81kg, the new Peli 9420 LED work light is compact and lightweight. The mast extends above 1.5m, allowing a wide area of illumination and the unit folds down quickly to a handy 74cm long. There are two versions of the 9420, standard and XL; the latter includes a blow-moulded case, shoulder strap and two battery packs so one can be on charge while the other is in situ with the system in use. The portability of the 9420 makes it ideal for lighting an emergency scene, particularly in remote or difficult to access areas. www.peliproducts.co.uk
Heat scanning device
www.whitbyandco.co.uk
RUD Chains Ltd, a leading supplier of chain systems and components, has recently added its latest innovation, the I-Sock, to its range of chains and applications for safety on snow and ice. The I-Sock is a revolutionary boot chain that offers exceptional footing and traction on slippery and icy surfaces. The chains are made from RUD’s robust stainless steel with profiled chain links that offers excellent grip and traction on compact snow, slippery and icy surfaces. Due to the I-Sock’s large surface area on the boot it ensures that your foot gets more traction, resulting in a higher level of footing for the user on snow and icy surfaces. The chain is quick and easy to use – it simply straps on to your boot and can be removed and fitted very quickly, offering that desired safety factor in no time at all. The versatile I-Sock fit easily to your shoe/boots and can be used across a wide spectrum of customs. It comes in great high quality, multi-functional packaging, which you can easily store in your bag or pockets for swift use when needed. www.rud.co.uk
Luminescent hosereel
Warmer water dry suit
The fully luminescent hosereel from Premier Hose Technologies gives a full luminescent glow from any light source and comes with a black rubber chevron strip. The hose is manufactured to BS3169 and is fitted with the original Premier stainless steel swaging system and Premier swivel and lock couplings. All assemblies are 100 percent tested, uniquely identified for full traceability and certified.
Vimpex, the specialist supplier of PPE, technical rescue products and telescopic masts, has launched the HotSpotter™ heat scanning device. The HotSpotter™, developed by Product Innovation Ltd, is a simple hand tool for firefighters and others involved in fire prevention and post fire investigation. It detects and locates small areas that are hotter than the surroundings – both in a building and outside. It senses the infrared radiation being emitted by a local hotspot. By scanning a wide area it allows the user to quickly detect and locate a region for further investigation. The HotSpotter™ is robust, waterproof and is easy and intuitive to use.
www.hosetechnologies.com
www.rescue-tools.co.uk
Ansell Protective Solutions, formerly Trelleborg Protective Products, manufacturer of the Viking range of dry suits, introduces the new Viking HAZTECH suit, which is particularly suited for use in warmer
Emergency Services Times December 2012
Gas tester
The new T3 Gas Tester ensures Crowcon’s Tetra:3 (T3) portable, multi-gas detector complies with relevant national/regional safety regulations and individual company requirements. The device feeds the T3’s sensors a known concentration of gas, a process known as ‘bumping’, to ensure the sensors are working correctly. The way it works is simple: when a T3 is inserted into the Gas Tester, the T3 automatically switches into ‘bump’ mode and either passes or fails. Once the test is complete the T3 is removed and the bump result is then accepted by the user and automatically logged in the T3. When the test has passed, the user is safe in the knowledge their detector is in good working order while, if it fails the bump, it informs the user that their instrument needs to be re-calibrated or serviced. All this is done without requiring a power supply, as the T3 detector does all the work. The Gas Tester can bump for flammable, oxygen, carbon monoxide, hydrogen sulphide and carbon dioxide sensors. Capable of testing up to four gases within just 60 seconds, it is a fast and simple way of ensuring all T3 detectors in a fleet are working correctly. In addition, the device also tests that a T3’s visual and audible alarms are working correctly. www.crowcon.com
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The consistent danger of cyanide in house fire smoke House fires often require the coordinated effort of firefighters, ambulance crews and police officers. While all of these parties are well versed in the dangers of asphyxia from smoke inhalation, and the threat of carbon monoxide poisoning from enclosed fires, there is less awareness of the fact that there are potentially dangerous levels of cyanide in house fire smoke. At Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service (GMFRS) we have recently carried out an atmospheric monitoring study revealing that 33 percent of calls in a three-month trial period exceeded health and safety executive limits for cyanide or carbon monoxide, and in 100 percent of calls their combined toxicity was sufficient to cause symptoms in the human body.1 The project came about after an atmospheric monitoring training session was delivered to several Greater Manchester operational watches based on Moss Side and Gorton Fire Stations by the Fire Smoke Coalition Inc (FSC), in October 2011. The FSC is a US-based Some GMFRS members enter a test facility to trial the smoke monitoring gear. educational organisation whose aim is to The better informed we are, the safer both the focus the required attention and resources on the public and we will be. risks of breathing fire smoke. Since we started atmospheric monitoring, we Special Operations Chief Jason Krusen, President have seen a lot of interest in HCN and CO of the FSC, visited our service to talk about the monitoring from other fire and rescue services. dangers associated with the deadly toxicants in fire West Yorkshire FRS and Staffordshire FRS among smoke, with a primary focus on hydrogen cyanide others have started monitoring projects since (HCN) and carbon monoxide (CO). Chief Krusen attending one of the FSC’s return visits to also delivered practical demonstrations of how to Manchester. monitor the atmospheric conditions following a Smoke inhalation is the single greatest cause of house fire. What we saw strongly encouraged us to mortality in house fires2, with 42 percent of deaths monitor levels of HCN and CO routinely at the scenes of fires. coming as a result. Cyanide is unquestionably a contributing factor. The presence of cyanide in house fire smoke is well established, as it is given off when a variety of household materials incompletely combust, including plastic, wool, wood, and foam in sofas and mattresses. This incomplete combustion commonly occurs in enclosed spaces, where the fire’s oxygen supply is quickly exhausted. Cyanide gas stops the cells’ ability to use oxygen carried to them by red blood cells and acts synergistically with carbon monoxide; cyanide stopping the cells using any oxygen that reaches them, and carbon monoxide interfering with the ability of the red blood cells to carry the oxygen in the first place. For this reason, hydrogen cyanide and carbon monoxide are sometimes known as the Toxic Twins3. Greater awareness The majority of us appreciate that smoke consists of many hazardous components, however the actual No specific treatment effects of hydrogen cyanide are not so widely There is no specific treatment for carbon appreciated or indeed understood. Considering the monoxide poisoning, with oxygen given as part of frequency with which firefighters, paramedics, best supportive care helping to reverse the police and the public can be exposed to cyanide symptoms. However, there are antidotes available during fire scene operations, the issue becomes a for cyanide poisoning, and treatment should be concern. Our smoke monitoring research has considered if the victim is showing symptoms of shown that cyanide is present, and that greater reduced neurological and cognitive function, and/or awareness around the threat it carries is necessary. cardiac irregularities. Treatment of cyanide
“Familiarity and understanding among the emergency services of the presence of cyanide and how it interacts with carbon monoxide will inevitably improve patient safety.”
poisoning from smoke inhalation is much more common in countries such as France and the US, where awareness of the problem is much greater. Familiarity and understanding among the emergency services of the presence of cyanide and how it interacts with carbon monoxide will inevitably improve patient safety. Members of the fire and rescue and ambulance services who are aware that smoke inhalation patients have been exposed to dangerous cyanide levels can pass this information on to A&E departments to help inform their treatment. Judging from the high level of interest that our peers have shown in our Manchester project, UK emergency services are very capable of addressing what has been a gap in our collective knowledge. I’m optimistic that care of house fire victims can only improve as a result.
Jason Krusen, President of the Fire Smoke Coalition introduces the smoke monitors to some GMFRS members.
If you are interested in monitoring cyanide levels at fires your crew attend, please contact Nic Lacey at GMFRS by e-mail: laceynp@manchesterfire.gov.uk. www.firesmoke.org 1
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service data on file 2 Department for Communities and Local Government, 2010. Fire Statistics: United Kingdom, 2008; 20. 3 http://www.firesmoke.org/ 01.05.2012 Author: Nic Lacey, Crew Commander at Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service
Emergency Services Times December 2012