Fire Contaminants

[Harve88]

Most stations in London have space to fit one in somewhere,  most brigades would find space for the things they want,  community rooms/ inclusive toilets etc so they have no excuse really except the cost

Edited June 1, 2022 by Harve88
Mispelling

[Rory-495]

Just thought this would be useful. We show it on our 2 day course so LFB guys should have seen it. This was a study done in the US about contaminants being passed on

 

[Robbie Burns]

We use it In Hampshire too. Cheers 

[Nick417]

Do any UK services use an automated BA washer/autoclave ? 

[Becile]

Yep, depends on what mean by automated, basically a big dishwasher made for BA sets. (Surrey FRS)

 

[Lummox]

Biggest issues in my opinion are 

refusal to design trucks with clean cabs and appropriate ways to transport kit back to station after jobs. There’s no space in the lockers or pump bays due to The trucks being designed to be laid out prettily in the trays. 

Fire helmets can’t be stripped during shift for proper clean, yet there’s a strange culture of having to wear them always everywhere at jobs.

BA sets are awful to clean/decontaminate. Always most evident after a thatch or cutting away jobs. 

Also an unwritten desire to get back on the run asap by the organisation, thereby placing Jo’s in an awkward position.

[Br9mp81]

only thing stopping it is paying for it tbh, having  spare ppe and sets on hand is not rocket science, costs rocket maybe

[Rory-495]

The worst thing, and I fully agree with you Lummox, is that the issues you pointed out are fixable with products/practices that are already out there!

Dublin have a new appliance with wipe down, cleaning shelf, dirty storage etc https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0g3tTnEcwHZkGoRjKdKRKYPg2kecmn49vMWz1m6GWaYBMT6rW4MTzCDcKQMCRfYngl&id=752706818413600

Other FRS carry vacuum sealed spare PPE on the appliance to get changed into

Hero wipes (other brands are avaialble) provide brilliant immediate decon

Set cleaning machines exist. Why not have them on station? Or have one per area and sets changed on scene by an OSU? 

It's all cost sadly

[Messyshaw]

It really isn't good enough for the employers to say 'It costs' as an excuse for the not to act.

They have a legal duty to care for the HEALTH and safety of employees. IMHO  they seem to focus on safety and find reasons to downgrade their response to the health aspect of their responsibilities.

Ok appliances designed for dirty kit will take a while, but BA washing machines could be fitted to most fire stations within 12 months

Maybe cut down on some of the virtue signalling depts and non statutory work and divert that cash to keeping their employees alive until old age.

And that's the problem. If a FF has a fatal accident , it will cost the FRS in monetary and reputation terms.  But a FF dying of cancer at 45 costs them nothing

Maybe that's why the serious  health emergency from dirty kit is perhaps not given the priority it deserves 🤔 

[Rory-495]

I think one of the best things we can do, and the union is already doing, is educating our staff so that we can fight for what we need. Recently the WHO declared Firefighting as a job that WILL cause cancer. We need to run with this and get legislation to match 

[Robbie Burns]

Durham and Darlington are way ahead in terms of it all. They are happy for people to visit the stations too. Im in Hampshire and tho we are on board, we are well behind in everything!

[Rory-495]

I'll bear that in mind if I'm ever up that way. We have been incorporating it into our annual BA refresher which is a good step in the right direction 

[Robbie Burns]

On 31/05/2022 at 10:30, Rory-495 said:

The issue with those machines is cost. A compromise would be put one in each area and OSUs collect them after a job to be cleaned

Southall that would definitely work. But practically every station needs adjusting

This has just been approved for OSU to install 3 x machines !. Only took a yr !

Are there any significant updates on the Contaminants front ?. In Hampshire and IOW, we are making good progress. More than happy to share all of the info gained over the last year and a bit if useful ?. Risk assessments and guidance documents etc. 

[Matt]

I went to the new Horsham station and training centre on Sunday, the overall cost was £30 million, 10 alone on the new live training facility.

2 things from this was that they have the Drager washer and autoclave to wash BA sets on site but also as crews return through the gate into the yard they stop contaminated fire kit can be put in the red bins outside they then enter different zones, red, orange, green (door frames coloured) as they go through the station which you enter dirty but clean at the end before going into the offices, mess, sleeping areas etc.

It's a start but probably one of the first stations to have an approach like this.

[Robbie Burns]

Hi Matt

Thanks for the update. It sounds really good and progress is being made.

We are in the process of developing our old stations in Hampshire and IOW, along with 2 new build sites that are specifically designed around Contaminants. We are on the right trajectory...

Would you have contact details for someone i could get in touch with for a visit to the facility please ?

Regards Robbie

[Crog]

14 hours ago, Matt said:

I went to the new Horsham station and training centre on Sunday, the overall cost was £30 million, 10 alone on the new live training facility.

2 things from this was that they have the Drager washer and autoclave to wash BA sets on site but also as crews return through the gate into the yard they stop contaminated fire kit can be put in the red bins outside they then enter different zones, red, orange, green (door frames coloured) as they go through the station which you enter dirty but clean at the end before going into the offices, mess, sleeping areas etc.

It's a start but probably one of the first stations to have an approach like this.

This is good, but that is near enough my services yearly budget. Be a while before anything like that happens here I expect.

[Matt]

On 13/07/2022 at 08:52, Messyshaw said:

Ok appliances designed for dirty kit will take a while, but BA washing machines could be fitted to most fire stations within 12 months

I'd agree but having space to do that in some retained stations would be the challenge, realistically better investment would be place them at key stations that have the space i.e. old division HQ type places and you go there, would be a far better investment as some stations may not even touch BA for a dirty job for ages so it would be sat there and things sat there end up breaking.  Put them around the county would be better invesment in my opinion but its something that can be done easilty and is a start then any new stations you look to include as standard.

 

On 02/08/2023 at 10:17, Robbie Burns said:

Would you have contact details for someone i could get in touch with for a visit to the facility please ?

Roy Barraclough is the SM there, not met someone so passionate for the job and the build in a long time, hes involved in Op Florian, so quite vested in the job.  Would give him a shout and go from there.