EDITOR’S COLUMN
This month’s Operational Assurance feature ties up some loose strands, nails down contraventions of the Fire Precautions Regulations and revisits a familiar, if under-used technology.
The Sea of Change project has finally come to a close following the implementation of the new MCA Maritime Incident Response Group. Project Manager Mervyn Kettle details the project’s successes such as the introduction of competency based training for firefighting at sea and the MoU between the MCA, MoD and CFOA for the provision of dedicated SAR helicopter training to fire service teams. He calls for the MCA and CFOA to ensure the principles of planning and responding to marine incidents are embedded into future development planning.
Our exclusive series of attacks on firefighters around the world is also brought to a close by South Wales firefighter Sabrina Cohen who takes experiences from South Africa and New York on how they dealt with serious attacks. Sabrina recommends such actions as equipping appliances with CCTV, providing conflict management training and most importantly, upgrading legislation to protect emergency service workers.
As the sprinklers in schools success is highlighted elsewhere in this issue (see pg 12), London Fire Brigade provide a timely reminder of traditional enforcement powers as they succeed in prosecuting the negligent owners of a nursing care home. Contraventions under the Management of Health and Safety at Work Regulations 1999 and the Fire Precautions (Workplace) Regulations 1997 ensured the successful prosecution of Ravenscroft Park Nursing Home in Barnet, who were fined a substantial £200,000. FIRE has long called for a fullyintegrated approach to fire prevention measures, of which sprinklers is an
Incident reportsInvestigation launched into train crash, arson suspected in North London school, building collapse causes chaos
Firefighting and rescue at sea: the sea of change project 2003-2007
As the sea of change project draws to a conclusion Project Manager Mervyn Kettle identifies the key issues that have arisen
Care home prosecution for endangering residents
An investigation by officers at London Fire Brigade has resulted in the successful prosecution of the owners of a nursing home following a fire in May 2005
Firefighter attacks: lessons learned from overseas
In the concluding part of a series of reports on attacks on firefighters around the world Sabrina Cohen identifies best practice from fire services to reduce the growing risks
Vital missing link: remote intervention vehicles
Bob Barr outlines the capabilities of the latest remote equipment, which he maintains, would take the guesswork out of internal incident assessment |
