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Justification for Technical Rescue Training
Why do we need quality, value-added technical rescue training? Below is brief summation to this question. Although the justifications for the many different disciplines that come under the general heading of "Technical Rescue" are endless, we have chosen to briefly discuss what we feel are the three most common concerns; High Angle Emergencies, Confined Space Emergencies, and a few of the Legal Requirements. For added information concerning the justifications of technical rescue please contact RescueRig at info@rescuerig.com .
High Angle Emergencies
An element of a vertical emergency is a factor, condition, or influence that can be redirected, and treated by the rescue team. A strong rescue team will draw from their “skill” toolbox and deal with these elements in a safe and expedient manner.
How does a rescue element effect the choices of the rescue team? What elements determine the manpower needed, or the amount of equipment needed at the scene? Too often rescuers make these decisions with little training or experience.
Most rescue agencies have the expertise to perform a low angle carryout. Most technical rescue personnel can rappel, do some basic climbing, and complete a rescue involving a non-changing fall line. But ask yourself, does your team have the skills to perform a difficult vertical extrication with a fall line of multiple obstacles that requires controlled horizontal movement, or extricate an injured worker off the top of an electrical transmission tower?
Some elements are minor, some are major. It is the accumulative effect of these elements that change the Seminar of action. A successful rescue is the direct result of a team’s ability to recognize these elements and deal with them with confidence. Technical rescue is a high maintenance item for any department, tremendous amounts of training and equipment for only a “once in a while” type of call. Unfortunately, the public tends to see only the cost and not the potential. City fathers will surely want justification for the large amounts of time and money for such needs.
Due to budget considerations most cities are compelled to develop crews that are multi-functional, in that they are called to respond to EMS, fire, social emergencies, and on rare occasions, technical rescue. This is a dangerous trend, in most cases these crews simply do not have the needed amount of time to train. Lack of proper training is the greatest of all safety violations. Declaring that you have a technical rescue team and not allowing the proper amount of time to train is like having a flight attendant take over the controls of the plane while in the air. It is not fair to the team and it is a disservice to the public. If this is the system that you operate from, chances are, one day someone will pay with their life. Multi-functional crews are not a bad thing, but multi-functional crews that are also charged with vertical rescues must have time allowances, which will afford them needed training opportunities.
Confined Space Emergencies
According to the Department of Labor, last year alone, close to 6000 fatalities occurred at the workplace. It is believed by many experts that approximately 1/10, or 600 of those were related to or directly involved a confined space. NIOSH tells us that 60% of those fatalities were the would be rescuers! Even after the substantial OSHA laws that were enacted in the 1980s confined space deaths still occur at an alarming pace.
Too many times we respond to a call without complete knowledge of what it is we are about to deal with. The call may come in as EMS in nature, a fall injury, a unconscious person, an electrocution, when we get there we tend to default to those actions we do best, CPR, start lines, take vitals...we feel compelled to take action.
It is essential, that we recognize a confined space environment when we are not expecting one. WE MUST TAKE THE BLINDERS OFF AN LOOK AT THE BIG PICTURE!
Confined spaces come in many forms, they can be found in petroleum processing, food industry, utility vaults, underground communication, electrical tunnels, various liquid storage facilities, and in many other forms of industry, just to name a few.
A confined space is defined as an area that is large enough to enter and perform work, has restricted means of access and egress, but is not designed for continuous occupancy.
A permit-required confined space is defined as a confined space that has one or more of the following:
An atmospheric hazard:
An engulfment hazard:
A configuration hazard; or
Any other recognized serious hazard.
Fatalities and injuries are common occurrences among workers in confined spaces. Workers are exposed to multiple hazards which may cause injury, illness, or death. Toxic, oxygen-deficient, and explosive atmospheres are responsible for most reported fatalities and injuries in confined spaces. Many injuries and fatalities resulting from energy sources, such as steam, electricity, and mechanical equipment go unreported as confined space accidents.
Rarely are they reported as a confined space emergency. As we said earlier, 911 callers usually don’t tell the Alarm Room that the emergency they are reporting is in a confined space. Who knows the reason why, maybe they don’t see past their co-worker lying on the floor of a storage tank, or a trench, or maybe, they feel if they don’t report it as a confined space incident they won’t get in trouble. Whatever the case, we must recognize the presence of a confined space.
They look safe. Most confined spaces people get injured in or die in simply look safe. That’s probably the reason the victim went inside the space in the first place, and the same reason the would-be rescuer entered to save his buddy! If the confined space was filled with boiling oil, or rattlesnakes no one would go in.
The victim is down for a reason, don’t become another victim by making an ill thought out rescue, even for a fellow firefighter. If it got him/her, it will get you. Do not trust your senses, what you don’t see may kill you.
Standards and Legal Implications
The Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act (SARA)
Prior to 1986 little thought was ever given to the legal ramifications of the fire service, or even the emergency response individual not performing to an acceptable level of competence. In 1986 Congress enacted Title III of the Superfund Amendment and Reauthorization Act, the rescue service became accountable for their actions...or lack of. Rescuers are now legally required to perform in a certain way with an acceptable level of success in the outcome of the rescue incident or risk civil and/or criminal litigation. The old mindset, “Hey, we didn’t create this emergency, we did the best we could based on our training” will no longer stand up in court.
OSHA 1910.146 (Confined Space)
General Requirements
Employers must ID permit required spaces.
After ID the employees must be informed of the hazards of that space.
If the space is not to be entered, preventative measures must be taken.
If entry is to be allowed, a written permit program, compliant with this standard must be developed and shall be available to all affected employees and/or their representatives.
If any non-permit required space changes, the employer shall reevaluate the space to determine if it is now permit required.
A permit required space may be changed to non-permit required with the proper evaluation of the space.
If outside contractors are used to enter the space they must be notified of any potential hazards just as an employee.
Contractors are responsible for compliance with confined space entry procedures and for coordination of any entry with the ‘host’ employer.
Training shall be provided for all employees that may enter the space.
Rescue Service Requirements
When provided by onsite personnel the employer shall:
Ensure that each member is properly trained in use of PPE and rescue equipment.
Ensure that each is trained to perform the assigned rescue duties.
Ensure that each is trained in performance of all authorized entrant duties.
Ensure that each member shall practice making rescues at least once every 12 months by means of simulated operations with manikins, dummies or actual persons from the actual permitted spaces or representative spaces.
Ensure that each is trained in basic first aid and CPR.
When performed by outside agencies (FIRE DEPARTMENT) the ‘host’ employer shall:
Inform rescuers of the known hazards.
Provide the service with access to all permit spaces for the purpose of developing rescue plans and to allow for practice within the spaces.
NFPA (ANSI) 1670 and 1006
NFPA 1670 applies to technical rescue procedures of the department, while NFPA 1006 is geared more to the skill level of the individual technician. Because these standards were adopted by ANSI, they both point their legal fingers at the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), or in other words, the local fire department and its leadership. These standards have become very good legal sources of ammunition for industrial injury attorneys.
Most fire departments are very good at providing continued education and documenting the training of its members at the technician level, but if the AHJ is to be consistent with 1670, technical rescue awareness level and operational level training documentation must be addressed as well.
Although these standards imply that the AHJ has a tremendous amount of flexibility over what level of rescue it chooses to be involved in, there is one other notable area of liability. NFPA and ANSI require the AHJ to conduct periodic hazard analysis and risk assessment surveys in the organization’s response area for the purpose of identifying the types of technical rescues that are most likely to occur. These hazard analysis and risks assessments shall by reviewed and updated on a scheduled basis and as operational or organizational changes occur.
Failure of a technical rescue operation is almost always caused by human error, which in most cases, can be traced to the lack of documented quality training, and documented hazard analysis and risk assessment. This is the true spirit in which NFPA 1670 and 1006 were published. This is why 1670 and 1006 were adopted by ANSI, and these are the standards that will be used in a court of law.