 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
We subscribe to TECHNICAL RESCUE magazine. www.t-rescue.com
WE PROVIDE TRAINING TO THE REQUIREMENTS OF BS8454
Members of the original 1980's London Fire Brigade line rescue team in action on a 100m high building on the south bank of the river Thames
Team member Mike, call sign Delta Bravo 2 descending down to two stranded and injured casualties. Back in the 1980's single line working was acceptable with a safety backup using a shunt device on the same line
The rescue stretcher being carried is the Res-Q-Man, very light weight yet giving a ridgid platform. The coveralls were made to our design from Kermel viscose, a fabric that was then very new. Gloves and helmet were both kevlar.
We are happy to work with all rescue services and our aim is to provide training that exactly meets your needs. We can offer refresher training including updates in latest techniques and methods. Review of existing practices and use of equipment. Re-qualification of existing trainers to BS8454 regardless of original training methods.
*********************************************************************************
Training riggers to rescue an injured person on a 150m high communications mast in the Middle East. Shown here the casualty has collapsed and has been lef suspended by their fall arrest device, the first task is to raise the casualty to release the fall arrester. Daytime temperatures regularly exceeded 50c and keeping hydrated during the rescues was a problem. Everthing was also covered in fine dry sand and this caused problems with keeping the equipment servicable
Self rescue, following the evacuation of an injured colleague. The kit being used, based around the Petzl I'D proved simple and safe to operate for the users. Only a very small amount of equipment could be utilised and all the students were taught to be adaptable in the application of the items in the kit.
Training included evacuating the structure by irregular means. Basic training was carried out in the UK prior to relocating to the eventual structures that the engineers will work on. All the students on the course had dedicated roles with regard to the equipment they maintain and the additional training in rope rescue was additional to their normal job requirements. The remoteness of the installations required that they had to able to complete a full rescue/evacuation of the structure as help and back up was either hours away or non existant.
*********************************************************************************
Trainees being taught to use the Petzl I'D to belay a partner. The additional features of this device makes it perfect for controlling an individual's movements remotely. Easy to use and adaptable with the ability to extend the roles in which it is applied. The device is in current use with many Fire and Rescue services and Industry.
Working safely on a sloping roof using an intermediate anchor and a Petzl ASAP attached on a safety line. Trainees are taught to use twin line working on all occasions
*********************************************************************************
We are able to offer full training up to supervisor level in all forms of fall arrest equipment, including Rollgliss. In addition we train line rescue and rope access. All our trainers are very experienced ex-Fire service line rescue instructors and we are able to offer training to meet the customers exact requirements, in time, location and most important cost.
Training courses are constructed to take account of existing individual skills, with refresher training or re-qualification being undertaken at realistic intervals, having due regard for the frequency of deployment and the risk. Training is available to our customers when they require it, evenings and nights, during shut down periods or over holidays.
Training can be segmented to fit into the working day, causing minimum disruption. Training can also be booked in advance and delivered in modules over a period of time to fit budgets.
Training in our experience is always best carried out at the site or area being worked. Realistic training and actual problem solving will prove very beneficial in the long term. Alternatively, residential courses can be arranged taking the students into an artificial but more controlled environment.
*********************************************************************************
Here a Rollgliss tripod has been set up and secured with ratchet straps. A Rollgliss Top 350 in a 3/1 configuration has been attached ready for an entry by rescuers into a confined space. We are able to offer confined space training, including breathing apparatus. All our instructors are ex-fire service BA trainers with national qualifications and are familiar with both SCBA and SABA being either cylinder bank or portable air compressor supply. Training includes safe methods of entry and rescue, including casualty handling in a confined space.
*********************************************************************************
ROLLGLISS rescue equipment is the first choice for High bay storage warehouse cranes and STC Ltd are very pleased to be able to offer support and backup to DEMATIC Ltd the manufacturer of the cranes.
A basic kit provided for operators using manriding lift trucks. Evacuation in case of system failure was through a trap door in the floor of the cabin. Users would don the harness, attach the karabiner to a load bearing anchorage point that was already installed, then using the Petzl I'D descend down to safety. Each Lift truck had one kit stowed ready for deployment in the operators cabin.
We provide training for staff and instructors in the use of our customer specified equipment to manage the evacuation from cranes, unloaders and high bay lift trucks. All our courses are tailored to the customers requirements. Equipment for evacuation or for safety backup during training can be provided specifically to meet the customers needs.
Basic safety belay kit for use by trainers. An automatic belay device will arrest a fall and also allow a student to be lowered to safety. The kit is assembled from BS EN components and are made to meet the customers exact requirements. Training in its use will normally be done in a day.
*********************************************************************************
A personal rescue kit being used to transfer the weight of the casualty onto the rescuers system. The blue "pick off strap" in the picture is adjustable and is attached to the casualty and the rescuers descending device. The procedure alleviates shock loading the rescuers system, and does not require any lines to be cut!
The Dangers associated with Suspended Harness Syndrome (Orthostatic intolerance) are now well known and understood. Rapid intervention to retrive a suspended casualty needs to be done quickly and efficiently. A simple kit (shown left) with its minimal training implication could save a life.
Rollgliss R250 Rescue system. Used to retrieve an individual that may have fallen and been left suspended by a rope or lanyard.
*********************************************************************************
Training can be provided in modern comfortable surroundings. We use modern audio and visual teaching aids to provide students with a through and comprehensive understanding of the equipment and tasks before undertaking practical training. Students are provided with notes and litrature to enable refresher training to continue.
Our trainers are both adaptable to the needs and requirements of the organisation and sympathetic to the needs of the students many of whom would perhaps never used equipment to work at height. For those providing RESCUE our trainers are particularly experienced in this field, all having a background with a professional UK Fire service. Training provided will be tailored to the needs of the service with consideration to the risk covered by the authority and known events that necessitated the use of rope rescue equipment. We are cost effective by providing exactly what you need to manage you particular task, not off the shelf generic courses.
CONTACT OUR TRAINING TEAM. training@rollgliss.org.uk
*********************************************************************************
Our Victorian forefathers were quite happy to drop from a window, child in arms, suspended on a hawser laid line made of best Italian hemp or even more recently on a man-made fibre rope. Remember the Turks head knot? And that no matter how careful you were it would not completely go back into the bag. I now shudder to think that the lowering line, and the practice of lowering "under foot", was commonplace on UK fire appliances.
Year 2004. Enter the Health and Safety Executive, and its forthcoming new directive on Working at Height. Don’t panic, they won’t be taking ladders off the trucks, to the contrary. It will require the introduction of equipment and training to prevent falls from height, fall arrest equipment, widely used in industry, not so common in the Fire service. So if Fire services are required to comply with the new legislation, then why not take a look at the overall provision for rescue at height, or for that matter in a deep shaft.
Line/technical rescue is not new in the UK Fire service. Many Brigades operate successful line rescue teams, and are often integrated into local or national urban search and rescue teams. So where does fall arrest end and technical rescue begin?
All front line pumping appliances should carry a working at height kit, Fire Authorities have a moral requirement to provide it. A kit should contain two full body fall arrest harness, Fall arrest lanyards, kernmantle lines, steel twist lock karabiners, automatic belay devices, webbing round slings, wire strops, pulleys and ascenders. Enough should be provided to enable two fire fighters, perhaps even wearing BA to position themselves safely in an area where they would normally be at risk from falling. Techniques used would be the same as used in industry to prevent a fall, this is basic work positioning/work restraint method. The Yellow pages are full of organisations that can deliver this training; industry has operated this way for years. That same kit should be flexible enough to manage a fire fighter that may have to work on a ladder, you will still have the traditional ‘leg lock’ for occasional use, but for protracted ladder work, expect to wear a harness and be attached to a line and belay device. Many manufacturers offer Brigades excellent off the shelf kits. Personally, I like to provide specific items from a range of manufacturers that will meet the individual requirements of that Brigade perfectly.
Having ascertained the fall arrest equipment requirement for our front line appliances let’s go to the next level and provide a means of recovering a casualty or a means of access by line for our rescuers. Firstly, a change being required to a more rescue/casualty style harness, together with a few more items of hardware. The first thing that comes to mind is abseil equipment, wrong! Moving down a line or “controlled descent” is a technique not without its risk and may be inappropriate at this level of operator. Additionally once down, you may have to get back up that line, enter the art of ascending! perhaps using the traditional z rig to be pulley up by other crew members and there are many rescue devices on the market, most using pulleys to give a mechanical advantage when retrieving an individual, in addition to providing a friction function to slow the downwards descent. Rollgliss equipment is a world-renowned device that meets this requirement. So, we now have our intermediate response kit, based on the basic fall arrest pack with a few additions and the added advantage of a Rollgliss device or other similar system.
Line/rope rescue can be very complex and require innovation amongst its operators; a high level of skill and training is essential. Together with a flexible approach by those in charge, or those coordinating its use in a rescue scenario. This will be our third and most capable level. Brigades are identifying that this is a modern requirement, also a very safe method of dealing with rescue at height. Haven’t we always carried out rescues from high places? The days of a Polyprop GP line tied with a bowline around your waist are long gone! At this level we need to move away from the basic kit carried on pumping appliances, to equipment that would be commensurate with line rescue in all its various forms. Rollgliss or a similar device would feature strongly, as a basis, fitted with a line, long enough to manage any actual or potential rescue within the Brigade area. Additionally, equipment would be needed to retrieve a casualty and lower or raise them regardless of the environment to a place of safety. Quad-pods, tripod, Larkin frame what ever your choice would be an essential item, winches to assist in the recovery of rescuers and casualty, good casualty handling equipment, rescue triangles and stretcher, together with the training to provide rescuers with the confidence and ingenuity to understand the problem, recognise the dangers and operate safely and with professionalism.
To summarise.
Firstly, update the equipment carried on front line pumps, provide fire fighters with fall arrest equipment that will allow them to operate safely at height, WAH Regs 2005 requires it.
Secondly, provide an intermediate capability, perhaps based on selected rescue water tenders by expanding on the basic kit carried on pumps and add a rescue device.
Thirdly, establish one or more line rescue teams, again based on dedicated rescue tenders, located strategically to meet the needs of the Brigade. My only concern is maintaining ones skill level along with everything else, BA, RTC, Haz-Mat etc will require extra commitment from the members
My response would be to keep it all simple, but train to the highest standard, with trainers that have done it for real, and there’s not many of us about. I have been a fire service line rescue trainer for 24 years and nearly every day I learn something new.
Pete Gwilliam
Specialist Training Consultants Ltd
United kingdom
A striking picture yet one that on a closer examination shows many faults and examples of bad practice, including several potentially fatal mistakes. Teams that keep training "in House" are most at risk from developing bad habits. Even just a day with a different trainer can freshen the skills of even the most experienced team. Incestuous training regimes within a team can do untold damage if not independently verified. The object is not to criticise or condemn custom and practice but to ensure upto date methods are being used and misconceptions and bad practice are delegated to the bin.
*********************************************************************************
Having been caught out on more than one occasion on a line that was to short for me to complete my task, it became necessary to add a line. The knot of preferred choice was always the double fishermans; it is easy to tie and virtually fool proof. Negotiating past the knot was an easy process using a personal rescue kit.
It is now accepted that twin line working will be the norm for all technical rescue specialists, and I strongly advocate that a rescuer be attached independently to two lines. The working line, being on a separate anchor to that of the safety line. So what happens when we extend our working or safety line, as we will then become detached, and left supported on a single line?
These two techniques I have used and have found them to resolve the problem, as with these two options you will always be attached to two separate lines.
Method 1.
Having reached your first stop knot, you should be left with a 2m tail. Tie a Fig.8 stop knot in your new line. Then take a bight of line in the standing part of the line you are on, and tie a treble Fig.8. Knot. (Pic.1.) Before detaching from your line, attach a cow tail or safety lanyard into the safety loop created by the fig 8 knot. Once safely back on your line, detach your safety backup from the loop and continue your descent.
PICTURE 1
Method 2.
Having reached your stop knot, take the new line and tie a double fishermans knot, however this method requires a tail about 1.5m long on the standing part of the line. Divide this remaining in two and tie a simple overhand knot incorporating your newly extended line, finish of with a single fishermans stop knot. (Pic.2.) The resulting safety loop again allows you to secure a safety backup to your original line before detaching and passing the knot. A little more complex to tie, but retains the preferred double fishermans knot that has been used to tie the two lines together.
Picture 2
Both these methods are commonly used by speleologists to pass knots found in long runs of line. Both are ideal for twin line rescue working as it prevents the rescuer being attached by one line only.
Pete Gwilliam
Specialist Training Consultants Ltd. United Kingdom
