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IAFC Urges Safety During Confined Space Incidents
International Association of Fire Chiefs
Fairfax, Va., June 1, 2010 - The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) through their Safety, Health and Survival Section are urging all fire chiefs and officers to immediately issue a stand down in their departments due to two separate, but similar confined space rescue incidents that nearly took the lives of several firefighters. During a stand down, personnel are directed to postpone non-emergency tasks to focus on critical safety training.
In addition to federal, state and local laws, the IAFC Safety Health and Survival Section has identified a number of online resources for fire and emergency service leaders and personnel to use in this stand down and in their ongoing efforts to educate personnel on technical rescue operations.
"In recent weeks, incidents involving confined space rescues in both Ohio and Indiana left initial civilian victims dead and firefighters critically injured," stated Chief Billy Goldfeder, chair of the IAFC Safety, Health and Survival Section. "In both cases, while heroic attempts were made to save the victims, firefighters ended up becoming victims themselves."
During the stand down, chiefs are requested to have all personnel immediately review and discuss applicable departmental policies and procedures to minimize the risk to firefighters in confined space and related technical rescue incidents.
"Confined space and similar technical rescues are high-risk, but low-frequency events," said Chief Jeff Johnson, IAFC president. "The rarer the incident type, the more likely that fire and EMS personnel may be unaware of, unprepared for, or even forget proper procedures as they race to rescue a victim. I urge fire and emergency leaders to immediately take action to review the dangers and proper procedures for confined space rescue operations."
FIRE/EMS Stand Down: Priority Survival Notifications are the red alert/lookouts for major emergency safety issues that arise during the year. It is the third component of the comprehensive IAFC Safety, Health and Survival Section's Fire/EMS Safety Support System.
Related
Fairfax, Va., June 1, 2010 - The International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) through their Safety, Health and Survival Section are urging all fire chiefs and officers to immediately issue a stand down in their departments due to two separate, but similar confined space rescue incidents that nearly took the lives of several firefighters. During a stand down, personnel are directed to postpone non-emergency tasks to focus on critical safety training.
In addition to federal, state and local laws, the IAFC Safety Health and Survival Section has identified a number of online resources for fire and emergency service leaders and personnel to use in this stand down and in their ongoing efforts to educate personnel on technical rescue operations.
"In recent weeks, incidents involving confined space rescues in both Ohio and Indiana left initial civilian victims dead and firefighters critically injured," stated Chief Billy Goldfeder, chair of the IAFC Safety, Health and Survival Section. "In both cases, while heroic attempts were made to save the victims, firefighters ended up becoming victims themselves."
During the stand down, chiefs are requested to have all personnel immediately review and discuss applicable departmental policies and procedures to minimize the risk to firefighters in confined space and related technical rescue incidents.
"Confined space and similar technical rescues are high-risk, but low-frequency events," said Chief Jeff Johnson, IAFC president. "The rarer the incident type, the more likely that fire and EMS personnel may be unaware of, unprepared for, or even forget proper procedures as they race to rescue a victim. I urge fire and emergency leaders to immediately take action to review the dangers and proper procedures for confined space rescue operations."
FIRE/EMS Stand Down: Priority Survival Notifications are the red alert/lookouts for major emergency safety issues that arise during the year. It is the third component of the comprehensive IAFC Safety, Health and Survival Section's Fire/EMS Safety Support System.
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Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Ron Ayotte on
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It is relatively simple...
If you are not trained in confined space entry... stay the hell out.
Like in trench rescue, most of the victims are gone long before you even got the call.. it is a body recovery. Call in those who do have the training, equipment and experience.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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I am distributing this as required reading to my department, with links to our Confined Space, Lockout/Tagout, Atmospheric Monitoring, Incident Management, and Risk-Benefit Assessment SOGs and training references.
It's bad that two similar incidents apparently caught the unwary.
It's good that no firefighters died, and it's even better that someone at the IAFC caught these two Near-Misses as a pattern and did something about it.
Kudos, IAFC!
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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
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This is very true. However, at least one of these incidents caused the rescuers on the outside be oversome as well. I agree, call the tech teams and call them early. But, there still needs to be a situational awareness by all responders.
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If the rescuers had practices "situational awareness".. they would not have been overcome in the first place. One has to know their limitations...
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Permalink Reply by lutan1 on
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Why do we seem so well versed with fires to know that if you aren't trained, you don't go/enter, yet for something like confined space, many seem to think they can just go on in and do whatever they want???
What's the difference? Both are just as dnagerous as each other- perhaps confined spaces even more so than fire given that in many cases you can't see, smell, hear or taste the hazards unlike a fire....
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