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PPE on Vehicle Accidents
I was just wondering what peoples thoughts/department SOG's were on wearing bunker gear, ambulance crew/fire crew, on the scene of vehicle accidents. In my department's SOG's it states "Bunker gear is required for personal injury accidents", yet there are some who refuse to wear it when they respond on the squad(ambulance) because they have reflective vests or jackets. Me personally I wear my bunker gear and a refective vest no matter what truck I respond in.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Bob Bennett on
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PPE is madatory in our department on all alarms no matter how big or small or what the incident is. When a firefighter gets on our vehicles they are to wear all PPE at all times. AND buckle there seat belts.
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Wildland gear is just for that and that only NOT FOR VEHICLE ACCIDENTS OR STRUCTURE FIRES.
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Permalink Reply by Kelly S on
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The same issue arises in my department. I also always wear full bunker gear to all vehicle accidents of fires. Unfortunately we do not have a chief with balls to tell the ones who don't wear their gear that they are not allowed to be on scene. There is reason for having to wear your gear and I guess some are just too thick headed to understand the importance of having their gear on!!! Guess my dept is not the only one with this issue though.
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Permalink Reply by Chris on
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my department we are requirred full bunker gear for everyone on scene, with exception of driver and the firefighters doing traffic control. traffic control still has to wear pants and helmet. driver doesn't have to wear any to give him the most mobility possible to make it easyer to run the pump and assist with tools away from the vehicles. there was an incident not to long ago with a neighboring department to were 3 firefighters were seriously injured when an unknown underground natural gas leak caught fire at a vehicle accident. Just shows we need to wear full PPE at all scenes
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Permalink Reply by mark on
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Think About It What If The Accident Scene Go's From Something Simple To A Full Out Car Fire Or Even Turns Into A Haz Mat Scene. I Know That I Would Like To Be In Full PPE If That Were To Happen. It Also My Be A Safety Issue Or Workers Comp Issue
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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Re: death benefits for LODDs and wearing PPE...
It is not necessary to wear fire turnout gear to extrications, unless your duties are for fire suppression. Rescue and EMS personnel routinely wear lightweight extrication coats and pants. As long as you're wearing PPE that is appropriate for what you're actually doing, you're compliant with the LODD death benefit requirements.
Heat stress is a much bigger hazard than fires for most extrication scenes. I think it's about time we started protecting our people from the PRIMARY hazard, while leaving adequate safety margins from occasional hazards such as fire. Lightweight extrication gear does a good job of that.
I've seen the LODD benefit arguement used for lots of situations where turnout gear is wildly inappropriate, especially for water rescue. Turnout gear has contributed to several firefighter fatalities at water rescues - especially swiftwater and flood rescues - over the years.
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Joe,
The Knoxville Volunteer Rescue Squad (Tennessee) issues wildland gear as their standard work uniform. They routinely wear wildland gear for extrication. It gives some protection from flash fires, gives cut protection, and is a lot less heat stressful than wearing full bunker gear. They have full bunker gear for when they need it, but wearing it while working tools is situational for them.
Ben
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I think we need to dress for the sport we're playing. You don't see baseball players wearing football PPE or vice versa. You don't see Olympic swimmers wearing judo uniforms or vice versa.
I think we need to start wearing fire gear to fires, extrication gear to extrications, USAR gear to USAR incidents, and water rescue PPE to water rescues.
Heat stress is a much bigger hazard than fire at most MVAs, especially in the summer.
Lightweight extrication gear protects from cuts, splashes, etc. while still giving some protection from flash fires. Fire turnout gear is a major contributor to heat stress. Heat stress can be cumulative, and cause chronic problems as well as acute ones.
To repeat - dress for the sport you're playing!
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Permalink Reply by Jason Brooks on
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I briefly went through the posts here, I saw a lot of great recommendations....Like wear your gear! If this was mentioned I apologize, if not read this. http://mutcd.fhwa.dot.gov/ This is where MVA's fall under as far as federal codes are concerned. You need to have on reflective material as per the code...period. Your gear is one more layer of protection. Think of it this way, if you get hit, the lawyer is going to go after you and say that you weren't wearing the gear or the correct configuration that could have prevented their client from hitting you. Wear your gear, that's what it's for. Do I like to sweat my balls of in the heat? NO!. Do I wear my gear on MVA's and get ridiculed by the FOG's (f...ing old guys), yes. They can get hit, I have at least 15 years left in my career.
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Permalink Reply by James on
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I think this is a good point, althou i can't speak for all departments, i know mine will not even buy NFPA compliant gear for the the EMT / Paramedics. let alone seperate gear for different types of incidents (I.E. we wear structual firefighting gear for brush fires, not bushes, inside the state park forestland. and the Rescue squad gear hasn't been compliant with NFPA since sometimes in the 90's). we seem to have the mentalitly of "it's wofked fine until now, it'll keep working"
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