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What is Your Department's SOPs on Turnout Gear on Medical Runs?
I was told I can not wear my bunker pants on aid runs. Since that time I have been exposed to more bodily fluids than I care to talk about. After a talk with the chief he said wear them if I like. But the next in the officer in line says NO. My First Responder instructor taught us to wear them they are just part of BSI.
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Johnathan Turner on
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In my department we have to were bunker pants and coat on every call.
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Permalink Reply by Capt./Chaplain Mike Petrosky on
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What is Your Department's SOPs on Turnout Gear on Medical Runs?
WEAR THEM !!
IMHO-We ( firefighters ) are provided protection equipment by our communities, and we are supposed to wear it to keep ourselves safe, right ? So, why wouldn't we use it to keep the bad stuff from contaminating us ? I wear my gear on all runs-that's our policy. My .02 worth.
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Permalink Reply by EngineLadder on
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my house only wear bunkers for medic runs if its cold out our a pin job. everything elese jusy our station pants. we also take our bunker pants into the bunk room.
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Permalink Reply by capcityff on
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Not everyone can wear them on every run though. It's pretty rough wearing bunkers for 24 hours straight. If you are at a house where you run 20 runs/tour then you won't really get a chance to take them off. On many of the ambulances here you never even make it back to the fire house.
I do agree that if you're a volly responding from home though in your own clothes then why not throw them on.
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I bring mine in the bunk room too. I think I've slid down the pole once in just gym shorts... never again. haha It's a lot easier to wake up, through the pants on, and then just slide the pole.
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Permalink Reply by John Dobson on
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In Indiana OSHA has everything to say about it here. We are a OSHA state, NFPA is a guideline not law.
I hope that does not sound rude just information.
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Permalink Reply by Brian Dumser on
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I've seen a few posts here with guys talking about bringing their gear into the bunkroom. WTF? Are you aware of the nasty stuff, ie. Dirt, carcinogens, etc. that is all over your gear? In my opinion, (as well as my F.D's policy), turnout gear has no place in the living areas of a firehouse.
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Permalink Reply by John Crabbe on
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IMHO-We ( firefighters ) are provided protection equipment by our communities, and we are supposed to wear it to keep ourselves safe, right ? So, why wouldn't we use it to keep the bad stuff from contaminating us ?
There is no reason to wear bunkers for every call, nor for every EMS run. It is inpractical and there are other ways to use BSI that doesn't include wearing bunker gear. Fine for the occasional call one may get now and then, but inpractical for every call, especially in depts running multiple.
Now let's look at something else making wearing bunkers inpractical, the people we are called to help. There is absolutely no reason to be going into someone's nice clean house, tracking in lord knows what type of stuff on the bunkers, for someone who needs a lift assist or back pain, or any number of non-blood, vomit, etc to worry about.
Keep things in perspective, not issue ultimatums.
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Permalink Reply by Ben Waller on
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John, I didn't see a question about wearing bunkers on "every" run or even "every EMS" run.
DId I miss something?
If you keep your bunkers as clean as the manufacturers recommend, unless you work in one of those places where you go from call to call for virtually the entire shift, you should be able to keep your bunkers clean enough that wearing them into someone's home.
Wearing TOG on every medical call isn't necessarily the best choide, but it's certainly an acceptable choice, particularly if that's the best BSI protection immediately available.
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What, exactly, do they say? Can you please show some evidence with some specifics?
Since I didn't refer to the NFPA in the post to which you replied, I'm not sure why you'd bring it up in response to an OSHA-specific comment.
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Mike, there are commercially-available virusides that are approved for use on turnout gear by the gear manufacturers. These virucides are designed to spray on, leave on for a minute or two, then immediately rinse out of the fabric.
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Ben,
My reply was to Chaplain Mike, and those were his words, started with....."What is Your Department's SOPs on Turnout Gear on Medical Runs?
WEAR THEM !!"....followed by this ..."I wear my gear on all runs-that's our policy. My .02 worth."
So yes, I do see his reply about bunkers being worn for "every" call, especially if it is a policy. Now I do agree about wearing clean bunkers and it is acceptable for an occasional run etc, but practicality not so much. Also there is no reason to wear bunkers on every call especially considering the nature of the call, which I mentioned before.
Now wearing clean gear would be fine, but reality is, it doesn't happen everytime. I keep my gear clean as possible, but wouldn't wear it on every EMS call. I mentioned early on in this thread about how a crew was wearing bunker pants on every call and they had a "talking with" by other FF's. A big reason was the appearance of customer service, no reason to be wearing some dirty bunkers in people's homes for something like back pain, etc. Fine if you keep clean bunker gear, but the actuality of that happening, especially if wearing bunkers on every call, isn't practical
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