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Study recommends frequent rest for fire service instructors
Accept Your Limits: Study recommends frequent rest for fire service instructors
By Stefan Svensson
Recent studies conducted in Sweden have led to changes in the way live-fire instructors conduct training. The results of these studies were presented at the International Firefighting Safety Conference, held in conjunction with the International Fire Instructors Workgroup meeting in Australia earlier this year.
The studies measured consequences due to hyper-thermal exposure. Because they conduct many, repeated training sessions using SCBA and live-fire scenarios, instructors are exposed to these factors to an extent that exceeds, by far, what occurs during real firefighting.
The studies found that every individual developed raised body temperature (38-40 degrees C) four times a day all 4 days within the test period, with a large daily loss of water. After 3 days, the instructors reported tiredness, muscular weakness, headache and muscular pain. Leakage of protein, red blood cell and white blood cells were observed in the urine. Daily and weekly changes were observed concerning several parameters that may cause disturbances in salt balances within and between cells. Many of these changes were small, but increased throughout the week as the training period went on.
The main recommendations from the studies: Live-fire training instruction should be followed by periods of rest. Swedish fire instructors at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency are now limited to six “hot” training sessions per day, every other day, every other week—a maximum of approximately 25 sessions per month and 100 sessions per year.
However, each individual instructor must make their own assessment regarding what constitutes a “session,” depending on the type of training, the level of the students and the purpose of the training. If it’s very hot or very hard work, a single session might be counted as two or three sessions.
We must also take into account the instructor’s work. If for some educational reason we must use the same instructor 2 or even 3 days in a row, it might be acceptable. Although it’s easy to say that fire instructors should know when they’re pushing themselves too hard, instructors are no different than other firefighters; recommendations may do a better job of controlling their physiological response to live-fire training. One important purpose of the work: to make the instructors aware of physiological problems when working in hot environments.
Stefan Svensson started his career as a firefighter in the Swedish Air Force in 1986. In 2002, he earned his Ph.D. at Lund University in Sweden. During the last 15 years he has been involved in experimental and theoretical investigations on firefighting tactics, including firefighting methods as well as problems of command and control.
Copyright © Elsevier Inc., a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
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By Stefan Svensson
Recent studies conducted in Sweden have led to changes in the way live-fire instructors conduct training. The results of these studies were presented at the International Firefighting Safety Conference, held in conjunction with the International Fire Instructors Workgroup meeting in Australia earlier this year.
The studies measured consequences due to hyper-thermal exposure. Because they conduct many, repeated training sessions using SCBA and live-fire scenarios, instructors are exposed to these factors to an extent that exceeds, by far, what occurs during real firefighting.
The main recommendations from the studies: Live-fire training instruction should be followed by periods of rest. Swedish fire instructors at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency are now limited to six “hot” training sessions per day, every other day, every other week—a maximum of approximately 25 sessions per month and 100 sessions per year.
However, each individual instructor must make their own assessment regarding what constitutes a “session,” depending on the type of training, the level of the students and the purpose of the training. If it’s very hot or very hard work, a single session might be counted as two or three sessions.
We must also take into account the instructor’s work. If for some educational reason we must use the same instructor 2 or even 3 days in a row, it might be acceptable. Although it’s easy to say that fire instructors should know when they’re pushing themselves too hard, instructors are no different than other firefighters; recommendations may do a better job of controlling their physiological response to live-fire training. One important purpose of the work: to make the instructors aware of physiological problems when working in hot environments.
Stefan Svensson started his career as a firefighter in the Swedish Air Force in 1986. In 2002, he earned his Ph.D. at Lund University in Sweden. During the last 15 years he has been involved in experimental and theoretical investigations on firefighting tactics, including firefighting methods as well as problems of command and control.
Copyright © Elsevier Inc., a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
SUBSCRIBE to FIRERESCUE
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