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DEMONSTRATIONS

Canland UK (Hot Pack) Ltd – Stand 104

Canland will be demonstrating its odourless flameless heater and providing tastings of its meals, featuring the recently upgraded design packaging.

Multi Level Protection Ltd / Emergency Technologies Ltd – Stand 50 & outside

The new EN469 certified Motorcycle Suit, utilising Kermel technology, will be put through its paces at the show together with the Firexpress Fire Bike, the latest product to use the Danish Fire Fighting system, Firexpress. The suit will be worn by Mr Per Finn, the inventor of the Firexpress system, whilst he rides the bike, in two live fire demonstrations taking place each day. He can be seen outside the Exhibition Hall putting out Car Fires using the Firexpress Fire Bike, equipped with high strength, light weight stainless steel tanks containing up to 50 litres of water/foam. Static models of the bike and suit can be seen on Stand 50.

Niton Equipment Ltd – Stand 55

Niton has been appointed the major distributor of the FloodSax, a unique product set to revolutionise emergency response and planning associated with flood defences. Demonstrations will take place on the stand.

REST UK - throughout the Exhibition Hall

REST UK gave chair massages to rescue workers in New York at Ground Zero following the atrocities of 9/11, and continue to give chair massages to rescue workers within the UK. They will have their chairs in various places within the Exhibition Hall on Wednesday only for anyone to try. The chair massages take only 10 minutes and will cost £5.00. All proceeds go to REST UK, which is a self-funding registered charity.

Response Medical – Stand 135

Response Medical is offering the 'Seal Challenge' to visitors who are able to set-up and use the Oxylator® Resuscitator against the clock. The Oxylator® range is a new generation of patient-responsive, oxygen-powered resuscitators intended to provide emergency ventilatory support for patients greater than 10Kg.

Ruth Lee Ltd – Stand 117

Ruth Lee Ltd will be showcasing its new bariatric (obese) training dummy for the first time. Weighing 28 stone (180kg) it has been created as a realistic training tool to help emergency services cope with the growing number of obese people they have to rescue.

Vimpex – Stand 33

Vimpex will have continuous live demonstrations on their stand of the Ogura range of battery powered hydraulic cutting and forced entry equipment. Other cutting equipment on display will be the Cutters Edge series of concrete saws, unique Bullet Chain Saws and Specialist Disc Cutters.

Volvo Car UK Ltd - Foyer

Volvo will be showcasing its ‘Cutaway’ safety car – a unique vehicle demonstrating the breadth of safety features found in a Volvo.

PROMOTIONS

CCL Computers Ltd – Stand E25

Showcasing some of the latest and best I.T. solutions for emergency services, CCL Computers will be holding a two day “top gear” style computer race. With the results updated on a leader board, the winner of the best lap time each day will be awarded an XBOX 360 system.

CFM Services – Stand 20

CFM Services will be giving away a Bright Star RESPONDER RA (Right Angled) Flashlight each day at the Emergency Services Show. This C-Cell powered RA Flashlight is Safety Approved for Hazardous locations. It is durable, impact resistant, totally waterproof and will survive a 30ft drop on to concrete! Visit the stand to find out how to win.

Crusader Ltd – Stand 42

Crusader Ltd will be demonstrating how interactive whiteboard and data conferencing technology can benefit emergency services. Visitors are offered the opportunity to win a 12 pod Presentavote audience participation system worth £1,000. Visit stand no. 42

Laerdal Medical Ltd – Stand 28/31

Laerdal has introduced a new generation of single-use resuscitator. The BAG II combines all the performance characteristics of a Laerdal re-useable resuscitator with the convenience, hygiene and versatility of a disposable. Visit stand 28/31 to claim your FREE sample.

COMAH Site Weather Stations – Lessons from Buncefield

Russell Pearson, Director, Reputation & Consequence Management, Safeguard Communications UK Limited

The Buncefield explosion occurred at a very fortunate time. Not only was 06:00 on a Sunday a quiet time so casualties were mercifully low but the meteorological conditions also averted a worse crisis. At this time the atmosphere above had a strong inversion. This is a layer over which the normal rate of fall of temperature with height is reduced or reversed. It had the effect of preventing the plume from returning to the surface after the intense fire had taken it through the inversion (1). Had the explosion occurred in different weather conditions, or if the fire had been less intense, the plume could have spread at ground level.

The Met Office Environment Monitoring And Response Centre (EMARC) was called upon to give a CHEMET report 90 minutes after the incident. However staff at EMARC had already anticipated the requirement and run the model behind their CHEMET scheme. Presumably the delay in the request reflected the behaviour of the plume in staying above the surface. However there were no meteorological observations available from the site itself and the Met Office used observations from further afield and wind derived from larger scale computer models as input to the CHEMET models. These may be suitable for dealing with incidents which last a long time and cover large areas but not for giving fast and accurate warnings at the start of an incident. Observations have to be reasonably close to be representative and meteorological models have serious limitations. At Heathrow for instance, at the time of the explosion, there was a difference of about 45 degrees between the real wind direction and the Met Office model (2).

So what else might have been done? Installing wind sensors at COMAH sites would not be a major task and modern designs are simple and robust, with no moving parts, and relatively cheap. A good example of what is possible with current 'off the shelf' technology is the 'Plumecast' system used by chemical warehousing company Firmin Coates based in Newmarket. This system has an on site sonic wind sensor feeding a software package that calculates an area at risk in real time 24 hours a day. This means that in the event of a fire, information on where the plume might go is instantly available. The system also displays an estimate of the time taken by the plume to reach different distances from the source.

The report 'Recommendation on the emergency preparedness for, response to and recovery from incidents' of the Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board (3) included recommendation 21 for 'consideration of the provision of local meteorological stations in the vicinity of COMAH sites, which can provide local wind direction and speed'. Hopefully this recommendation will encourage others to follow the lead of Firmin Coates and others who already have systems in place to provide this critical data.

References:

1. ‘The Buncefield oil depot fire: an overview of actual events and the Met Office’s dispersion modelling response’, Geophysical Research Abstracts, Vol. 8, 06452, 2006.

2. ‘Dispersion modelling studies of the Buncefield oil depot incident’, Hadley Centre Technical Note, HCTN_69, 3 August 2006. Available via www.metoffice.org.uk

3. ‘Recommendation on the emergency preparedness for, response to and recovery from incidents’, Buncefield Major Incident Investigation Board, 2007. Available via www.hse.gov.uk

Bruce Mann, Head of the Civil Contingencies Secretariat (CCS) Cabinet Office

It was good to get the invitation to The Emergency Services Show 2007, because we are at one of those points in the road where we have hard decisions to take about next steps. There’s a lot of ground we still want to cover in the campaign to improve the UK’s resilience. That’s not in any way to decry what’s been achieved so far.

Looking back over the past 12 to 18 months, I’m struck by the sheer scale and variety of what’s been done. The Buncefield fire and explosion. The evacuation from Lebanon. Bird flu in East Anglia, and again in north Wales and the north west. The Litvinenko poisoning – an extraordinary, challenging and fascinating response, which I’m glad to see will be covered by one of the sessions at the show. Exercise Winter Willow, testing the response to pandemic flu, the biggest in this country since the end of the Cold War. A string of terrorism incidents. And then, of course, this summer’s floods, followed by Foot and Mouth and Bluetongue. Each handled professionally and effectively. Taken overall, a marked contrast to the weaknesses we saw in 2000 and 2001.

Implementing ideas

But we know there’s more to do. One of the things I find most heartening in this job is the way in which, whenever we run a lessons learned exercise, we always get a long list of bright ideas of things we can do to be better. So, too, is the way in which those ideas don’t sit gathering dust on a shelf but get implemented. The Humanitarian Assistance and Disaster Victim Identification programmes, where the needs were highlighted after the south east Asian tsunami and London bombings. Common sense on data sharing between organisations working together in the response to an emergency, which also came out of the London bombings, and on which CCS has issued guidance. There are a lot of myths in this area, which we’d like to dispel for the sake of future victims. Emergency fuel planning, where we’ve tested different approaches after the experience of seven years ago. And welfare support on highways, after some notorious incidents.

Some ideas for doing better in future will come out of formal reviews. One, Lord Newton’s Review on the Buncefield fire and explosion, has, of course, already published. I’d pick out two ideas from that: the need to look again at the scale of what we plan for; and to make sure that on site and off site planning really is fully integrated between site operators and the resilience community, in the spirit of the Civil Contingencies Act.

Then there’s Dr Iain Anderson’s Review of the lessons to be learned from the response to the Foot and Mouth outbreak this summer. That will look at whether we addressed all the lessons from the 2001 outbreak and whether, because the world has moved on a long way since then, there are new ones we should address.

Reviewing the flooding

And then there’s the Flooding Review under Sir Michael Pitt. That’s slightly unusual in going much broader than the emergency response, important though that will be. It will cover three other areas.

First, and after the loss of Mythe pumping station and the near loss of Walham switching station, the vulnerability of the so called Critical National Infrastructure, and whether more can be done to reduce the impact of natural hazards on the continued supply of essential services. I reckon the answer’s an easy ‘yes’; what’s more challenging is how we do it. Second, what we learned from those episodes for preparedness planning for the loss of essential services. For example, how well prepared were we for the loss of water to households? Or for the loss of electricity over a wide area for what could have been quite a few days? I think, working with the relevant sectors, we can do more. We intend to do so in 2008, and I’ll be interested in particular to hear the debate in the slot at the show on responding to the loss of electricity. And third, what more can we do, not as emergency practitioners but as a society, to try to reduce the impact of flooding events.

Response and recovery

Those are the formal reviews. But they come together in a really helpful way with two things we were working on anyway. One which is already well advanced is work on recovery. That came out of lessons drawn from events such as the Carlisle flooding. Some excellent work has been led by Kathy Settle from the Regional Resilience Team in the North West and Rhiannon Harries in CLG to put together practical things like plan templates, case studies and topic sheets for use by those developing plans or facing emergencies. This area hasn’t had as much attention in the past as the response phase of an emergency. We drew heavily on Kathy and Rhiannon’s work after the flooding events in the summer in an ad hoc way. But we need to get better policies and plans into place as soon as we can, to close the gap. So I’m glad to see that there’s a session on recovery at the show, too.

CCA review

That work will feed into what I’m calling a ‘6000 mile service’ of the operation of the Civil Contingencies Act (CCA). This is not intended to be one of those reviews that lift up a plant by its roots to check whether it is growing well. Rather, it’s aimed at checking what’s working, what isn’t working quite as we thought it would, where the pinch points are, and what are the bright new ideas.

And there’s already quite a long list. Interestingly, a number of organisations have approached me to say that they want to be designated as Category 1 or 2 responders under the CCA. Then there’s mutual aid. The ‘blue light’ services are very good at doing this. But it’s less common in other sectors. So, looking back over the summer’s floods, we’ll want to look at the way in which non ‘blue light’ organisations help each other on a mutual aid basis.

And we’ll want to take a long hard look at whether the level of engagement by Category 2 responders has been as full as we would have wished. As I speak to Category 1 responders around the country, I’m getting the impression that it’s a pretty patchy picture. There’s a connection here, of course, to one of the strands of the review under Sir Michael Pitt. It is, after all, pretty much the same companies, especially the utilities. And at heart it’s about the same issue – people’s safety and security.

Community resilience

I haven’t even talked about other ideas on which we’re working, especially ‘community resilience’. I’ll do that at The Emergency Services Show and welcome feedback. I’ll also welcome comments on what the priorities should be for the next couple of years. We can’t do it all at once. So we have to choose where we are going to invest energy, time and resources, and to choose those areas where it will make the greatest difference. What do you think they are?

Congratulations to Exhibitor TRAKA PLC (stand 70)

How do YOU implement ALCOHOL testing?

Are your drivers or users of hazardous equipment below the UK alcohol limit - because if not, when counting the cost, it’s the mourning after that hurts the most.

Key management with compulsory alcohol testing – this system will not allow vehicle keys or keys to access hazardous equipment to be released if the user does not pass an alcohol breath test.

The Health & Safety Executive states legal obligations … you have a Duty of Care to manage at work … including those responsible for the management and operation of hazardous equipment or company vehicles. Whatever the outcome, you and your company could be left to deal with the potential consequences.

Key management with compulsory alcohol testing

The highly acclaimed GB Alcolock 500 alcohol tester (Home Office approved) has been integrated to work with Traka electronic key management to ensure drivers (or operatives of any piece of potentially dangerous equipment) must first pass a breath test before keys can be withdrawn. Testing can be compulsory for every user or set to test a random sample of users.

After opening the Traka cabinet using PIN, access card or biometrics reader the user then selects the required key to a particular vehicle or piece of equipment. However, before the key is released the system display requests the user to blow into the Alcolock.

A five second blow and the system will confirm a Pass or a Fail. Only if Passed will the key be released. A Fail and the key will be locked in place. Furthermore the Fail will be logged in the Traka database together with the user’s name.

The Traka integration provides a compulsory breath test before the keys can be released and is a highly cost effective method for ensuring staff are safe before driving or using equipment where excessive alcohol levels may cause danger or impair judgement.

The Alcolock enables management to ensure that operatives are safe in their work environment. Furthermore the duty of care that every business needs to implement is reinforced if every user is proven to be below legal alcohol limits.

Typical applications include:

Traka electronic key management is used to ensure drivers only take keys to vehicles they are allowed (or to equipment that operatives are permitted to use) and that a record is kept as the key is withdrawn.

This ensures that the drivers have valid permits for the vehicle type (or equipment use) and that a computerised audit trail is generated so that in the event of driving offences or dispute there is positive evidence of the driver concerned. Traka also ensures that the keys are returned after use and provides an easy method for finding out who has the key now or at any time in the past.

Traka also makes it easy to record vehicle (or equipment) defects both to ensure the repairs are carried out quickly and efficiently and to quarantine dangerous or VOR vehicles.

Traka is in use extensively in the UK for all sizes of vehicle fleet and equipment management and typically shows significant operator savings, often with paybacks inside twelve months.

Traka’s product range includes systems for controlling and recording access to fork lift trucks, lockers for auditing access to valuable and important equipment and products for managing access to keys for a wide range of business applications, including property and room access.

Traka is a UK company, offering a full installation, training and customer support service.

Further information is available from Traka plc.

Telephone +44 (0)1234 712345 Email: info@traka.com Website: www.traka.com

Visit stand 70.

Why Business Continuity is so Important

2007 has been an exceptional year in which organisations of all types and size from across all sectors have been disrupted by major external events. Terrorism, the weather, animal diseases and industrial actions to name but a few have caused major disruptions in the UK. The media has been full of pictures and stories that have highlighted the problems individuals and organisations have had to cope with.

The consequences of these disruptions will be felt for a long time to come and many small commercial organisations may never recover.

The UK economy relies on the small and medium companies as they represent some 99.9% of the UK employers contributing more than 50% of the GDP and employ nearly 60% of the UK workforce. They underpin the output of the largest organisations in the private sector and are key partners and suppliers for the public sector.

Whilst the largest companies have the capacity to cope with disruptions they have experienced in 2007 the SME community is ill prepared. Public sector organisations have also been impacted and their capability to cope with the disruptions has been seriously tested. All organisations need to be better equipped to handle disruptions and maintain their key activities, whether in the commercial world or public sector.

The Civil Contingencies Act (CCA) of 2004 has two key elements which are designed to build greater resilience into UK organisations, both public and private, to enable them to cope better in the turbulent world in which we find ourselves.

The first is the requirement of all Category 1 responders to have business continuity arrangements to ensure they can maintain: a) their emergency management functions and b) their critical activities that support the community. The second is to promote business continuity management (BCM) to businesses and voluntary organisations.

Evidence from across the UK indicates where Category 1 responders have invested in the establishment of BCM they have been effective in enabling the maintenance of critical public services. The following examples support this.

When the roof of a Midlands police force 999 call reception centre collapsed due to excessive rainfall they were able to relocate to an alternative location and be fully operational again in 2 hours. Pre-planned alternative call handling to cover the two hour period enabled them to maintain service to the community.

When the floods and subsequent loss of water supplies in Gloucester resulted in Gloucestershire County Council offices being closed the 37 critical front line service managers implemented their BCM plans and were able to continue to deliver to a seriously disrupted community. They were only able to do this as the plans had been developed and exercised by the owners of the services well in advance of the event.

The public sector organisations have had the impetus of legislation behind them to establish BCM but the SME community has largely been complacent, believing that such disruptions would never impact them. Many have now learnt to their cost that they need to be better prepared if they are to survive. It is in the public sector’s interest that they take BCM seriously and local authorities must now put real effort into the promotion of BCM as required by the CCA.

There is help at hand from British Standards. A new standard for BCM, BS25999, has been published which sets out an approach by which effective BCM can be established and evaluated. In addition a new book from BSI, The Route Map to Business Continuity Management, will be published in December at an affordable price of £20. The publication provides a step-by-step approach to implementing BCM that can be easily applied by smaller organisations.

2007 has demonstrated that the unexpected can happen and that disruptions will always occur. To be prepared to deal with the consequences of these disruptions there is no better time to implement business continuity management.

John Sharp, Policy and Development Director, Continuity Forum

Innovative New Product Launch – The Thirst Aid Bag

Bags of water for emergency aid– Pure Hydration launches the Thirst Aid Bag (stand 76)

Pure Hydration the water purification specialist, is launching the Thirst Aid bag at the Emergency Services Show 2007.

This new product, the latest in a long line of hugely successful portable water purifiers, is designed purely with emergency use in mind.

The bag, which is about the same size as a hot water bottle, is an ingenious device capable of turning bad quality, contaminated water into fresh, clean clear water for drinking - absolutely anywhere.

Small and easily stored, the bag is made from Pure Hydration’s unique armour weave material which makes it extremely durable and tear resistant. It acts as a powerful water purification system: even when filled with potentially dangerous contaminated water. Using the same groundbreaking filtration technology of the Aquapure Traveller (also by Pure Hydration) it produces clean, clear safe drinking water anywhere in the world. The filter kills viruses and bacteria as well as removing pathogens such as cryptosporidium and giardia. The Thirst Aid Bag also removes dirt, sediment, chemicals, bad tastes and odours - so the water is not only safe to drink, it tastes great too.

The product further excels itself by being extremely simple to use and does not use any moving parts such as pumps to create the filtered water making it extremely reliable – another crucial element to appeal to the aid market.

Jon Grant, Managing Director of Pure Hydration, commented on his latest product: “We had a very clear vision of what we wanted to achieve right from the start: we wanted to get fresh, clean, safe water to the people who need it the most, when they needed it the most. The Thirst aid bag allows us to do this.”

Having produced their first portable filter back in 1995, the company is very experienced in creating filtration devices and their customers include the UK MOD and various aid organisations, as well as their rapidly expanding retail market.

The Thirst Aid bag is also cost effective as the filter purifies an impressive 350 litres of water – the equivalent of 700 x 500ml plastic water bottles. The savings on this justify the cost alone, but when you factor in the logistical nightmare of getting that water where it is needed means that the Thirst Aid Bag could be a priceless solution to attaining safe water.

Being the only portable water purifier to be officially endorsed by the Hospital for Tropical Diseases London and being approved for use by the UK MOD, Pure Hydration’s filters have been quality tested to the extreme limits and passed with flying colours, meeting all criteria for EPA [Environmental Protection Agency] and NSF [National Sanitation Foundation] testing protocols for water filters and purifiers.

Pure Hydration will be on stand 76.

Unique Product Offering from Exhibitors

GenQuip/Groundhog/ECIS Partnership (stand: Outside 36)

GenQuip/Groundhog/ECIS PartnershipThe GenQuip/Groundhog partnership has linked up with the engineering innovators, ECIS, to display a range of radical products that will revolutionise the manner in which site welfare units are managed.

GenQuip will be exhibiting a full range of their very latest site welfare solutions, sanitary products and mobile lighting sets. Visitors to stand OS36 will be given guided tours around the new GP420 Groundhog Mobile Welfare Unit, the remarkable HogLoo and the best selling VT-1 mobile hydraulic site lighting tower. The HogLoo has many practical and environmentally beneficial features. Primarily, the HogLoo is a secure, standalone, self-contained portable toilet system that dispenses with the need for connections to drains or any external services. The toilet waste is pumped through an internal macerator, into a holding tank and when instructed, an incinerator will reduce all the material into an odourless vapour. The unit can be driven by either DC battery or wind and solar power options. There are no chemicals needed, no disposal tanks to empty and no risk of spillage. The HogLoo has been incorporated into the latest Groundhog mobile unit – the GP420. The GP420 is fully portable and can be towed to site using a suitable vehicle, enabling all site personnel can carry out their tasks without having to arrange for sewage disposal.

The award winning VT-1 is ideally suited for providing illumination in emergency situations. It features a 9-metre single-lever, vertical mast, which is fully erected in less than 30 seconds. The VT-1 is whisper quiet and will run for over 60 hours without refuelling. It’s compact dimensions means that to 12 Vt-1’s can be delivered on one standard 12m single flat back truck.

GenQuip will also be displaying their popular GP360 mobile welfare unit, which can be quickly and easily deployed, offering full statuary welfare facilities for all types of outside site workers.

Visit our stand. Our website is www.genquip.co.uk

Marshall Products (stand 73)

AED Response PackMarshall Products is a leading supplier of airway management products and earlier this year we were very proud to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We are very pleased to be exhibiting our range products specifically designed for the emergency services at the emergency services show. The products exhibited include the new Marshall AED Response Pack which contains all the essential items required when using an Automated External Defibrillator in emergency situations. The bag contains Marshall Adult/ Child Single Use Personal mask, Single Use Shears, Pair of Gloves, Disposable Razor, 2x Moist alcohol free cleaning tissues, a Disposal bag and comes with a Velcro strip which allows the bag to be attached to the wall ready for use in an emergency situation.

We will also be exhibiting the new First Response Pouch which contains a Marshall Face shield, a pair of gloves and an alcohol free wipe. The pouch has belt loop to allow it to be carried with you at all times, is available in black and green and can be personalized with your own logo. We look forward to seeing you at the Marshall Products stand. For further details please visit the Marshall Products Website www.marshallproducts.co.uk

SEA & SEA LTD (stand 54A)

The UK4AA ATEX approved CE (Ex) torchSea & Sea Ltd have been supplying the Emergency Services with a range of torches for many years. The UK4AA - ATEX approved CE (Ex) torch has proved to be one of the most popular, powerful, reliable and versatile torches in its class. The UK4AA range comprises of the standard Xenon powered torches and now the new eLED high/low powered range. There are three head designs to the UK4AA torch, standard straight, Zoom eLED and right angled xenon or eLED. Constructed of ABS Polycarbonate, this torch is waterproof, shockproof, and it won’t dent, rust or fade with age. The burn time ranges from 5 hours for the standard xenon up to 60 hours (low power) from the eLED torch. It can be hand held or mounted to a wide range of helmets and hard hats. Accessories include the orange wand extension, red filter bezel for night vision, pocket/belt/loop clip, belt holster and a range of helmet clips.

The Fire and Rescue Service have been using the ATEX approved CE (Ex) UK4AA torch to mount on their range of helmets, as well as being used as a hand held unit. Due to its robust construction the Fire Service has found this torch to be an invaluable source of light in the most arduous conditions.

Several of the Police forces have issued the UK4AA as a standard personal issue torch, and, more recently fitted them to PSU and Firearms helmets.

The reliability and performance of the UK4AA Torch is paramount when being used in extreme conditions and hazardous locations. It has been proved that when conditions are extreme the UK4AA will perform!

There is a full range of torches available from the UK2AAA pen & pocket lights, to the larger lamp style work lights. Also in Sea & Sea’s range of products are the Dry boxes, Ultra cases and Loadout Cases, as well as industrial strength Hangers, Waterproof Cameras, Dry Suits and Neoprene Gloves.

Visit our stand or check out the website www.sea-sea.com

Wm Sugdens (stand 54)

The fantastic new brochure from Wm Sugdens is now available. Incorporating three catalogues, Corporate Wear, Uniforms and Workwear, the collection includes exciting new products alongside classic garments. The range of sizes available has increased, as has the range of items offered. The prices however have held, even decreased in places, offering customers the same exceptional quality and affordability that Wm Sugdens have always prided themselves on.

In the Corporate Wear catalogue a new fully washable polyester suit is unveiled for both male and female wearers. This suit is an essential part of any working wardrobe, projecting a stylish and professional image with its cut and fit, whilst being easy to care for through home laundering. Also included is the entire range of stock shirts from our sister company, Double Two, backed up by a range of ladies blouses in a variety of the same fabrics and colours.

The Uniform section includes all the favourite security shirts alongside the addition of versions of the best selling Fire shirts and trousers as worn by some 20,000 fire fighters in the British Fire Service. These come in the options of hardwearing polyester cotton twill in Navy or Black.

New items available in the Workwear catalogue feature multi pockets, knee pad sections and a textured canvas weave with mechanical stretch for ease of movement, offering solutions to where to store all those essential bits and pieces when at work. The jackets, waistcoats and trousers come in a choice of practical navy or black. Also, for that extra comfort factor when working hard, try the renowned Aquator high wicking T-shirt which will quickly wick perspiration away from the body to leave you feeling cool and comfortable.

Wm Sugdens Deputy Chief Executive, Tom Roehricht, said “I am absolutely delighted with the results of the team’s efforts and believe that this catalogue will be a great benefit to our customers and we will see the continuing development of this side of our business. We started this process last year carrying out in depth research into the needs of our customer base and our team involving design, marketing, sales, planning and purchasing have all used this data to put together a first class catalogue backed by first class goods.”

The company provides a range of services such as bespoke tailoring, an embroidery service and also a managed service for larger companies. This managed service offers a system that takes care of everything, from design to distribution, and offers services such as internet ordering, stock management, a measuring service and dispatch.

When buying from the Sugdens range you can be assured of quality tailoring that they have been proud to put their name to for over 130 years, along with the latest garment technology and design that keeps them ahead in their field.

To request a catalogue or to speak to a member of their sales team about your companies clothing requirements, please visit our stand, or contact 01924 375951 or email Sugdens@wsg.co.uk

Designers & Manufacturers of Specialist Luggage for the Emergency Services

MicrAgardOpenhouse (stand 26) is probably best known as a supplier to the emergency services; but our product range doesn't stop here. Our bespoke approach to bag manufacturing means we design, manufacture and supply products for any industry, with our unique knack for developing exactly what you need.

We are the leading supplier of the emergency kit bags and you can have total peace of mind that all our products are made to the highest of standards using only the best materials. Our experience and expertise means that we can deliver products to your exact requirements and specifications. So whether you need a single bag or large volume production, we have the experience & expertise to deliver.

At Openhouse we offer a huge range of products and solutions, across our three core business areas. OH! Custom designed & manufactured solutions, Orange Aid; solutions for the emergency services and Oh2go; 'ready to go' globally sourced, off the shelf solutions.

OH! Is the sector of our company in which we produce bespoke solutions using modern computer aided design and manufacturing equipment. We are able to therma print or embroider products to your specification using our in house facilities.

We have been developing over the last 2 years a brand new product range made from anti-microbial material, micrAgard; which is also flame retardant to aircraft standards. This break through in new technology means that you have full anti-microbial protection to prevent cross contamination. As well as this, the material also has excellent abrasion and tear resistant properties as well as being fluid repellent. When purchasing from our MicrAgard bag range, 8 pence in every £1 goes towards the Ambulance Service Benevolent Fund.

Also available we have a range of MicrAgard anti-microbial sprays, mousses and wipes. These are mainly for use in an environment where there is a risk of passing infections; and fights against bacterial infections. The mousse is very useful for Doctors working from patient to patient; as once it's been applied it lasts up to 45 minutes. So the hassle of washing your hands for each patient isn't necessary and there is no danger of passing on any infections.

We supply a range of “off the shelf” emergency product solutions to assist in emergencies. Our range of safety products includes multitools, rescue knives, torches, cases, helmets, binoculars and Self-heating Meals. Also new on our safety product range is a product called ThePETT; this is a portable environmental toilet. We are helping the world become free of infections and disease from human waste through developing portable, efficient, dry waste collection products. We do a range of Self Heating Meals, these are great for when you need a piping hot meal; maybe when you've been working at an emergency call out for hours and you're starving, or maybe it's just the perfect solution for cooking when you take the kids camping for the weekend! They take around 10 minutes to cook and taste great! Visit our stand for a demonstration at the ESS Show; stand 26, 28th and 29th November.

Brian Jones, Managing Director “I am proud to say that all of the products we design and manufacture are always of the highest standards. As a company we strive to make a difference, and with such a large client base in the emergency services, the Ambulance Service Benevolent Fund is an organisation that is very close to our heart. We are delighted to be able to give something back to the ambulance industry in this way.”

For more information, please contact:
Robert Smith, Project Manager
0151 647 4044
rob@openhouseproducts.com
Or visit us on stand 26.

Getting to the HART of the show

Hazardous Area Response TeamsHazardous Area Response Teams – HART – the Ambulance response to major incidents.
HART is a Department of Health programme being managed through the Ambulance Service Association. It integrates with other emergency services and agencies in order to provide life saving intervention within the inner cordon (the ‘hot zone’) at a variety of major incidents which involve hazardous environments or materials.

The main objectives of the HART programme are:

HART teams provide a specialised ambulance response to the following types of incidents:

The scope of HART is also expanding with the potential to include the Maritime Incident Response Group to support incidents at sea; support to the military and police operations and other areas where extended skills and knowledge are required.

Programme Roll-Out

HART will comprise of an Incident Response Unit (IRU) within which selected personnel will have additional USAR capability. HART- IRU is being evaluated within London Ambulance Service and HART-USAR is being evaluated in Yorkshire Ambulance Service. The plan is to establish HART units in North West and West Midlands in the first phase of roll-out across England. In time it is hoped to also include MIRG personnel within the HART-IRU.

Recruitment & Selection

HART teams will be introduced in a phased approach over the next few years into ambulance trusts across England.

There is no doubt that becoming a member of HART takes a lot of preparation and training. However it also calls for a range of personal attributes and skills that will enable personnel to operate effectively and treat casualties under particularly difficult and testing conditions.

Key attributes for HART personnel:

A national recruitment and selection process has been developed which includes a Physical Fitness Standard – assessing strength, stamina, dexterity, ability to work at height and in confined spaces. There is also a psychological assessment and competency based interview. Following selection those appointed then have extensive training programmes to undertake including three weeks residential for IRU and three weeks residential for USAR.

More information about HART

Make Your Vehicles As Bright As Your Signs

Vehicle livery is an expensive application and one that should be looked after. Ensuring that your fleet of vehicles stands out, both day and night, it aids road safety and helps to protect your workforce, in highly dangerous situations.

Here at Pro-tect we recognise the safety benefits associated with high quality retro reflective materials, which work by reflecting light back towards the drivers eye, these materials work best when kept clean, Nanotol cleaner and sealer does exactly that.

What is Nanatol?

Nanatol is Pro-tect’s high quality cleaning and sealing system, intensive research and development has proved that the more visible a product is the safer and better it’s application. Successful field tests covering a wide range of mediums has proved that water and dirt will not stick to a Nanotol coated surface.

How does it work?

Nano-technology uses a chemical process by which the molecular structure of a material is converted to another form. By this process nano-by-products are produced, which are invisible to the naked eye and change the surface tension of the substrate, resulting in a hydrophobic substance giving surfaces a self cleaning non stick effect.

Nanotol is an environmentally friendly and biologically degradable surface cleaner and sealer system.

The nano-technology in Nanotol unlike other nano-products is non-toxic, is water based hence not harmful to polymers, is biodegradable, hence environmentally friendly and provides a durable seal lasting months/years depending on the type of application it is used for.

Nanotol can be applied both indoors and outdoors and gives surfaces a long lasting scratch resistant hydrophobic protective layer and a brand new shiny look. Best of all, dirt simply washes off with a water rinse.

Nanotol is just one of our products in a range of vehicle maintenance equipment – check our website www.pro-tectsafetysigns.com to see a whole host of products to equip and maintain your vehicles.

Breathing New Air into Resuscitators

MARS plus from GCE Sabre MedicalThe New MARS Plus Range from GCE Sabre Medical

To complement the hugely successful MARS range of resuscitators GCE have launched two new units MARS Plus and MARS Plus Industrial. These smaller, lighter weight units are fully compliant with the new 2005 Resuscitation Council Guidelines.

MARS Plus is a hand held, pneumatically powered, time/volume cycled resuscitator with a manual override button. The single slider control has 6 preset automatic settings for a range of patients from 15kg to large adults. A CPR setting in accordance with the 2005 Guidelines is also indicated on the slider control. When used during CPR the resuscitator aids the delivery of chest compressions as delivery of a manual breath inhibits the cycling of the unit for 20 seconds allowing for 30 compressions to be performed. If the manual button is not depressed again the cycling will restart without any intervention from the operator, therefore providing a ‘timed gap’ for chest compressions. Unlike many automatic resuscitators the MARS Plus manual button is not fixed at a given flowrate, rather depending on the setting of the resuscitator it will give a larger or smaller manual breath appropriate to the casualty’s size.

The MARS Plus Industrial is designed to help increase the number of successful confined space rescues and reduce the number that unfortunately end up as body recovery. We realise that such specialised rescue requires specialised resuscitation equipment which is why MARS Plus Industrial is a hand held, GO5 compliant resuscitator aimed at meeting the specific needs of confined space rescue.

In situations where ease of use, portability, robustness and suitability for purpose are of paramount importance MARS Plus Industrial meets and exceeds what you would expect from a confined space resuscitator.

Specific confined space design features of the unit are: An ‘automatic on’ function so it’s ready for use in seconds, a 2 lpm bleed flow so if the mask seal is broken ambient air cannot reach the casualty, automatic stopping of cycling if the patient begins to breathe alone allowing them instead to demand breathe and automatic starting if they stop breathing again. The responsiveness of the unit to the casualty stops them fighting the resuscitator which is a particular problem when the casualty may not be accessible at all times. When immediate removal of the casualty is not possible the MARS Plus Industrial is suitable for resuscitation ‘in situ.’

MARS Plus Industrial can also be used as a back up breathing air supply.

Visit us at stand 105 to see the new MARS Plus resuscitators.

Taking a break with REST UK

Rest UKThe charity REST UK was born in the aftermath of 9/11 in New York. Response Emergency Stress Team(REST UK ) is Britain’s only Emergency Response Massage Team (ERMT). REST UK is a voluntary self-funding organisation. The team is prepared to attend a critical incident at a moment’s notice should they be required. Kim Wooldridge is the Director of the charity.

Many people were numbed by the enormity of the New York terrorist attack and felt powerless to do anything. Kim Wooldridge, a therapist from Lincolnshire decided to do something practical. Kim and 2 other therapists Steve Paine (himself a retired firefighter) and Lynne Woods headed out to New York at their own expense to join the American Carolina Emergency Response Massage Team ( CERMT) and worked with them at Ground Zero and Staten Island, carrying out on site chair massage for a range of rescue workers.

The rescue community in New York suffered massive losses when the twin towers collapsed. The 2974 fatalities included 343 firefighters 23 police officers and 37 Port Authority police officers. The Port Authority Police suffered the worst loss of Police personnel in a single event in American history.

Rescue personnel had to work in the midst of their own grief and shock. So the circumstances that the early REST UK team found themselves working in were extreme but their efforts were very much appreciated by the rescue crews. The techniques used to massage the rescue workers were developed by CERMT to be appropriate for the very specific needs of rescue workers and Kim addresses this as part of her training for prospective REST UK volunteers.

At Ground Zero in New York City, the health service most appreciated was massage therapy” – James Gordon, then chairman of the White House Commission of Complementary and Alternative Medicine Policy, November 2001” from Massage and Bodywork Magazine Aug 2006

Rescue workers are often considered to be heroes but they are not superhuman and can’t work non-stop without respite, albeit they might try during a disaster. The treatment that trained REST UK volunteers can provide for crews at an incident can contribute to the overall rescue effort by giving them some physical and mental respite that can help them sustain their efforts in disaster settings.

Kim’s own experience with the firefighters at Ground Zero was that they were refreshed and revitalised immediately after the 15 minute massage. They were also more positive and keen to get back to work with a renewed energy.

REST UK was founded in 2002, and to date has attended several exercises mainly within the fire service and often with the United Kingdom Fire Services Search and Rescue Team (UKFSSART) with whom REST UK are associated members.

Links have also been formed with the Metropolitan Police and REST UK are very keen to become involved with other rescue organisations.

Anyone interested in the charity can contact Kim direct.

REST UK
Kim Wooldridge Director
01778 570120 http://www.restuk.org.uk
rest_uk@onetel.com
Registered Charity Number: 1098574

The Environment Agency and the summer floods

The Environment AgencyThousands of people were forced out of their homes, several people died and there was near disaster as a large reservoir almost burst its banks – with the summer floods still strongly in mind, it’s vital we continue to work together well with emergency services, and identify areas where improvements could be made – as well as how we would have coped if the situation had been worse, writes Richard Brown, Communications Account Manager, Flood Risk Management, The Environment Agency.

The emergency response to the summer floods was as good as could be expected and showed that we have learnt lessons from previous events. Colin Berghouse, who manages the Environment Agency’s Flood Emergencies Capabilities Programme, has said that, “The main issue is that of water rescue. We do need more boats and trained staff and this is going to cost somewhere in the region of £3m over a three year period. Around 70 to 80 boats need to be purchased and 600 staff will have to be trained and accredited in water rescue.” Colin also makes it clear that a coastal flood similar to that of 1953 would have stretched us even further.

Preparation

We support the advice given to Government that the statutory duty for floodwater rescue response fits best with the fire and rescue services. Climate change means we can expect to see more extreme events like those of this summer, so we should make preparations wherever possible.

Our major role during floods is to operate our flood defences effectively and deliver targeted flood warnings to both emergency services and direct to the public. These warnings are very effective for flooding caused by rivers and the sea, but predicting much of the flooding we saw this summer was impossible for our system.

As Colin Berghouse puts it, “In June, floods in Hull, Humberside, Sheffield and so on were caused by heavy and prolonged downpours of rain. They were all about surface water flooding; the drains couldn’t cope and a large volume of water collected in low lying areas.” We cannot currently manage surface water flooding, as it is not in our remit. However, we are urging Government to give us the strategic overview for it. We would then work towards targeted early warnings, if possible, and find other ways to adapt drainage systems or prepare for flooding. Local authorities also have an important role to play in preparing for flooding, as laid out in the Civil Contingencies Act.

Factfile on the summer floods

This year saw the wettest June since records began. On 25 June, Anglian, North East, and Midlands regions received one sixth of their annual rainfall in 12 hours. Due to climate change, we can expect to see these events happen more often in the future, so it’s vital we adapt.

Most flooding was caused by surface water not draining quickly enough – not traditional flooding through rivers and watercourses. The chief culprits are poor planning in developments and ineffective drainage. The Flood Risk Management policy team is currently trying to influence both of these problems.

Next Steps

After an event like this there are a number of things we have to do:

SUMMARY

The devastation caused:

The Environment Agency response

New TYVEK® and TYCHEM® Partial Protection Range from DuPont

New TYVEK® and TYCHEM® Partial Protection Range from DuPontDuPont Personal Protection is expanding its range of protective apparel with additional partial protection accessories made of TYVEK®, and a brand new range of partial protection accessories made of TYCHEM®. These partial protection accessories are ideal for use in laboratories, in the chemical and pharmaceutical industries, in paint shops and also in some clean-room environments.

The already extensive range of protective TYVEK® accessories now includes laboratory coats with new elasticated cuffs, boot covers with improved slip-retardant soles for use on smooth or damp floors, and close-fitting sleeves. The improved design of the close-fitting sleeve incorporates prestuds at the top of the arm, which can be adjusted to fit different arm widths; and to reduce particle emissions from garment seams in critical production environments, the elastication at the top and bottom of the sleeve is encapsulated.

Thanks to its material structure, TYVEK® has a very low particle emissions rate and is also very resistant to abrasion, making it highly suitable for use in cleanroom environments. When used for chemical protection, TYVEK® affords a barrier against particles with diameters in excess of 1 µm and many inorganic chemicals in low concentrations.

Partial protection is particularly useful when an increased barrier effect is required for certain parts of the body (in addition to the protective apparel worn for a given activity) to protect these parts against a higher risk for a limited period. For example a Type 4 chemical protective suit made from TYVEK® can be combined with partial protection made from TYCHEM® to protect against liquid chemicals in addition to providing particle protection (Type 4) in these areas.

New TYCHEM® partial protection additions, which offer increased protection, include close fitting sleeves, standard aprons, sleeved aprons with back fastening (in the style of operating theatre gowns), and boot covers with slip-retardant soles. These TYCHEM® accessories are available in both TYCHEM®C and TYCHEM®F. TYCHEM®C provides a barrier against many concentrated inorganic chemicals, whilst TYCHEM®F provides an additional barrier against many other organic and highly concentrated inorganic chemicals, up to pressures as high as 5 bar. Both materials satisfy the requirements of a bio-barrier in accordance with EN 14126 in the highest performance class.

Both TYVEK® and TYCHEM® materials are ultra light, tear-resistant, abrasion-resistant and low-linting. When used in protective apparel, they are anti-statically treated and comply with EN 1149-1:1995 (fully effective from 25% relative air humidity). In addition, as they do not contain any environmentally harmful additives, the protective apparel can be safely and easily disposed of after use. If contaminated by a hazardous substance, the same disposal regulations apply as for the hazardous substance itself.

For more information, please visit www.dpp-europe.com

Premier Hazard – raising the bar for vehicle mounted cameras

Premier Hazard vehicle mounted camerasPremier Hazard has surprised the market not only by making its debut in the vehicle mounted camera market, but doing so with two distinct models – the Dome camera that is integrated into a roof mounted light bar and a fixed cameras for mounting inside a vehicle. Both bring distinct operating advantages, the choice enabling utilities and branches of the emergency and security services to specify and fit a system that meets their precise requirements.

The first fully functional camera to be integrated into a vehicle’s roof mounted light bar, the Dome camera provides security and emergency services with high performance all around surveillance, with the added safety benefit of leaving the dash and windscreens uncluttered.

It is supplied with a 22:1 optical zoom lens, the output signal, being able to read and record a standard UK vehicle number plate from at least 100m in normal daylight. The Dome camera pans through 360o, can tilt between 12o below and 45o above the horizontal, is capable of operating in all levels of bright light above 1 Lux and can record in realistic, high definition colour - the camera automatically switches between colour and monochrome operation depending on prevailing light levels.

An in vehicle screen displays live images and all images, including video, can be recorded, including into a compact, removable hard drive that lends itself to being easily stowed in a vehicle, for example in the glove box, under a seat or within the boot/rear compartment. In addition, images can be downloaded onto a flash card, onto a laptop or sent automatically via Wi-Fi to a remote location. Real time download is offered via GSM.

This is the latest generation camera, it is compact, fixes neatly to the back of the rear view mirror and includes a 4in monitor that is incorporated in the mirror, a section of the mirror lens also doubling as the monitor screen – a feature unique to this equipment. In fact, that it is so compact (85m x 50mm x 50mm) and fits behind the rear view mirror means that it also comfortably fulfils VOSA’s requirement of allowing unimpeded vision through windscreen - through the arc otherwise swept by the windscreen wipers.

Depending on performance required, the same camera can be mounted to the rear screen, the picture being transmitted to the rear view mirror and available by simply switching ‘channel’. Various camera specs are available. For example, operators requiring a fixed focal length camera, say to act as a simple vehicle reversing aid, can opt for a spec tailored to meet that requirement.

Pictures/video from the camera are stored on a micro DVR. That, too, is compact (210mm x 145mm x 43mm). It weighs less than a kilo and is easily secured under the dash.

Stills or video can be readily downloaded off the hard drive onto compact flash card, on-board pc or separate laptop. By specifying an alternative to the existing micro DVR, operators can also transmit ‘live’ pictures and video to a remote location via 3G.

Visit us on Stand number 106/107 to find out more.

The British Paramedics Assocation support the Conference

British Paramedics Assocation"Of the many conferences existing related to provision of emergency services that are available for people to attend the Emergency Services Show offers the opportunity for a multi disciplinary gathering. It enables professionals from all service backgrounds to hear of each others experiences, practices and procedures to deal with the ever increasing risk from both natural and man made large scale incidents.

The BPA wishes the show every success and we look forward to meeting as many professional colleagues to share in the debate, experiences and future arrangements toward improving services and the welfare of victims."

To find out how to register and receive the 10% discount please email alison@mconieagency.com.

An interactive crusade
OPS CENTRES TAKE A LEAF OUT OF SCHOOL BOOKS!

Crusader-Interactive whiteboardsThe introduction of modern AV and IT solutions, which have revolutionised the modern classroom, are now helping to transform emergency operations centres.

Rugged interactive whiteboards, projectors and sophisticated but user friendly software has hugely increased the impact and effectiveness of briefings and presentations. Crusader Limited, working closely with chosen manufacturer Promethean, utilises significant IT skills and experience developed over two decades, to bring appropriate solutions to the emergency services sector.

During the past 5 years Crusader has worked with more than 30 Police Forces, the MOD and local government to develop and install solutions of hugely varying complexity.

Installations vary from simple combinations of a single interactive whiteboard and projector to highly sophisticated mobile command units, and multi-site, multi-location installations involving fully secure data and video conferencing facilities.

Can you imagine the benefits of being able to brief and update teams at various locations simultaneously and interactively? In addition to the obvious time and efficiency savings it could make the difference between life and death in critical situations. For example, imagine how beneficial it could have been to planning officers who were co-ordinating the various services involved in the relief and rescue operations during this years major floods.

The Emergency Planning Department of Wycombe District Council is a beneficiary of Crusaders expertise. Looking to introduce interactive whiteboard technology to their Emergency Operations Centre the council asked Crusader to carry out a survey of the location. In consultation with the emergency planning officer, a mobile solution was proposed, which took into account the shortage of space, lack of a dedicated room and the ornate decoration within the building. Wycombe District Council have been using the system for some time and take advantage of the ongoing training and software update services provided by Crusader to great effect.

David A. Bryce, District Emergency Planning Officer for the council said
‘The Activboard system has become an integral part of the Emergency Operations Centre and a great asset in maintaining the real time information process for the crisis management team during an incident.’

On a day to day basis interactive whiteboard technology maximises the impact of presentations, bringing them alive and greatly increasing communication effectiveness.

One of the latest innovations is the introduction of an easy to use audience participation system. The system, which works very much in the style of those seen on TV in ‘Who Wants To Be A Millionaire’, helps you guarantee 100% audience participation. It is an excellent way of obtaining instant feedback and testing the effectiveness of your communication as will be clearly demonstrated at the Emergency Services Show 2007.

VISITORS TO THIS YEARS SHOW WILL HAVE A CHANCE TO WIN A FREE AUDIENCE PARTICIPATION SYSTEM – Visit stand 42 at the show where Crusader will be demonstrating how interactive whiteboard and data conferencing technology can benefit Emergency Services. You could win a 12 pod Presentavote audience participation system, worth about £1,000. See it, use it and try to win it, in the emergency services competition on this stand.

Emergency planning – learning together

The Department for Communities and Local Government’s Beacon Scheme, in March 2007, awarded seven local authorities and emergency planning units beacon status for their strengths and innovative approach to emergency planning. Details of the seven Beacon authorities are given below.

Cleveland Emergency Planning Unit has produced a number of initiatives to warn and inform the public about emergencies, including a z-card which has been distributed to every household in the area. The unit has also developed an extensive multi agency training and exercise programme.

Essex County Council has developed a package of care which offers a range of methods for providing practical and emotional support to those affected by an emergency. They have also developed initiatives to warn and inform school children about emergencies.

Gloucestershire County Council Partnership has embedded and shared a well established business continuity management process with other Category 1 partners. Additionally, a Voluntary Accreditation Scheme ensures that partnership volunteers are able to respond effectively to any emergency.

Hertfordshire County Council has responded effectively to a number of high profile emergencies. The council has developed systems for ensuring that lessons from incidents are learnt and embedded into plans and procedures.

Humber Emergency Planning Service has developed a number of e-learning packages to ensure staff are aware of their roles and responsibilities in business continuity and emergency response. The service has also developed good practices in COMAH planning and exercising.

Nottinghamshire County Council Partnership works closely with its communities to improve resilience to flooding and ensures it consults with vulnerable members of the community. The partnership has also worked to ensure that schools are prepared for emergencies.

Rotherham Metropolitan Borough Council consults closely with community groups to ensure it can respond effectively to the needs of its communities during an emergency. The council has also developed some incident management software.

During the Beacon year the emergency planning authorities would like to share their experience and expertise. As part of this, the Beacons will be holding a series of national events starting from January 2008. These events will cover a diverse range of topics and will be aimed at all Category 1 and 2 responders. To preregister your interest for these events or if you would like to know more about the initiatives discussed above, please get in touch with one of the Beacon Coordinators.

Southern Beacon Coordinators
Contact: Sarah Hocking / Craig Trevor
Tel: 01245 430378
E-mail: EPBeacon@essexcc.gov.uk
Northern Beacon Coordinator
Contact: Claire Hanson
Tel: 01709 823877
E-mail: beacons@rotherham.gov.uk

Niton – equipping the emergency services

Niton - equipping the emergency servicesFor the past eleven years Niton Equipment has been supplying law enforcement and security equipment to our customers worldwide. It is our proud boast that we are the largest mail order supplier in the United Kingdom with over 3,000 product lines, the majority of which are kept in stock and available for next day delivery. Niton is unique as it offers its superior quality equipment, clothing and specialist products direct to both individual end users, organisations and companies.

Strategic investment has seen Niton significantly expand and diversify into new sectors including local authorities and community enforcement projects. Niton has been selected by a number of key brands to distribute their products exclusively in the UK and/or exclusively to the emergency service sector. These include Bates Footwear, Ray Allen Professional K9 Equipment, UK Gear Footwear, EasyDesk, Ticket Board and Ansmann Energy Products.

Niton is proud to announce that it has recently been appointed as a major distributor of the Flood Bag and will be offering demonstrations at the Emergency Services Show. The Flood Bag is a cost effective and exceptionally convenient alternative to conventional sandbags. The Flood Bag is set to revolutionise contingency planning and emergency response associated with Flood Defence and Flood Preparedness. If you would like further information please see www.floodbagdefence.co.uk

Following a number of recent successful contracts and framework agreements Niton Equipment is offering a managed uniform and equipment supply service to both public or private sector companies and organisations. Small community teams through to large security companies can utilise this service, which aims to offer a core range of garments, footwear and equipment “off-the-shelf”. These items can then be customised to each client’s individual specification, for example embroidered logo, tax tabs, reflective heat applied logos and so on.

Please come and visit us at Stand 55 at the show on the 28/29th November and pick up our 276 page colour product guide and discuss any requirements you may have with our Key Account Managers and highly knowledgeable representatives
If you can’t make it to the show please visit our website at www.niton999.co.uk or telephone Adam Shorter on 01293 549 858.

What a Summer!

Arthur Rabjohn, President IAEM Europa & Director – Training Steelhenge Consulting Ltd.

Across the IAEM Europa Council area it has been a summer of high activity for emergency management practitioners. Our members were heavily involved in the flooding events in the UK and are still involved in recovery operations that continue in many of the affected parts.

In the countries on the northern edge of the Mediterranean the forest fires saw a very sad loss of life amongst responders and devastation to huge areas of the countryside, farms and villages. The fires initiated the largest cross border activation of Civil Protection resources in European Union history and were co-ordinated by the recently established Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) in Brussels.

There have been calls for a far greater capability to be established amongst EU member states to provide mutual aid cross borders in future. Greece took much of the media spotlight but Portugal, Spain, France, Croatia, Romania, Turkey and Bulgaria all had to deal with large scale fires. Following the fires many also had to then face flooding risks. Elsewhere typhoons and hurricanes impacted with a seasonal repetition that appears to be on the increase. A couple of hurricanes (Dean and Felix) were so large that they prompted discussion that the Saffir – Simpson Hurricane Scale should be extended to included a Category 6 event.

IAEM had a considerable presence at the CIEA Expo & Forum in Beijing China and it looks as if a new Region may be established there very quickly. IAEM is also supporting training requirements that have been identified by practitioners there. In Europa IAEM will have a presence at, not only the Emergency Services Show, but also the IDER Conference, EU Civil Protection Forum and the International Institute for Crisis and Security Studies.

As IAEM Europa President I was invited to attend the Royal United Services Institute's Fourth Annual Resilience Conference which was an excellent opportunity to look at how the UK is developing its civil protection programme and to urge for closer participation and co-operation across the Europa area.

The International Association of Emergency Managers is getting ready for its annual flagship event - the IAEM Conference and EMEX. This year it will be in Reno, Nevada and 1000+ delegates are expected to attend with 250+ exhibitors involved in the Emergency Management Expo. The theme of this the 55th IAEM Conference is: "Partners in Emergency Management: Working Together." Full information can be found here

The Annual Conference will also be the venue for this years Annual General Meeting at which the next step in the internationalisation of IAEM will take place. Members are being asked to approve new bylaws that will put in place a new structure giving greater autonomy to the rapidly growing global Councils within IAEM. Currently Oceania, Europa, Canada, USA, the International and Student Councils are all tied into the IAEM Board on a Regional basis of one seat per Region. The new Global Board will have one seat per Council with additional seats by proportional representation. The new bylaws will also allow for local variations to structures and governance to meet the needs of representation of members in other parts of the world. Following a recent training delivery in Iran it is hoped that membership growth will soon support the establishment of an Eastern Mediterranean Region. SE Asia is currently seeing rapid growth and it is hoped that this will be the next Council to be created. With membership close to the 4000 mark IAEM’s proposed new structure will allow a more localised support of members needs.

The IAEM Student Council established its 13th University Chapter and its first non US one at Brandon University in Manitoba, Canada. There have been a number of expressions of interest from European and Australian Universities to establish Chapters to support students studying in their Emergency or Disaster Management programmes. The Scholarship Fund and a number of other grant opportunities are an attractive part of this IAEM activity centre.

The Certified of Emergency Manager® Programme has continued to draw a lot of attention from practitioners outside of the US. In Europa Italian Civil Protection practitioners are interested in developing an Italian programme through AssoDiMa. The UK Emergency Planning College has expressed interest in the inclusion of its courses in the programme, particularly for its overseas students. In Oceania, EMA Australia is contributing to the global application of the programme. The next important step is to establish the structure and delivery of the CEM® Programme in the new Councils whilst maintaining the consistent standard of application. In the UK the Scottish Police Colleges and NPIA have already agreed to the recognition of a number of their courses for listing within CEM® applications.

Supplying the emergency services – a burning issue

SP Services is the EMS supplier for Burnshield Products, covering everything from Burnshield dressings to blankets, Burn Care Kits and Hydrogel. This, along with the rest of the extensive SP product range puts them at the forefront of emergency services equipment supply in the UK. SP has been working closely with some of the leading services in the UK to develop a range of equipment for the needs of every emergency service professional.

With 18 years experience of supplying first aid and medical equipment to all major emergency services SP Services fully understand that when you are the first responding unit at an incident, having the correct equipment to hand to support the patient could mean the difference between life and death.

Whatever your level of emergency service SP will be able to meet your equipment needs. Whether it be for extrication, immobilisation, airway management, burn care, defibrillation, general first aid or mass casualty management and triage. SP Services are happy to assist.

SP Services also offer a 24/7 emergency delivery facility in cases of national or international disasters.

The Emergency Services show is an excellent opportunity to meet the SP Services team and discuss how they can be of service to you.

Point your web browser to www.spservices.co.uk or call now for a free copy of the latest full colour SP catalogue or call to book an appointment to discuss your needs on 01952 288 999.

World Firefighters Games 2008

World Firefighters Games 2008Merseyside Fire & Rescue Service is delighted to host the 10th World Firefighters Games in 2008.

The 10-day spectacle takes place in Liverpool between August 24 and September 2, and is MF&RS’s contribution towards the city’s European Capital of Culture celebrations.

More than 5,000 competitors are expected to take part in over 70 events, with the city’s new waterfront Arena becoming the Games Village. Events include football, table tennis, golf, fishing, triathlon, dragon boat racing, track and field, chess, boxing and the Toughest Firefighter Alive contest.

MF&RS will lead the way in 2008 – by being the first World Firefighters Games hosts to welcome and encourage people with disabilities to participate.

www.wfg08.com

Come the deluge, Airwave stays high and dry

The spring of 2007 was glorious. Summer had arrived early and temperatures soared to levels more common to the Mediterranean than our chillier northern climes. Weathermen cheerfully predicted the warmest summer yet, with an underlying note of caution that this was all down to global warming and the country should start getting used to blazing hot summers, with that peculiarly English affair, the hosepipe ban, becoming commonplace. In the event, summer never arrived. In its place weather more reminiscent of the Asian monsoon season moved in to besiege England.

The wettest June and July on record caused major disruption across the country, with the worst of the flooding hitting South Yorkshire and across Gloucester, Tewkesbury and Worcester. The emergency services were faced with a massive task: ensuring public safety and catering for the well being of the thousands of people displaced and injured by the freak weather. During this time, the ability to communicate effectively was of paramount importance.

Communications

Britain’s emergency communications are migrating to the Airwave service, a network designed for robust and scalable radio services. These qualities were to prove essential during the floods as the emergency services needed to know they would have good communications when they needed it in order to most effectively coordinate their response, and ultimately, protect lives. Marc Colborne, Regional Head of Service for Southern England and Wales, coordinated Airwave’s response to the flooding in Gloucestershire. “As soon as it became apparent that we were in for some major flooding, Airwave convened an Incident Team. From a very early stage (9:00am on Tuesday 24 July) we were prepared to offer the emergency services all the support they needed in responding to the flooding.”

Incident teams

Airwave’s Incident Teams are drilled to respond to emergencies and incidents in the shortest possible timeframe, ensuring that the emergency services have the right level of network support from the outset. In the case of the Gloucestershire flooding, the team responded immediately to provide contingencies for any power outages to the network, coordinate any repairs to sites affected by the floodwaters and offer additional support to customers as necessary. “Our immediate priority was to guarantee power to all base stations which were in danger of being affected by the flooding,” continued Marc. “Additionally it was of paramount importance that we maintained an excess of capacity – Airwave prides itself on having a network than can deal with multiple users at any location without the loss of voice quality and this is exactly what we delivered to Gloucestershire during July.”

Power generators

Airwave deployed back up power generators on six key sites within the affected area and supplier engineers were also put on standby to react quickly to any technical problems that the flooding may have caused. Each of these engineers was equipped with an additional temporary power generator to cover every contingency in case of an outage. Other measures were also put in place to ensure capacity was maintained throughout the incident, ensuring optimum traffic flow and minimising the impact of disruptions on the customer. Airwave deployed a mobile base station and satellite backup in case of cable failure caused by the floods. During the incident only one cable failure was registered in the Gloucestershire region and Airwave acted promptly to reroute the traffic, restoring full network capacity.
Currently, Airwave is in the middle of a wider programme to install permanent generators at around a third of their sites across the country, which will provide power resilience to sufficient sites to provide national vehicle coverage.
Marc commented, “Our network is already resilient, but the timely actions of the Incident Team ensured that any unforeseen problems would not lead to a breakdown in service for the emergency services. Incidents like this, however, go beyond simple customer service. Lives were at risk, and damage to property was costing Britain’s economy millions – the emergency services were going beyond the call of duty and it was incumbent upon us to provide them every possible help to aid them in their work.”

Handsets and radios

To offer additional support to the affected services, Airwave provided extra handsets to Hereford and Worcester Ambulance Service to enhance their capability and offered a further 50 handheld radios to Great Western Ambulance Service in case its analogue radio network should fail. Airwave also provided 28 radios to Gloucestershire Fire and Rescue Service (as with Great Western Ambulance, not yet a live Airwave customer) enabling the service to take advantage of the higher voice quality and resilience of digital communications.

Ulley reservoir risk

A similar approach was taken in South Yorkshire, which experienced massive flooding between 25 June and 2 July. Widely reported at the time, the Ulley reservoir was at risk of bursting, putting the National Grid power station at risk. This threat was a key consideration in Airwave’s contingency planning. Airwave liaised with the police and the power companies to gain an understanding of the sites most at risk of flooding, identifying 10 key areas. Ten back up generators were immediately deployed and several were used during the incident due to power failure, while an additional three generators were maintained at customer premises. One mobile base station was deployed to guarantee capacity, with a further three put on standby for the duration of the incident.

Fortunately, the Ulley dam did not burst, but Airwave, working closely with both the police and local power agencies had put in place an emergency plan calculated to maintain the network come what may.

Paul Grainger, Airwave’s Incident Manager for the North of England, said, “By applying our principles of early customer contact, close support and regular monitoring of the situation, we were able to ensure uninterrupted communications at this vital time. Our network was designed from day one with resilience in mind, but it is only under testing circumstances such as the summer flooding that it can prove itself, and this is exactly what it did.”

Alan Cordwell, Airwave Radio Manager for South Yorkshire Police, commented, “As supplies were restored, and the operation began to wind down, the generators were recovered and things began to return to normal. I think we all realised how narrowly we had missed a major disaster, and how by means of unstinting effort and excellent teamwork, together with outstanding support from Airwave, we had managed to keep communications going throughout.”

Gold command

Throughout the incidents communication was key. In the case of Gloucestershire, Airwave participated in the Gold Command that was set up to coordinate the response to the emergency caused by the flooding. The multi agency group was chaired by Gloucester Constabulary and included representatives from fire and rescue, ambulance, local and national government offices, Army, BT, the Highways Agency, electricity and water companies. Three Airwave senior managers (Marc Colborne, Martin Benke and Ross Macindoe) shared the responsibility, manning the Airwave desk at Gloucester Police Headquarters and taking part in meetings three times daily, keeping Gold Command up to date with Airwave’s network performance. Marc Colborn said, “When you read about incidents like this in the paper, or watch television news reports, it is easy to forget just how many people are involved in organising a response. It was a privilege for Airwave to be involved with a very disparate group of people, all committed entirely to their jobs and striving to protect lives and property.”

2007 will long be remembered as the summer of the floods. It cannot be forgotten that many thousands were disadvantaged by the disaster, and it will take some time before the country has fully recovered. That said, if it was not for the prompt and coordinated response of the emergency services the situation could have been much worse. Through its high capacity and resilient network, Airwave facilitated the emergency services by ensuring they could stay in contact at all times and respond to incidents as efficiently as possible.

RAF Medics to learn new skills from GWAS

Medics who will be joining Great Western Ambulance Service with Great Western Ambulance Practice Development Officer, Lesley Altoft and Flight Lieutenant, Martin PiddingtonThe Great Western Ambulance Service (GWAS) and the RAF are working in partnership in an innovative scheme to provide additional training to front line medics.

The joint working has come about following a review of training by the RAF and a desire to provide the same level of care as patients would receive in the UK to both military personnel and civilians when overseas. Consequently a group of 48 medics will be trained over the next 18 months.

Steve West, Director of Operations for Great Western Ambulance Service, said, “Traditionally military medics are used to dealing with major injuries. However their work in Iraq and Afghanistan means that they are confronted with a wide range of situations which they have not been used to. These include paediatrics, elderly people and obstetrics. This project will give them more experience in these fields of prehospital care.

Flight Lieutenant Martin Piddington, from HQ Air Command, said, “The RAF Medical Services has been tasked to provide an additional operational medical capability on deployed operations with regards to the medical element of the Immediate Response Teams. This capability is to be delivered by specially trained RAF paramedics. The MoD awarded this national training contract to Great Western Ambulance Service.

“The opportunity to train our RAF medics to become paramedics is an exciting prospect for our personnel. It will enhance what is currently only a specially trained group of 10 paramedics and we are proud to be able to say that one of these gained the National Award of Paramedic of the Year for her work in Afghanistan – she was competing against paramedics from ambulance services across the country so we were delighted.”

The first group of eight RAF medics who come from all over the country and who had to get through a tough selection process with both the military and ambulance personnel, has just completed 10 weeks training with Great Western Ambulance Service’s instructors.

Step Outside

Major Foam Vehicle250 acres of outdoor space at Stoneleigh Park provides the ideal setting for displaying the exhibited range of vehicles and vehicle equipment from 40 organisations to their best advantage.

The Defence Fire Risk Management Organisation (DFRMO)

The DFRMO will be showing its Major Foam Vehicle. At 26 tonnes, holding 6825 litres of water and with the potential for the foam to reach 55 metres, the Major Foam Vehicle is normally used for airfield fire fighting. There are 77 of them used at MoD airfields in the UK, Germany, Gibraltar, Falkland Islands, Iraq, Afghanistan and Cyprus.

The British Red Cross

The British Red Cross is showcasing its new P3 treatment and transportation vehicle, specifically designed to treat and discharge priority three (P3 – walking wounded) casualties in large numbers from a major accident. The vehicles enable the provision of support and care and temporary shelter of both walking wounded and those affected but not physically uninjured.

Each vehicle can support around 16 patients that are walking and have the flexibility to convert into a static treatment centre being able to cope with around 5 stretcher casualties. On board equipment includes piped oxygen, limited consumables, life saving equipment and major incident triage equipment.

West Midlands Fire Service

West Midlands FS will be displaying the new D.I.M vehicle (Detection, Identification and Monitoring vehicle). These provide a 24/7 response capability to major national incidents involving actual or potential CBRN or hazardous materials. A West Midlands FS inhouse scientific advisor and two support officers will be demonstrating the kit and will be identifying random substances to test its flexibility.

The International Rescue Corps

The IRC will have one of its ambulances on display – used in the Virgin rail crash and also during the operation to find the missing soldier in Catterick – and the boat which was most recently utilised during the Hull floodings to rescue 132 people, 12 dogs and 6 cats!

Vectrix UK

The Vectrix Electric Maxi-Scooter has just been launched and has been given to Hampshire Constabulary for trial, following interest from the Police and Fleet sectors.

The Vectrix is the world’s first high performance, long distance zero emission electric maxi-scooter. It has a top speed of 62mph, range 68mph, acceleration 0 – 50 in 6.8 seconds, 2 hour recharge, cost per recharge 20p.

Water Rescue and Climate Change

Rainfall radar showing very heavy rain across parts of the UK on 25 June 2007Prolonged heavy rainfall often brings about flooding leading to a call out for the water rescue teams. There are numerous examples of severe flooding in the UK. Malcolm Weatherall from the Met Office provides a summary of the different weather patterns leading to flooding and explains what the Met Office is doing to help emergency services plan for these severe weather events.

Just recently flooding was experienced in many parts of the Midlands and Northern and Eastern England after very heavy rainfall on 25 June. Then in late July Gloucestershire was worst hit when much of central and western England experienced the worst flooding in a generation. Other examples include: the Carlisle floods after very heavy rain fell across Cumbria in January 2005; flash floods at Boscastle in August 2004 and a similar event at Hawnby in North Yorkshire in June 2005.

Forecasting Heavy Rainfall

Although the Environment Agency has the responsibility of monitoring river levels and issuing flood warnings, it is the Met Office that faces the challenge of forecasting heavy rainfall and issuing severe weather warnings. Clearly, warnings need to be issued on time and provide all the relevant information required by customers.

Met Office weather forecasters in Exeter are responsible for issuing forecasts to the Environment Agency on a daily basis, helping staff there to assess the likelihood of flooding due to heavy rain. Because of the threat of coastal flooding information regarding the effect of weather on high tides is also passed to the Environment Agency.

Warnings of heavy rainfall are also issued as part of the Met Office’s responsibility to maintain the National Severe Weather Warning Service. These warnings are issued directly to Category 1 and 2 responders as defined by the Civil Contingencies Act 2004, and are available to the public via the Met Office website.

The answer to the question of why do we get flooding appears to be obvious, but from a meteorological point of view flooding can be brought about by three distinct types of severe weather.

‘Unsettled Weather’

Flooding in the autumn and winter normally occurs after several days of rainfall adding water to already saturated ground, resulting in rivers breaking their banks. The rainfall is delivered by weather systems that have formed over the Atlantic and then moved across the UK. You quite often hear forecasters talking of an ‘unsettled spell of weather’ which describes a situation where one weather system moves away to the east of the UK, another system will follow from the west. In this type of situation the flooding rarely comes as a surprise and large parts of the UK can be affected at the same time. The floods of October 1998 across parts of Wales and the Midlands occurred as a result of several consecutive days of heavy rainfall.

Flash Flooding

Flash flooding normally occurs in the summer and is very different from the situation described above. The rainfall associated with this type of flooding is much more intense, shorter lived and normally associated with thunderstorms. In some cases these storms may have moved north from the continent and also brought with them a very powerful and impressive lightning display. However, they may also form due to rising daytime temperatures and quite often blue skies can be replaced by torrential storms in a short space of time. The Boscastle floods and North Yorkshire floods are both good examples of this type of heavy rainfall.

Fortunately these storms tend to be quite localised but nonetheless can have a major impact over a small area. In the case of the Boscastle event, several factors combined to produce devastating floods. The ‘right’ mix of temperature and moisture in the atmosphere, convergence of coastal breezes and geography all played a part. The flooding of 25 June 2007 was brought about by different processes however, with a very slow moving weather front producing very intense and prolonged rainfall.

Coastal Flooding

Coastal flooding can be brought about where the weather has an effect on the tide. A deep low pressure system with its associated strong winds can have the effect of raising the height of the tide. If such a weather pattern coincides with an already high astronomical tide the UK coast can be vulnerable to the sea breaching coastal defences. It was this type of event, known as a storm surge, which led to the devastating floods along North Sea coasts on the night of 31 January 1953. Over 300 people lost their lives along the east coast of England and over 1800 people were drowned in the Netherlands.

What about the future and what will climate change mean for the water rescue services?

Research by the Met Office Hadley Centre in Exeter indicates that winter rainfall here in the UK will increase, thus increasing the risk of flooding from rivers and streams. The opposite is true for the summer with rainfall expected to decrease. However, this is not the full picture. Although overall summer rainfall is expected to decrease, the localised summer storms which give rise to flash flooding are expected to become more intense and frequent.

Sea level is currently rising and will continue to rise. The UK’s south coast is tilting into the sea as a result of glacial melting from the last ice age. Both of these factors lead us to conclude that we will see an increase in the risk of storm surges.

To help the emergency services plan for severe weather events, the Met Office has introduced a network of advisors to support the emergency services and other Category 1 and 2 responders. This support ranges from helping customers interpret severe warnings to working up exercise scenarios and attending civil contingency exercises. Weather may not currently be top of the local risk register but it is likely that the majority of contingency planners will have to deal with an increasing risk of severe weather over the coming years.

For more details please contact malcolm.weatherall@metoffice.gov.uk

Marine Search and Rescue
Gardline Environmental Ltd, Marine Search, Recovery and Reconnaissance

Gardline StingrayGardline Environmental has been operating in the marine environment for over 33 years and has vast experience in underwater surveys and searches.

Search and rescue operations on land are in most cases fairly straightforward especially with the help of helicopters, sniffer dogs and the ever-ready public to lend a hand when searching for lost objects or bodies.

Working in the marine environment is very different. When someone or something falls into a river, the lives of many are often put at risk to locate and recover the victim/object. There are also a number of problems associated with working in the aquatic environment i.e. poor visibility, choppy conditions, tidal currents, cold or freezing temperatures. In certain areas contending with shipping or pleasure boats can greatly hamper delicate operations.

Using divers for search operations can take precious time especially when the search takes place in an area where one or more of the above problems exist. Divers also follow health and safety procedures, which can limit search times, especially in areas where there are medium to strong tidal currents and poor visibility.

Initial Search for Lost Objects or Drowned Victims

Gardline Environmental use high tech equipment as a way forward for search and recovery operations. Equipment such as the Kongsberg Mesotech scanning sonar system enables search and recovery operations to be carried out in a safer and more efficient manner. Equipment such as this, significantly speeds up the process of the actual search operation, which can sometimes take up to several days or even weeks depending on the complexity of the operation.

The Kongsberg Mesotech scanning sonar system is a very quick and simple way of locating objects on a riverbed. Thanks to its high-resolution 675kHz and MS 1000 software, scanned images can be seen very clearly, especially on the shorter ranges of 40-50 metres.

The VideoRay ROV is another breakthrough tool for underwater searches and positive identification. It is significantly lighter, less expensive, and more manoeuvrable and compact than other Remotely Operated Vehicles. With a 250-foot tether, portable power, and a weight of just 8 pounds, VideoRay helps to expand the range of underwater searches and studies.

The VideoRay ROV is sent in to inspect the survey area and to provide video footage to an investigation team whether they are on land or in the search boat.

The entire search can also be recorded to enable the Search and Recovery team to carry out further investigations. It is safely operated and transportable and provides excellent video quality. Furthermore, it is extremely easy to control, is small and non invasive and requires a minimal supply of power.

The VideoRay and scanning sonar work in tandem: as the scanning sonar finds targets, the VideoRay is sent to explore and identify objects that are of interest. In addition, the VideoRay and scanning sonar are capable of operating in cold waters and in any visibility.

The VideoRay is also an ideal tool for inspecting the inside of underwater pipes, under bridges, boats and small ships hulls, quays etc. in harbours and marinas.

For more complex search inspections the Benthos Stingray ROV is ideally suited for inspection of large areas, ships hulls, attaching ropes to large objects such as cars etc. for recovery operations.

The Stingray has a ground speed of up to 5 knots and a scanning sonar can be installed onto the ROV so that large and detailed scanning and visual inspection surveys can be conducted simultaneously. Large riverbed areas or lakes can be surveyed fairly quickly without recovering the vehicle and Scanning Sonar.

Survey Applications
Forensics - Accident and Crime Scene Investigation

The VideoRay is extremely versatile for exploring underwater crime scenes and accidents without endangering divers or disturbing the evidence. The VideoRay can safely explore hazardous areas and temperatures from 32 to 122° F, 0-40° C. The camera captures high-resolution images which are viewed on a surface monitor. Sending the VideoRay ROV into target areas eliminates the risks to divers, keeping them from entangling in cables and steel supports and preventing dive hazards such as hypothermia, drowning, decompression, and accidental injury.

Search, Rescue and Recovery

When someone drowns, the lives of many are often put at risk to locate the victim. Using the Scanning Sonar and VideoRay instead of divers or to accompany divers can cut the risk. The Scanning Sonar can be used to locate targets. Then, the VideoRay can be sent in to inspect the targets and send video to the crews on land or on a boat. Furthermore, the entire search can be recorded to help the investigation team. The VideoRay can sustain cold and icy waters and operates in any visibility.

Inland Surveys and Inspections of Water Tanks, Dams and Culverts

The VideoRay is effective for inspecting water tanks – without the use of divers and would be operated externally. Using the VideoRay eliminates the risk of human contamination or unsafe conditions. The submersible would swim through the tank and conduct a survey throughout the entire volume. The camera eye captures footage while robotic grippers take samples or deposited objects. The system can also be used to inspect the walls of dams for deposited foreign objects, damage etc.

Inland Surveys and Inspections

The VideoRay is easily transported to culverts and inland sites and powered from a small generator or local power source. The VideoRay excels in inspections because it is significantly lighter, and more manoeuvrable than other ROVs.

Its small thrusters do not create turbidity by agitating sediments. Operable in any visibility, the VideoRay gets into tight spots to document the condition of pipes and other structures in situ to examine condition, debris, and function.

Port and Harbours, Ships and Bridge Security

The safety of ports, harbours, bridges, and ships is a top priority for security, above and below the water. Proven in the USA and Canada by the Customs, Coast Guard, and Corps of Engineers, the VideoRay and Stingray ROV’s are portable and easily transportable vehicles, which can be mobilised quickly to an area of operation. Underwater security sweeps with these vehicles can be performed quickly, reliably, and without the cost and inconvenience of divers.

The VideoRay can also be sent into ship’s bilge areas, ballast tanks, and conduct a complete survey of the bottom of the ship.

The Scanning Sonar can also be used for covert operations by carrying out surveillance of an area of river or seabed for the depositing of objects on the seabed and monitoring any diving or swimming activities in relation to smuggling or terrorist activities.

Radiation Detecton

The VideoRay can be fitted with a radiation detector which is very sensitive to gamma radiation and high energy X-Rays in searching for suspect underwater objects on the river or seabed or attached to ship’s hulls which may be of a terrorist or other nature and which may be contaminated by radiation. A radiation search can be carried out in any of the above situations.

Conclusion

ROV’s and scanning sonars can be operated in many places where humans cannot go, but more importantly they can be used in places where humans might not want to go due to security risks, contaminated waters etc. Along with safety, they also provide an excellent cost effective alternative to divers. With a skilled operator an ROV and/or scanning sonar operations can be performed much quicker than a normal diving operation and be instrumental in locating objects and performing the work in situations that would normally hamper or endanger a diving team.

Joint Fire / Police PFI Scheme

Contracts have been signed for the implementation of the Dorset Emergency Services Partnership Initiative (DESPI). This exciting project will see brand new fire and police facilities built at sites in Poole and Dorchester. The initiative is being supported by the Government under the Private Finance Initiative scheme, with PFF Consortium being chosen as the preferred bidder.

The current Fire and Rescue Service headquarters next to County Hall and the existing fire station in Dorchester will both be replaced by new facilities at Poundbury. The new headquarters and fire station have been designed to be in keeping with the traditional design concepts encouraged by the Duchy of Cornwall at Poundbury.

A new fire station in Poole will be built at Marshes End, adjacent to the Holes Bay roundabout, to replace the current fire station in Wimborne Road, Poole. This location will provide quicker access to the A35, Creekmoor and Canford Heath areas as well as outlying industrial sites.

The site of the existing fire station at Wimborne Road will be used for a new, fit for purpose building that will comprise a new Poole Police Station and divisional command offices for both police and fire.

DESPI doesn’t just stop when the new buildings are completed at Dorchester and Poole. The capital receipt from the sale of service headquarters will provide ‘pump priming’ investment for a new community fire station for Weymouth. DESPI will also give Dorset the opportunity to look at emergency cover in the Weymouth and Dorchester areas as well as Poole.

Work has already started with a temporary fire station being provided in Poole on a park and ride site near to the site of the new fire station. Operational staff will transfer to the temporary fire station in October 2007 when demolition work will begin on the existing fire station. Construction of the new fire station at Marshes End has also now started. The new combined police and fire building is due to open in December 2009. Construction of the new Poundbury complex has started with a predicted opening date of October 2008.

The project is being partly funded through PFI credits from central government. Of the total £80m cost of the scheme over 25 years, the Government is providing £58.4m.

This has been primarily a partnership project between Dorset Fire and Rescue Service and Dorset Police. Although frustrations and delays have tested the relationship at times, elected members, officers and consultants have persevered and worked tirelessly to achieve an excellent result for the people of Dorset.

Laerdal Medical

Laerdal is displaying its proven HeartStart range of defibrillators, including the recently launched Q-CPR, Smart CPR and Quick Shock technologies intended to help resuscitation professionals provide effective, rapid treatment in compliance with the 2005 Resuscitation Council guidelines. Also on display is Laerdal’s extensive range of training manikins/simulators and airway/spinal products.

Laerdal opened a training centre at its Orpington Head Office earlier in 2007. This exciting new centre provides in-hospital and pre-hospital simulation facilities and is intended to be used by fellow resuscitation professionals in the ambulance services. Visit Stand Number 28/31 for more information, or log onto www.laerdal.co.uk

Rescue on the right path

Aire Group Flood BagsYorkshire based emergency equipment specialist The Aire Group has recently been developing a number of its products to help both the emergency services in river rescues and the general public in the prevention of damage from flooding.

Hereford and Worcester Fire and Rescue Service, renowned as one of the leaders in water rescue, has teamed up with The Aire Group to make sure it has the very latest equipment to tackle emergencies on the many rivers in its area, which include the Rivers Severn, Wye, Avon and Teme. The service has invested in the latest Airescue paths and rescue sleds made by Lancashire firm, Eurocraft.

Airescue paths

The Aire Group has supplied paths for rescues from mud and ice for many years, but this latest version means firefighters can also use the paths on water. The key is a unique double keel design underneath and a thicker pathway to make it ultra stable. The paths are 5m long, which means they are easy to manoeuvre and are specially designed to link together. Small rescue planks have also been invented to clip onto them. The paths roll up and go into their own valise, but once at the scene they can simply be attached to a standard BA cylinder and rolled out and inflated in seconds. Aire Group manager Geoff Howard said, “On more solid ground such as mud, rescue paths can sink and bite into the surface, making them very difficult to remove. This latest path has a design feature underneath to greatly ease the suction so they can be easily lifted.”

Hereford and Worcester equipment manager and swiftwater rescue technician, Martin Lown, explained, “The Airescue Paths have proved very effective for working on unstable surfaces for both human and animal rescue from mud, sand and silt. At 5m long, the units are very portable, even by one technician, and provide a stable working platform for the very manual tasks of recovering a casualty from mud.

Rescue sleds

The rescue sled has been trialled on rivers including fast flowing water, and handles well in areas boats just can’t reach. Its design makes it a stable working platform that is easily towed, paddled or line transferred and has been used with jet bikes and fast rescue craft to retrieve casualties, including swimmers and divers. It can also clip onto the side of other craft and a range of stretchers fit on top of it and attach to a four point lifting harness.

The sled is exceptionally flexible and versatile, and is so compact when packed away it is the same size as a standard BA cylinder, which is all it needs to inflate it in seconds. It is made from a woven polyester fabric coated with a neoprene polymer to make it exceptionally tough and chemical resistant.

Martin Lown, said, “The rescue sleds provide a rapid waterborne access to a casualty in the early, time critical emergency phase of a water related incident, but are also versatile as a working platform that can be paddled, tethered or towed. When attached alongside a rescue craft, the rescue sled provides a useful rescue swimmer deployment and casualty recovery platform while also providing an excellent swiftwater tool.”

Floodbags

The Aire Group has also developed a pioneering product called a Floodbag which is a sandless sandbag. These innovative floodbags look like flat pillows, and are about as light, but then absorb water to become heavy and virtually puncture proof, acting just like sandbags to keep floods at bay. The floodbags have a semi porous inner liner with hundreds of absorbent crystals which retain the water against tremendous pressure.

The bags can be folded and take up a tiny amount of storage space compared with traditional sandbags which are heavy, unwieldy and deteriorate if stored for a long time. The floodbags weigh hardly anything which solves any health and safety issues in terms of handling dead weights such as traditional sandbags. Manufactured in the UK, the Floodbags come in two sizes, standard and large.

The bags can simply be immersed in water and will then fill up within five minutes which can be done at the scene. This means the super lightweight folded bags can be retrieved from a central store and rushed to an emergency far quicker than traditional heavy sandbags. They are also biodegradable and so can be disposed of in landfill sites.

Many local councils have bought them and the Aire Group has been inundated with calls from people living in flood risk areas.

Each standard bag holds an amazing 20l of water and has undergone tests with the British Army. One army report on them states, ‘The results were promising with the floodbag being comparable, if not slightly superior, to the standard sandbag’.

DuPont - 40 Years of providing protection

DuPont TyvekAt The Emergency Services Show, DuPont is marking the 40th anniversary of its pioneering protective material: DuPont™ TYVEK®.

TYVEK®, invented and manufactured by DuPont, is a 100% recyclable, non-woven material that for 40 years has provided protection for many people exposed to various hazardous substances. Garments made of TYVEK® have been selected by many people working in emergency services, manufacturing, laboratory, clean room and many other industries where chemical and / or biological protection is required.

Lightweight but strong, and water-resistant but breathable, TYVEK® is a unique and versatile material. Garments made of TYVEK® are tear-and-abrasion resistant, low-linting, and free from inherent contaminants, fillers, binders and silicon. Garments made of TYVEK® maintain their integrity in many applications throughout their usage.

As a result of its manufacturing process, TYVEK® has an inherent barrier which delivers excellent protection from dry particulate hazards and water based chemicals. Because TYVEK® fabric is a multi-layer structure made up of at least ten layers and has more barrier layers than many other fabrics. Breathability coupled with the comfort of a generous, well cut design provides you with a garment that will follow most typical work movements without hindering the wearer. TYVEK® garments are comfortable and in standardised tests have been proven to help reduce heat stress.

Due to this combination of properties, chemical protective suits made of TYVEK® have been market leaders of Type 5&6 disposable protective suits in Europe for the last 15 years - protecting workers from millions of exposures. This is good evidence of the benefit TYVEK® provides to the personal protective equipment market, of the trust that end users have in the product and the polyvalence of the product.

Growing with the market has also enabled the DuPont team to develop a strong understanding of the market's needs. From the single model: TYVEK® Classic introduced in the 90s, the TYVEK® offering has now successfully extended to a full range of garment models and accessories.

Visit the team on stand no. 100 / 102 to find out more about DuPont's new TYVEK® product and its exciting and innovative range of protective clothing solutions including TYVEK®, TYCHEM®, NOMEX®, KEVLAR® and PROSHIELD®.

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International Association of Emergency ManagersEmergency Services TimesFire Times