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Fire Related Research and Developments RE18
For the NOL team it was an end to the project to deliver an operational learning system for the Fire and Rescue Service, but the beginning of business as usual. Being able to share both the successes and the challenges of projects is welcomed at the research event. The NOL project’s aim was to produce a national operational learning system that receives local learning and pulls out the national lessons that need to be shared by all. That sounds simple, but through the pilot stage of the project, the team found that the barrier failure analysis method at the heart of the system was too complex for occasional users. Learning from this, the team simplified and streamlined the data entry and with the help of the newly devised Good Practice Guide focused users on looking carefully on the characteristics of national learning instead. A newly formed secretariat within the CPO took care of the analysis and provided the National Operational Learning User Group with everything they needed to take a view on the learning to determine what action should be taken. The NOL team was highly aware of the words of Coroner Nigel Meadows who wrote to the Secretary of State in 2016 after the inquest into the death of firefighter Stephen Hunt from Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service. Mr Meadows said the Fire and Rescue Service had to learn from incidents and share it. The NOL system is partly a response to his call for change and as the Grenfell Inquiry continues its painstaking work, it may find this new system a helpful enabler for whatever recommendations Sir Michael Moore Bick may make in the future.
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FIRE Correspondent Catherine Levin reports from the research event which took place at West Midlands Fire Service headquarters on November 13
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his year’s conference attracted speakers focusing on a diverse range of topics. As usual the speakers came from universities and fire and rescue services with an interest in fire related research. Starting with a lesson in chemistry from Professor Anna Stec, the conference was privileged to have such a knowledgeable expert in attendance. Anna Stec is Professor of Fire Chemistry and Toxicity at the University of Central Lancashire. In September, she was appointed as one of the 14 expert witnesses providing technical advice to the Grenfell Inquiry. Her remit is “to determine the fire derived toxicants and related deposits present in the Tower and their origin”. At the conference, Professor Stec did not talk about her role as an expert witness. Nor did she speak about the news reports that came out in October about her findings from analysing the soil samples from the area around the Grenfell Tower site. Instead, she looked at exposure to fire smoke and its impact on people’s health and environment. Anna is embarking on a three-year project with the Fire Brigades Union on chronic toxicity and how it affects the health of firefighters, so this will provide the opportunity for further work in this field. It is unfortunate that it took the terrible fire at Grenfell Tower on June 14, 2017 to make Professor Stec’s research interests topical. For the research event she provided a technically challenging but nevertheless important and timely delve into fire chemistry and why we should all know a bit more about it.
Learning from Incidents Another of this year’s papers provides a useful addition to the post Grenfell response – the subject of learning from incidents. This was the third outing for the National Operational Learning (NOL) project team. The NOL team is based in the National Fire Chiefs Council Central Programme Office and was formerly part of the National Operational Guidance Programme. One of the great things about the research event is that it gives researchers the opportunity to come along at different stages of projects, sharing early, interim and final findings. 50 | January 2019 | www.fire–magazine.com
Health and Wellbeing for Female Firefighters One of the sights etched on people’s minds as they remember the Grenfell Tower fire is the physical exhaustion that showed on the face of every firefighter who attended that day. The iconic picture of firefighters resting en masse, seen from the passing District Line train, peppered Twitter time lines and has been used time after time as the events of that night are recalled. The physiological impact of firefighting is a long established field of research and at the research event PhD researcher Emily Watkins from the University of Brighton presented her findings regarding the health and wellbeing issues female firefighters experience as part of their working practices. Emily carried out an international survey of female firefighters. Eght hundred and forty four responded from 14 different countries. Her preliminary findings revealed that more than half of respondents would like further guidance on fitness and training, particularly strength training. Looking at the cohort from the UK and Ireland, Emily found that two thirds of respondents are concerned about the menopause and how it will affect them in the working environment. Only a small percentage, less than ten per cent, were confident they could fulfil their roles up to the retirement age of 60. There are some interesting consequences of these numbers. As the policy push continues to bring in more female firefighters, it is more important than ever to provide a supportive environment that reflects the needs of women as they progress through to retirement age. Work on the impact of menopause on female firefighters