Biggin Hill Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Service: The story so far

Biggin Hill Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Service: The story so far

By John Lord, managing director, SimTrainer UK and founder of the Invisible Risk Foundation

It has been a pleasure for me to work with Biggin Hill Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Service (RFFS) for a few years now and as with many other airports the passion for learning and change there is inspiring.

I have no financial affiliation with anyone mentioned in the article. The article is intended only to inform and let others make their own enquiry and judgements, I do not endorse products but do mention many; however, unless I clearly state it’s not me saying buy these, you must do your research, explore standards and make your own choice but do it with eyes fully open.

Meet the good guys

Mick O’Brien, Head of Fire and Station Manager Chris Thornton at Biggin Hill Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Service have led the charge at the airport, changing procedures and work methods to keep the staff safer.

The whole station can take pride and credit for the enthusiasm and commitment to change, staff embracing with a true passion the efforts being made.

What is great with Mick and his team is that they are taking the message and sharing it to the wider airport family at Biggin Hill, securing understanding with senior managers and other departments.

In addition, Biggin Hill have to date played host to two very good seminars with Andy Slater of PGI Safety and Simon Hunter of Hunter Apparel, spending their money facilitating great days and with pride seeing many fire and rescue and airport fire and rescue services attend for very informative, networking days, each time growing from the last, with no agenda but to inform and increase awareness.

Part of the change management at Biggin Hill Airport is working with Andy Slater of PGI Safety. Andy also takes great interest in other products in safety for firefighters as his son is one at Biggin Hill and West Sussex Fire Rescue Service; a caring dad at heart, wanting his lad safe.

Together Mick and Chris are trailing a system made by toxic suppression that ionises particles in the cab and breathing apparatus servicing room, a cleaner atmosphere as a concept.

My opinion is that it is a solid step in the right direction; air filtration and monitoring must be part of any contaminants strategy and can have great benefits.

The importance of these end user events is to garner feedback to assist in further developments.

The team from Toxic Suppression, working with Andy Slater and doing the testing of equipment at Biggin Hill, were delighted with the honest feedback, it will pave the way for further development, refinement and tweaking.

What was clear at Biggin Hill is that there are many keen people who will I am sure develop the products and procedures that will save firefighter lives.

Thanks to Toxic Suppression for getting the ball rolling and seeking honest feedback.

So, what else is Biggin Hill Airport RFFS doing?

Other great work at Biggin Hill Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting Service is the siting of air monitoring around the station measuring volatile organic compounds, through an app they can see real time the effects of example an aircraft taxiing past the station.

This in turn can allow management to redesign work routine and methods to reduce exposure in daily working routines, protecting staff.

Pellet capsules made by TFT that react with volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are also in place around the station, supplied for trial by Alisdair Couper Terberg DTS. These change colour when exposed to those compounds that may be harmful and allow a visual indication of unsafe levels being reached.

These can be placed in any vehicle or anywhere in the station and are a quick visual indicator.

Only time will tell on the effectiveness of all these products but we must start somewhere.

Station Manager Chris Thornton has worked tirelessly to introduce changes having attended many of my workshops and others to implement changes such as no work routine are undertaken, no equipment tested or cleaned without nitrile gloves being work and mask where appropriate, the whole station provisioned with gloves everywhere, so it stays in the mind’s eye.

Chris and Dave through their enthusiasm and passion for the safety of staff at Biggin Hill, Airport RFFS have worked so hard to bring in so many other key changes, supported by the whole station. Mick O Brien giving his considerable support and working tirelessly with directors encouraging and informing them of the need to care for his staff, right behind them at every step.

One issue was the design of the showers at the fire station.

Now they have modernised showers, with De Wipe products on station to encourage early showering a key factor in stopping absorption, reducing the risk, looking much improved to address highlighted staff concerns and now ready to do a great job.

Chris is a sound professional who thinks with his head and heart on the subject and I would encourage anyone to reach out to Chris to chat on what’s being done. You will not find a better person anywhere to network with.

My own huge favourite, after battling prostate cancer, is seeing Biggin Hill join five other airports I work with, get PSA testing stationwide for over 40s or anyone who wants to have the test. Chris, Mick and the management team are very proud to have got this across the line.

Whilst the NHS currently do not recognise the need, in the USA it is clearly recognised that early and routine testing saves lives and knowing a baseline to start from is a key element of that.

Coupled with this must be clear understanding of what the testing does, what PSA doubling time means and its expected range.

Indeed, research from the USA shows that 29.8 percent of cancers are found through routine screening; so why not for what is costs? Missing it will cost much more for organisations in the long run.

You can also carry out the 30 second risk checker at Prostate Cancer UK (PCUK ) website but be aware that PCUK are aligned to the NHS and therefore don’t recognise testing at 40 but to the current UK guidelines, which you can find on the NHS website or PCUK website.

However, to be clear, understanding is key, so do not sleepwalk into this.

Pros and cons of the PSA test

Pros

• It may reassure you if the test result is normal

• It can find early signs of cancer, meaning you can get treated early

• PSA testing may reduce your risk of dying if you do have cancer

Cons

• It can miss cancer and provide false reassurance

• It may lead to unnecessary worry and medical tests when there's no cancer

• It cannot tell the difference between slow-growing and fast-growing cancers

• It may make you worry by finding a slow-growing cancer that may never cause any problems.

It is no perfect by any means but it does a key job early on and should not be dismissed.

Indeed, as we are making GPS aware of the SNOWMED codes that inform them of exposures by fire fighters, my view is that they will consider hopefully to test sooner in line with the international viewpoint. Firefighters are not like members of the public that current guidelines are based on. We know by science and medical fact the risk is elevated considerably, why gamble for the sake of doctrine.

This short article is just a snapshot of the passion on show by Mick and his team. They will happily share information and discuss anything, please reach out.

We will only tackle firefighter and responder cancer effectively by breaking silo working and recognising a joined-up approach is the only way forward. We can save lives through awareness but we need to drop agendas and egos.

If we talk of asbestos exposure, we jump through hoops to be safe on incidents. This is so much more. Why is this fight so hard?

To achieve this, we must be open and transparent on what we are doing, what works but equally what does not work. Lives are at stake so let’s not gamble but work at it.

I am happy to discuss any part of this and talk to anyone.

Well done Biggin Hill; brilliant, keep it up!