No one wants to be ordered to get a piece of equipment from the apparatus without knowing what the tool is called or where to find it. It makes you look like you haven’t been paying attention. Apparatus aren’t getting smaller, and we are not decreasing the amount of equipment placed on them. Every year, companies devise new pieces of specialized equipment. We all know where the equipment used day-to-day is located, but the identity or location of equipment we don’t use frequently might elude us when we receive an order to retrieve it and put it in service. This week’s drill helps to eliminate that possibility by reviewing the locations of all tools on the apparatus, ways to inspect them, and how to operate them.
To conduct the drill, you’ll need an outline drawing of each station apparatus, showing the location of each compartment, transparency film, transparency markers, access to a copy machine and an overhead projector, and pencils for the members. Make a copy of the outline drawings for each member, and have a pencil for each member, plus a few extras.
Provide members with the drawings and pencils. Give them 15 minutes to list the equipment carried in each compartment. Project the transparency onto the screen, and use markers to fill in the missing information. Let members tell you what is in each compartment.
Once you complete this exercise, pull all the equipment and inspect it. Operate all power equipment. Make sure every member knows how to fuel and operate all of the power tools. Explain how different power equipment requires different oil/fuel ratios and how using the wrong mixture can damage the equipment. Howard A. Chatterton provides a tool inspection list in his Volunteer Drills – A Year of Weekly Drills.
During the debriefing, discuss the procedures used to start various tools. Discuss how to make those steps obvious on the tool, perhaps by painting a number next to each part that must be adjusted to start the tool. Also, use this time to review some of the reference articles Chatterton suggests and use these articles as a springboard to discuss more efficient equipment storage.
At the drill’s conclusion, discuss what went right, what went wrong, and what should be done differently the next time.
If you have a similar drill idea and wish to share it, please e-mail: chrism@pennwell.com.
To review training officer and safety officer considerations, visit http://fe.pennnet.com/Articles/Article_Display.cfm?Section=OnlineArticles&SubSection=HOME&PUBLICATION_ID=25&ARTICLE_ID=202453 to review training officer and safety officer considerations.
For more information on this drill, including a list of references and the tool inspection checklist, visit http://store.yahoo.com/pennwell/voltraindril.html to purchase Volunteer Training Drills–A Year of Weekly Drills.
