BRITISH ACCOUNTABILITY SYSTEM
In recent years, I was fortunate to travel to Great Britain and meet firefighters of the London Fire and Civil Defense Authority and Herefordshire Fire and Rescue Service. During those visits, I was able to view their equipment, operations, training academies, and research and development programs.
Particularly impressive were the safety procedures instituted for firefighters while wearing self-contained breathing apparatus, or breathing apparatus (BA) as they are called in Great Britain. I obtained a copy of the Home Office Technical Hu! let in 1/1989 Breathing Apparatus, which details operational procedures and equipment. The United States equivalent is found primarily in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 29 CFR 1910 I .Vi, Respiratory Protection, and 1910.156, Fire Brigades, and National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 1982, Persona! Alert Safety Systems for Fire Fighters (19HH), and NFPA 1404, Fire Department Self-Contained Breathing Apparatus Program (1989).
Although these documents basically detail the same standards, our British brothers have fine-tuned their BA procedures and developed equipment to accomplish the set standards. They did not leave it up to individual departments to develop standard operating procedures or to private industry to do the job for them. They united to establish a system that works well for the entire service, specifically addressing Chapter 3 of NFPA 144, paragraph 3 1.6, which states: “Members using SCBA shall operate in teams of two or more who are in communication with each other through visual, audible, physical. safety guide rope, electronic, or other means to coordinate their activities and are in close proximity to each other to provide assistance in case of emergency.” Also addressed is paragraph 31.7, which states: “When members are involved in operations that require the use of SCBA or other respiratory protective equipment, at least one member shall be assigned to remain outside the area where respiratoryprotection is required. This member shall be responsible for maintaining a constant awareness of the number and identity of personnel using SCBA, their location and function, and time of entry. Members with SCBA shall be available for rescue.”
ACCOUNTABILITY OF FIREFIGHTERS USING SCBA
To begin with, once the officer-incharge determines that an irrespirable or toxic atmosphere is present, BA is worn. Attached to each BA set are a BA tally, distress signal unit (DSU), personal alert safety system (PASS), and BA personal rope line. In addition, firefighters have main and branch guide lines for safety and BA control boards to monitor BA operations.
The BA tally is made of a clear plastic. It is five inches by 1 ½ inches and oneeighth or one-sixteenth of an inch thick. At one end is a cutout for a key ring. Permanently marked on the tally is the department name, the station to which the BA unit is allocated, the type of BA (i.e., compressed air or oxygen), cylinder capacity, and BA unit number. Space is available to record the following with permanent waterproof markers: the wearer’s name; indicated cylinder pressure: the “time in” to the exposure; and, in the case of radiation incidences, dosimeter readings at time of entry and leaving. A white tally is used for closedcircuit oxygen BA and a yellow one for open-circuit compressed air BA.
The key ring attaches the tally to the removable key of a distress signal unit. Tile unit currently used in London is called “Big Ben,” produced for Racal Panorama Ltd., and meets NFPA 1982 standards. The key offers a built-in accountability procedure. It must be removed to activate the DSU. The key is turned over to the firefighter/officer designated as entrycontrol officer (ECO). The key—which can be obtained only from the ECO—is needed to turn off the DSU. providing accountability for each firefighter.
As firefighters prepare for entry, the OIC must decide the number and positions of the entry control points, as well as whether the Stage 1 or Stage II level of control procedures will be used for the incident.
ENTRY POINT CONTROL
The minimum-level Stage I entry control approach is limited to the following circumstances:
- the incident is small and BA use is unlikely to be of long duration,
- no more than two entry’ control points are used, and
- the total number of BA users in the risk area does not exceed 10.
- Stage II is implemented when
- the incident is protracted and demands greater control,
- the incident involves more than two entry’ control points,
- more than 10 BA wearers are within the risk area, and
- branch guide lines are used.
An ECO is stationed at each entrycontrol point. The officer’s responsibility extends only to controlling and managing the entry control point (ECP). When sniffing is short, a driver may fill this position. Entry control officers are easilyidentified by black-and-ycllow tabards (vests).
The ECO is responsible for collecting the tallies and checking that the name and cylinder content are correct. The ECO then records the time of entry on the tally. To keep a record, the ECO uses a Stage I or Stage II BA Control Board, depending on the control level in operation. Each board allows tallies to be inserted and retained under a clear plastic cover. This allows for the recording of the time a BA wearer should be out, referred to as “time of whistle”; the assigned location; and additional remarks. A specially designed duration table or calculator, to match the type of BA being used, is attached to the control board, as is a clock.
Positioned with the entry control officer is a two-member team whose sole duty is to rescue a BA wearer in distress of in beyond the “time of whistle.” When more than 10 BA wearers enter at the same ECP. another control officer is assigned for each additional group of 10 BA wearers. BA teams consist of not fewer than two and, other than for exceptional circumstances, not more than four firefighters.
W hen there is more than one Stage II entry control or there are many BA wearers. a BA main control is established and staffed by a ranking officer. The responsibilities of the main control officer (MCO) include determining the availability of BA sets, associated equipment, and personal resources. The officer identifies and records the location of each entry control point and each entry control officer and establishes communication with them. The MCO prepares relief teams of BA wearers for each entry control point, who are available at least five minutes before they are required, along with rescue teams if none are at ECPs. The MCX) arranges for and collects fully charged spare cylinders and controls and accounts for empty cylinders so that they can be filled and returned to the appropriate unit/station when they are no longer needed.
When main control is operational, BA wearers collect their tallies from the ECO and return to main control for debriefing and preparation for later use.
SAFETY WITH GUIDE LINES
Guide lines provide an added safety measure for BA wearers. The lines are put into operation on the instructions of the OIC. It may be unnecessary to use guide lines in domestic properties or known small-cellar areas and at incidents where hose reels or hose is laid into an exposure by first-arriving units. The guide lines enable a team of BA wearers in a risk area to retrace their steps to the ECP and subsequent teams to readily locate them or the interior scene of operations. The lines are always considered in the following situations: when there are no other means tor firefighters to trace the way out of the exposure during conditions of thick smoke, hoselines are submerged in flood premises, hoselines have been hauled aloft, or high-expansion foam is in use.
I he guide line is constructed of unpolished. usually plaited rot-resistant hemp or synthetic material —not a thermoplastic. which is susceptible to melting. (Recent tests showed a line with Kevlar ’ core and polyester sheath the most favorable.) The line is approximately ¼-inch in diameter and 200 feet long. A small snap hook is attached to one end of the line, and a loop is formed at the other and connected to a snap hook within a vim 1 container. The hooked end of the line is deployed through a hole in the lid of the container, referred to as the “pay-out” end. At approximately eight-foot intervals, tabs are fitted in pairs along the length of the line. In each pair, the tab closest to the pay-out end (approximately two inches long) is knotted: the other tab is unknotted and approximately six inches long. The tabs provide direction for firefighters. As they enter the exposure, they first encounter the knotted tab followed by the unknotted tab. To exit the exposure, they first encounter the unknotted tab and then the knotted tab.
The container carrying the guide line is designed to be worn by a BA wearer or attached to the BA unit. The guide lines are used as main guide lines, which are laid along a single route leading from the ECP to interior operations, or branch guide lines, which are used to search areas that extend beyond the reach of one personal line carried by the BA wearer. The ECO designates the lines “1,” “2,” “3,” or “4”; marks them with a plastic tally; and attaches them to the main guide line.
These procedures are intended to establish safe working practices for all wearers of SCBA. I would like to offer this comment, which the Joint Committee on Fire Brigade Operations placed at the start of its technical bulletin: “It is important that all firefighters who are required to wear breathing apparatus are not only adequately trained and thoroughly understand the operating procedures in all respects, but also that they faithfully and carefully carry out those procedures at an incident, and during training, because the success of an operation depends upon it. It is not only a question of individual safety but also the safety of colleagues. The success and safety of operations involving breathing apparatus does not rest only with those working within the risk area. It also depends upon effective control procedures. It is not sufficient for personnel to be completely confident in their own ability to wear breathing apparatus in hazardous conditions. They must also have full confidence that the control and support arrangements outside the risk area are being handled by colleagues who themselves know and understand the control procedures.”
