RMG Fire Service Training Day

On Thursday 15th September, members of the RMG Health & Safety team Roy Giff, John Teasdale, Andrew Saul and Ruth Delaney, along with colleagues from PFP took part in a training day with Tyne & Wear Fire and Rescue Service. This was to allow our surveyors to gain some valuable experiences with live fire and allow them a great opportunity to build on their CPD (Continuing Professional Development).

Tyne and Wear Fire Service, who are our Primary Authority Partners put together a fantastic day of training to give insight into their work; this was held at their state of the art fire safety training centre in Sunderland.  The aim of the day was for them to gain an insight into the role of an operational fire fighter and the physical requirements imposed on them whilst dealing with a live fire. This valuable insight allowed our fire risk assessors to experience first hand some of the challenges firefighters experience at a fire and also drive home the importance of their roles as fire risk assessors. It also allowed them to gain a better understanding of how a fire will affect premises and dispel the myths created by TV and Film.

The day was split into two halves and the morning saw our assessors take part in a question and answer session with fire officers on key topics such as fire safety in timber framed buildings, fire doors and fire alarm systems. After a short break for lunch they then had the chance to change into full operational fire kit and drive along in a fire engine before being set up with breathing apparatus and entering into two live fire scenarios.

The first scenario saw the assessors entering a smoke filled compartment where they experienced heat of around 200-250 degrees before putting the fire out using fire appliance hoses. The second scenario saw Roy, John Andrew and Ruth entering another smoke filled compartment and carrying out a fire fighting and search & rescue operation. During this exercise they were again exposed to 200 degree plus temperatures and had to rescue two casualties from the fire.

Assessor John Teasdale commented: “It was a truly exhausting experience, but training days like this are very important for the surveyors as it drives home the importance of our role in fire safety.”

It was a thoroughly enriching experience for all involved and they look forward for more opportunities to build their wider safety knowledge in future.