Firefighting principles

A whole range of precautions may be based on the principles summarized earlier. However, general precautions, applicable to the majority of work situations, are listed in Table 5.13, many of which are included in legal requirements. For example, in the UK The Fire Precautions Act 1971 specifies requirements for fire resistance of surfaces and building structure, assessment of risk, means of escape, means for giving warning, firefighting equipment, and fire instruction and drills. 

Training of emergency responders (firefighters, police, and emergency medical services) for responding to weapons of mass destruction should emphasize critical concepts for self-preservation and effective casualty management. Training should include both classroom instructions on basic concepts and principles, hands-on demonstrations of required skills, and drills to reinforce basic procedures. The recommended topics to be covered include ... 

Situational questions might be more difficult to anticipate and to answer than general or personal questions, but the answering process and the principles of presentation and honesty still apply. It is a good idea to prepare for this type of question in case you are asked one like the following You are alone in a private house with another firefighter. You see him take a wristwatch... 

Another phenomenon associated with a crude oil fire is stopover. Basically, die same principles that are responsible for a boilover are the cause of a stopover. The fundamental difference is that in a stopover the reaction is from water that has entered the tank since the start of the fire. Usually this introduction is die result of firefighting activities. A slopover will occur at some point after the heat wave lias been formed. Eidier the water from the hose streams or, after the bubbles collapse, the water in the foam will sink into the oil, contacting the heat wave, where it is converted to steam, and die agitation of the liquid surface spills some amount of oil over the tank rim. 

A knowledge of chemistry is useful to almost everyone—chemistry occurs all around us all of the time, and an understanding of chemistry is useful to doctors, lawyers, mechanics, business people, firefighters, and poets among others. Chemistry is important—there is no doubt about that. It lies at the heart of our efforts to produce new materials that make our lives safer and easier, to produce new sources of energy that are abundant and nonpolluting, and to understand and control the many diseases that threaten us and our food supplies. Even if your future career does not require the daily use of chemical principles, your life will be greatly influenced by chemistry. 

Standards are the baseline from which all continuous improvement activities can be measured. An example I often use is that of an order picker in a Toyota distribution center. I am not sure if the facts I use are correct, but that is inconsequential because what is important is the concept. Standard work for order pickers is 12 picks every 15 minutes. If in any 15-minute period they do not make their standard, they have to signal their supervisor. The supervisor immediately responds and approaches the order picker not to ask why he did not work to standard, but instead to ask what process problem, or problems, prevented him from making standard. Was the inventory count incorrect Was the inventory in the wrong location These and other questions will be asked until the problem is solved. This short, simple example demonstrates three distinct principles of lean respect for people, standard work, and a continuous improvement culture. Having defined standards that everyone understands enables the other two principles. Unlike this example, the actual workday of many supervisors is one spent firefighting rather than focusing on continual Improvement. Moving from one problem to the next fills their days because standards are unknown or not communicated. 

At the macro- and microsystem level, leaders must hardwire patient safety into the daily lifeblood and operations of the organization. Embracing and applying lessons learned from leaders in other industries, such as aviation, nuclear power, firefighting, and manufacturing, can inform and accelerate action. There are known safety principles from industry that can be incorporated into daily work (Helmreich, 2001) ... 

Firefighting is just one part of the overall topic of emergency management, the principles of which are discussed in Process Risk and Reliability Management. The Table of Contents for that chapter is given in Table 9.1. 

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