Skills Required and Expected for Rescue Teams - Literature review Example

Studying the Skills Required and Expected for Rescue Teams 1. Introduction “Disasters have plagued man since he first walked the earth, and they continue to affect the way we live practically every day” (Collins 2004, p.19). I selected the topic because in addition to the direct benefit to victims, effective disaster rescue operations carry a great positive societal impact. Moreover, it can attract the attention of policy makers because government’s response to a disaster is fundamental to its existence, since many have fallen because of ineffective disaster response. This because an administration that is powerless against a disaster is exposed to public opinion that obviously probes the leader’s ability to rule effectively. Therefore, the most logical route to evade such opinion is through rapid and efficient disaster response. More importantly, the public have a propensity to develop a sense of trust when they see a government managing a crisis effectively. As public expects a first-rate search and rescue service virtually in every situation, rescue has become an applicable, rational, and proven justification to develop the rescue capabilities of local fire departments. From the public’s perception, fire departments are normally the most cost-effective and competent entities ready to provide advanced rescue service on a daily basis. It is a feature of a progressive society that increasing level of specialization, supported by specialized training, research and development, and resources, are mandatory for fire fighters and rescuers to counter that hazards with which they are confronted. Today, the notion that a usual tailboard fire fighter has all the skills required to deal with all fire and rescue hazards safely by virtue of conventional fire academy training and fire ground familiarity combined with common sense is no longer adequate. Although common sense is generally accepted as one of the most essential factor for effective disaster operations, every so often common sense in itself does not provide all the tools required to function in hazardous life and death situation. Many fire fighters have lost their lives undertaking what appears rational at the time, without the benefit of prescribed training and skill concerning particularly hazardous circumstances similar to those found in many technical rescue emergencies and disasters. The element of risk can never be removed from rescue, but it can be decrease through tedious exercise, proper equipment, knowledge of hazard, smart planning, competent incident command, and teamwork. Among these factors however, skill and realistic training are among the most significant. In disaster operations, it is intolerable to not do a job correctly the first time or take too long to conclude the operation, because it results in the potential for increase property loss and more casualties and injuries. Moreover, disaster operation skills become doubly essential when most of the tasks must be completed with a team of people. “Skills that required muscle coordination can degrade rather quickly” (Smeby 2005, p.107) and it is prevalent for members to have a better memory for the skill than their ability to perform the skill in actual situation. Thus, training in the basic skills must be an ongoing and requires endless development because the less often a skill is utilized, the bigger the necessity for rehearsing the skill. Rescue calls for diverse specialties that differ in environment and equipment. Specialties are based in the environments in which they are essential including mountain, wilderness, ice, water, and urban rescue as well as many others. Equipment varies significantly from rescue type to rescue type. Search and rescue is a particularly diverse field that probably involves more art than science. Knowing what will and what will not work is often coming from the well-informed opinions of those concerned, and these opinions may diverge significantly. What works in one solution may not work in others. For this reason, search and rescue is not easy to learn based on one source or the knowledge of one instructor. Therefore, it is essential in search and rescue to acquire knowledge from many sources, solving all with expediency and skills. Education is a means of acquiring specific knowledge and skills thus are important to the rescuer. A particular skill may be used, but circumstances will sporadically call for tools beyond the contents of one’s existing tool chest. In search and rescue, the “tools are collected from appropriate sources- through formal education and experience- and then used where necessary to meet an objective” (Cooper 2005, p.2). 2. Methodology Every methodical research commence with the researcher investigating reports of earlier studies allied to the topic of interest. This is because researchers intend to build an integrated, broad picture of the study and realize the progress that comes from building on the work of others. Moreover, researchers working alone without the assistance of earlier works are predestined to replicate the errors made by their predecessors (Cooper 1998, p.11). Literature review is characteristically known as a comprehensive independent works or as brief introduction report of new primary data. It can serve many different purposes and it can have several different motivation, objectives, viewpoint, coverage strategies, organizations, and audiences. For example, literature reviews can focus on research outcomes, research methods, theories, and applications. Literature review can attempt to integrate what other have done and said, to criticise scholarly works, to build bridges between related topic areas, to identify the central issues in a field (Arksey and Knight 1999, p.47). As a type of literature review, research syntheses focus on experimental studies and seek to go over previous studies by creating an overall conclusion from various distinct researches dealing with allied or very similar assumption. A theoretical review on the other hand can present the theories offered to clarify a specific occurrence and evaluate them in extensiveness, reliability, and the character of their deduction. Theoretical reviews normally have descriptions of critical research previously carried out or recommended, review of which theory is most dominant and dependable with known relations, and “sometimes reformulations or integration or both of abstract notions from various hypothesis” (Cooper 1998, p.11). Logically, a research needs to have a purpose and contains significant substantive or realistic concerns to be appreciated. Building a defence that these matters are essential involves connecting them to the literature, in addition to listening to stakeholders’ declarations that this is a significant matter for them. However, the research community is unlikely to be very attracted in a story of significance to one social work team except when it is linked to the current research discussions – to the existing literature (Arksey and Knight 1999, p.47). Skilled researchers re-evaluate earlier research to develop well-defined and more perceptive questions about the subject (Yin 2003, p.10). Literature review reveals the fundamental presumption behind the general research questions. It validates the researcher’s familiarity about associated research and the scholarly traditions that surround and support the study. It shows that the study has found some divergence in earlier research and that the proposed study will satisfy an established need. It improves and redefines the research questions by embedding them in larger collection of inquiry. In other words, “literature review is a conversation between the researcher and the related literature” (Marshall and Rossman 2003, p.43) A number of factors may negatively affect literature review. One is obscurity in drawing a conclusion when the number of studies on a subject is sizeable and results are contradictory. Moreover, it may be subject to potential partiality since researcher may inadvertently give more credibility to findings that are similar with their own belief (Polit and Beck 2004, p. 237). However, we will try to avoid these weaknesses by being careful and systematic about our research findings. 3. Presentation of Results People rescued by Fire and Rescue Service in England -1994 to 2003 Source: Fire and Rescue Services Rescue casualties Rescued unharmed All people rescued alive All Fires Dwelling Fires All Fires Dwelling Fires All Fires Dwelling Fires 1994 2,072 1,815 1,150 901 3,222 2,716 1995 2,137 2,034 1,155 918 3,472 2,952 1996 2,442 2,138 1,022 864 3,464 3,002 1997 2,684 2,347 889 701 3,573 3,048 1998 2,545 2,300 959 811 3,504 3,111 1999 2,511 2,252 1,413 1,043 3,924 3,295 2000 2,728 2,641 2,155 1,627 4,883 4,268 2001 2,671 2,412 1,409 1,176 4,080 3,588 2002 2,829 2,580 1,763 1,589 4,592 4,169 2003 2,735 2,441 1,606 1,427 4,341 3,868 Common Risks and Hazards Faced by Urban Heavy Rescue Source: Alexander (2002) Situation Associated Hazard and Risk Situations Cliff, gorges, ravines and mountains Falling debris, high-angle rescue by climbing or being lowered to site, hypothermia or hyperthermia, improper rigging, rope or roper system failure Coastal sea waters Drowning, fast currents, high waves, hypothermia Earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes and major landslides Building collapse, tunnelling into rubble and debris, other risks associated with disaster response Farms and other agricultural facilities Confined spaces, dust explosions, entrapment in machinery, fertilizers, hazardous materials High-rise buildings High-angle rescue, elevator rescue, fire Industrial Plants and facilities Confined spaces, explosions, exposed utilities, falls, hazardous materials, high-noise environments, machinery entrapment, stored-energy release, toxic gas emissions. New construction Entrapment in buildings, entrapment in machinery, exposed utilities, high-noise environments, structural collapse, trench rescue Old buildings Entrapment in building, exposed utilities, fire, hypothermia or hyperthermia, oxygen-deficient atmosphere, structural collapse Rivers, flood-relief tunnels, floodable areas, lakes Boats, drowning, electrocution, entrapment in submerge hazards, floating hazards such as logs, hypothermia, ice rescue, surface and underwater rescue, swift water rescue, toxic water conditions Sewers, tanks and cesspools Confined spaces, oxygen deficiency, toxic gases Transportation facilities Confined spaces, derailments, hazardous materials, machinery entrapment, toxic gas emissions, unstable heavy equipment Trenches Cave-in and burial, confined spaces, exposed utilities, falls, hazardous material release, oxygen-deficient atmospheres Wells and caves Confined spaces, drowning, hazardous environments 4. Analysis “The only way to safely solve rescue problems is with frequent quality training, the right equipment, and standardized procedures” (Buckman 2005, p.343). Today, improvised rescue is no longer acceptable since the public demands experience and skill. Our society expects fire fighters to come to the rescue with sirens wailing and pull out fancy rescue gear to accomplish a rapid and specialized rescue. Rescue situations have many concealed hazards. These can include hazards such as oxygen-deficient and contaminated environment, unstable floors and open excavation. Familiarity and training are essential to identify the signs that indicate a hazardous rescue situation exists. The moment the hazards are identified, it must be determine what measures are needed to protect the wellbeing of the team members, the fatalities of the incident, and other individuals in the vicinity. However, it requires experience and skill to know that a rescue scene is not safe to enter, and that familiarity could save lives (International Association of Fire Chiefs, 2007, p.669). Determining the need for a rescue team is only the beginning of an extensive process that also requires development, execution, and continuance. A rescue team will need at least twenty members skilled to the operational level in rope rescue, confined space search and rescue, trench rescue, and structural collapse rescue (Buckman 2005, p.343). After the training, preserving the skill level is extremely essential since rescue skills that are not being use daily tend to diminish rapidly. Many would agree that technical skills deteriorate considerably in a matter of months if not practiced. Today’s fire departments must keep on updating their fire fighting skills, emergency medical response, hazmat, weapons of mass destruction, driver training, etc. They need at least 8 hours training every month and this training can be in the form of a basic skill exercises to maintain fundamentals including scenario-based advance training (Buckman 2005, p.344). Some of the skills required by a rescue team member are rope, trench, structural collapse, wilderness, and hazardous materials handling skills. Rope rescue skills are utilized in various types of rescue. For instance, it can be use to lift an injured victim trapped inside a tank or lower rescuers down to the area where victims are trapped in a structural collapse. Rope rescue skills are the most flexible and extensively used technical rescue skills. In low-angle operations, slopes below 45 degrees, ropes are used to pull or raise a victim or rescuer particularly when sufficient footing is absent in areas such as dirt or rock embankment. This kind of operation also includes lifelines during ice or water rescues. In contrast, when slope of the ground is greater than 45 degrees, rescuers or victims are reliant on life safety roper for support. When other method of raising or lowering is not yet at the scene, high-angle rescue techniques are used to raise or lower a person. In different situation, a rope rescue is performed to take away a person from a position of peril and at other times, it is need to remove all ill or injured victims (International Association of Fire Chiefs 2008, p.762). Trench and excavation rescues are required when workers are trapped in an excavation collapse. In addition, it is also required when children playing around a pile of sand or earth were trapped when the pile collapsed. Incidents such this occur because safety precautions were ignored and one must realize that the collapsed product is unsteady and prone to more collapse. An individual trapped in these materials is difficult to pull out because of the massive weight of earth and sand. The individual must be carefully removed after shoring the sides of the excavation. A special rescue team that is trained and equipped is then required to erect shoring to protect the rescuers and the entrapped person from secondary collapse (International Association of Fire Chiefs 2008, p.763). “Structural collapse is the sudden and unplanned fall of part or all of a building” (International Association of Fire Chiefs 2008, p.767). The reasons for collapses may come from fires, insufficient used in construction or renovation, vehicle collide with the structure, explosion, rain, wind, blizzard, seismic activities, and hurricane. When this happens, changes in the building dynamics will occur resulting to possible building collapse. Rescue operations at a structure collapse depend on the size of the building and the extent of damage sustained by the building. This type of rescue requires special skills search the affected building systematically particularly on shoring and specialized techniques for gaining access and removing victims. Almost all fire departments are occasionally responding to a water rescue. Static sources such as lake may have not current, whereas a white water stream or flooded river may have a rapid current. During a flood, a dry wash in the desert can become a ranging monster. Common water rescue scenarios include cars rolling into lakes or streams, cars going off bridges, people falling into bodies of water, and swimmers getting into trouble. Consequently, fire fighters should be familiar with the skills and tools applicable to water-based incidents such as SCUBA, PFDs, and PPEs designed for water. Wilderness search and rescue or SAR is an activity that is conducted by a limited number of fire departments. It is included in the NFPA 1670, Standard on Operations and Training for Technical Search and Rescue Incidents, as part of technical rescue training. SAR missions consist of two parts, search and rescue. People who are hiking, hunting, or participating in other wilderness activities may become lost because they do not have the proper training or equipment for that activity, because the weather changes without warning, or because they become ill or injured. Normally, specialized rescue teams will bring personal protective clothing, communication equipment, extrication and medical equipment, and signalling devices. Hazardous materials are commonly recognized as any materials or substance that pose a significant risk to the health and safety of individuals or to the environment if they are not properly handled during manufacture, processing, packaging, transportation, storage, use, or disposal. Most fire and rescue departments are trained and equipped to respond to these emergencies, control the hazards, and evaluate people when required. Rescuers need to have formal training in techniques to deal with this kind of threat. They normally need training at the awareness level to gain knowledge and skills in identifying hazardous material, secure themselves, identify further assistance required, and control the affected area. At the operational level, they need to learn to analyze the extent of the hazardous materials incident, prepare for a preliminary response, execute the intended response, and assess the effectiveness of the actions taken to control the incident. Skills and training in emergency decontamination helps minimize the effects of chemical exposures. (International Association of Fire Chiefs 2008, p.767). Organized rescue teams deliver to the scene the benefits of extensive training and experience, combined with specialized equipment and experience, specialized equipment and techniques. However, outside rescue assistance may be necessary particularly when the technical rescue is problematical and taking too long or if the victims are badly injured (Cox and Fulsaas 2003, p.512). Rescue skills are need when basic skill and judgement fail and it takes time to develop these skills (Walbridge and Sundmacher 1995, p.9). In real situation, rescue skills are normally shared or shifted from one into another but the most important thing is to use rescue skills safely and effectively (Tyson and Loomis 2006, p.25). 5. Conclusion and Evaluation The widespread observation among many fire departments has traditionally been that fire fighters, because of their fire ground skills and common sense are fundamentally ‘jack-of-all-trades’ who are capable of finding ways to handle rescue problems. Regardless of the apparent substantiation to develop specialized rescue units, the common approach was emphasized to the point that rescue training and dedicated rescue companies were for many years is regarded as redundant. The predominant reason is they mostly believed that without formal rescue training and equipment, fire fighters would simply, one way or another, discover and pull out trapped people, even in extremely dangerous incidents like a collapsed building in the aftermath of a fire or an earthquake. Consequently, formal training for topics like structure collapse, trench/excavation collapse, high-angle rescue, swift-water rescue, and all skill enhancing activities for rescue operations mentioned earlier was practically missing. However, lessons were learned and accepted by fire departments, which was prompted to some extent by disasters and other well-known rescue-related events. Today, fire department-based rescue is an accepted practice across the western world and now “one of the things that fire fighters normally do” (Collins 2004, p.14). “Knowledge and skills applied at the rescue incident can mean the difference between life and death” (Hirst 2005, p.7). The best rescue systems are those that are supported by a large number of first responders who have broad rescue training through their fire department’s standard training and continuing education for all fire fighters. Another is those who have attended specialized rescue courses. Fire and rescue organizations that encourage and advance the level of training, knowledge, and skill among their fire fighters are often in the best position to control a full range of rescue crisis and rescue-related emergencies. Fire fighters are therefore need to solid knowledge base so that better judgments, assessments, and effective fire ground activities become possible. This is because studies in education and training over the years revealed that the main reason for poor performance and failures in rescue efforts are due to the lack of knowledge. “Lack of knowledge often results in poor or non-performance of critical emergency responses” (Hirst 2005, p.6). Technical rescue situations may include unseen hazards, and special technical skills are required for team members to safely access and work around the affected area. Therefore, it is not safe to include any personnel who do not possess the necessary special training and experience in such a rescue. Moreover, qualification standards in NFPA 1006 demand that fire fighters acquire new knowledge, develop new and higher level technical rescue skills, as well as participate in prequalification and in-service training programs on a regular basis. This is because nature’s fury in the form of earthquakes, mudslides, flooding, avalanches, tornadoes, and hurricanes, present several opportunities to employ specialized rescue skills and knowledge. Fire fighters and other first responders to these disasters have a responsibility to save lives, reduce further injury, and conserve property even in this type of emergency scene. This is because the public expect fire fighters to carry out their task accurately using various rescue skills. Rescue in its contemporary form is in reality an assorted collection of disciplines, often related by common equipment, governed by shared methodology, and conflicted by dissimilar regional names and policies. Regardless of the attempts made by various organizations to standardized, the vast majority of fire and rescue agencies still operate with widely diverse standards for training, equipment, and continuing education. “Rescue skills are critical and should be kept fresh by constant practicing and training” (Rohnke et. al. 2003, p.54). Fire fighting and rescue operations are increasingly more technically complex thus to offer superior services, members must undertake continuous training predominantly in EMS, technical rescue, and hazardous materials. These skills require considerably extensive training and can fade without regular training. The new rescue equipment creates new maintenance and inspection requirements that sequentially necessitate additional training on how to maintain and inspect new equipment. Fire and rescue responders benefit from assessing and leveraging their core competencies, their exceptional strengths that are essential to their organization. Maintenance of skills associated with high-risk, low frequency functions are a specifically essential aspect of regular training. Specific activities such as hazardous materials control and technical rescue fall into this category thus preserving special and basic knowledge through training is an important investment for the fire and rescue organization role of providing excellent, efficient, and safe services. Overall, the development of specialized rescue teams demand a systematic understanding of the intrinsic hazard potential present at a particular technical rescue response and the amount of commitment required in the way of financial support, training, and skill enhancement. This is because our society is becoming more technologically complex and the need for a more specialized form of rescue response has also grown. Today, fire and rescue personnel are expected to possess and demonstrate the skills and proficiencies required to counter many diverse situations. 6. 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