Future proofing fire protection and improving the lives of fire service personnel – change the way you think about respiratory apparatus was the focus of MSA’s recent round table event.
Firefighter safety is clearly something that is top of everyone’s agenda across the fire and rescue service, as well as within industry where fire is a serious hazard of the job. As a leader in the development of breathing apparatus, MSA is keen to drive the conversation on how the industry can continually improve developments to ensure firefighter safety remains the utmost priority – after all, lives are at stake and we all want firefighters to get home safely to their families at the end of each day.
MSA recently held a round table event at the FIre Service College, Moreton in Marsh, UK where they brought together fire and rescue service and industry professionals from across the UK and Europe.
The purpose of the event was to understand in greater detail what is important when it comes to choosing breathing apparatus; what challenges are faced and how equipment needs to evolve. Comparisons between the experiences of first responder experiences and those working in industry were explored, as well as hearing of the contrasting issues faced across the UK, Europe and Middle East.
The roundtable panel itself was facilitated by Duncan J. White, Group Editor at MDM Publishing Ltd, publishers of UK Fire and International Fire Fighter magazines. The panel was made up of key industry figures with varying roles, responsibilities and experience in the fire industry across the UK and Europe, and they were joined by an audience who were given the opportunity to question the panel at the end of the discussions.
The panel members joining Duncan were:
- Jason Traynor, General Manager, Global Respiratory Protection and Fire Helmets, MSA Safety
- Philip Martin DMS, FIFireE, Former Assistant Chief Fire Officer, Cornwall Fire and Rescue Service
- Michael Cowans BA (Hons), MIFireE, Former Fire Service College Breathing Apparatus Instructor and UAE Governmental Instructor
- Caroline Anderson QFSM, Devon & Somerset Fire and Rescue Service, Vice Chair of Women in the Fire Service National Executive Council
- Patrick Tawney, London Fire Brigade
- Karvin Ahuja, Chief of Winterthur in Switzerland
- Marco Pfeuffer, Fire Officer, Mannheim, Germany
- Christophe Magrit, SCBA purchaser, SDIS76 (Rouen/Normandie)
- Brent Briard, Incident Response Service Manager Hinkley Point C Site Operations (EDF)
- Reuben Beavis, Research and Development and procurement advisor for Hinkley Point Power Station
- Andre Beard, Managing Director, Ashsafety Ltd (MSA channel partner)
Some of the discussion topics which were covered by the panel included;
- Challenges in specification of breathing apparatus
- What works and what doesn’t?
- The buying process – who are the decision makers?
- How much influence do the firefighters have?
How could the following aspects of breathing apparatus improve firefighter safety?
- Greater modularity
- Enhanced hygiene
- Reduced cost of ownership
- Improved ergonomics
- Highest safety standards
- State-of-the-art communication
- What one thing would transform the industry and make your life easier?
The event provided for a wide and varied debate and resulted in many questions from the audience which will feature in an event report to feature in future issues of UK Fire and International Fire magazines.
MSA are currently producing a webinar of the event which will be well publicised when available.
For more information, go to www.msasafety.com
