Citation

García-Hernández C, Sánchez-Álvarez EJ, Ubieto-Artur P, Huertas-Talón JL. Safety Sci. 2019; 114: 105-113.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2019, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.ssci.2019.01.015

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This study compares three different methods to communicate the features of a building to firefighters, before starting a victim rescue during a live fire training program. Participants in this study did not previously know the hotel used for developing the activities. The effective number of participants was 144, all professional firefighters. One of the exercises in this training program was thoroughly designed not only for training purposes, but also to test different guide versions. The innovative guides were based on two different technologies (simple stapled sheets of paper and digital content displayed on a tablet) and were developed using several graphical tools (conventional pictures, aerial images captured with drone, 3D models, 360° pictures, etc.). With the intention of facilitating firefighters' activity during a victim rescue, results obtained using these tools were compared with a conventional communication method. The assessment methodology applied in this study included the use of an anonym questionnaire, as well as the analysis of the videos captured with action cameras, attached with a harness to the chest of two of the four firefighters in every team, during the training activities. Thanks to these videos, it was possible to compare the time required for rescuing the victim and to observe followed paths, visited rooms and substantial information about the tested tools, including valuable participants' comments. For in emergency situations, the tools described in this paper were preferred to the already existent self-protection plans, usually considered too extensive for fast communication, a matter of special importance in victim rescues.

Language: en

Keywords

Emergency; Firefighters; Graphical tools; Live fire training; Rescue of victims; Self-protection plans