Haz-Mat Operational Refresher

[chiefbpfd 41]

What does your Department do for your yearly Haz-Mat operational refresher. Many people say OSHA this OSHA that. It does not say anything on how many hours. I feel sitting in a 8 to 16 hour class every year is kind of stupid. Who has the time? Anyway show me were it says the hours you must have.

[antiquefirelt 994]

What does your Department do for your yearly Haz-Mat operational refresher. Many people say OSHA this OSHA that. It does not say anything on how many hours. I feel sitting in a 8 to 16 hour class every year is kind of stupid. Who has the time? Anyway show me were it says the hours you must have.

Our FD runs a minimum of four training drills a year and one hands on exercise. They (OSHA?) also allow you to document a response as refresher training if it meets certain criteria. Our regional team hosts a 4 station 6-8 hour training program once a summer for all operations personnel in the county.

The sessions of the "Big Saturday" inlcude: Station 1: damming/diking, Station 2: go over a tank car/trailer and then use binoculars on placards downrange and answers 10 questions from the ERG regarding the placards you see, Station 3: a full patient/victim decon line, and Station 4: technician decon line.

[SteveOFD 176]

What does your Department do for your yearly Haz-Mat operational refresher. Many people say OSHA this OSHA that. It does not say anything on how many hours. I feel sitting in a 8 to 16 hour class every year is kind of stupid. Who has the time? Anyway show me were it says the hours you must have.

Go to this link at EMTBravo.net for a previous discussion on this topic. Click on the link in post #2 for the answer to your question.

Chief, I hope that it will not be "kind of stupid" if something happens to one of your Firefighters because he/she was not trained sufficiently. I recently lost one of my friends because of this.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Go to this link at EMTBravo.net for a previous discussion on this topic. Click on the link in post #2 for the answer to your question.

Chief, I hope that it will not be "kind of stupid" if something happens to one of your Firefighters because he/she was not trained sufficiently. I recently lost one of my friends because of this.

I hope I am not misinterpreting the original posters intent but I think that he meant siting in a classroom being lectured at is stupid not the training itself. I think the original poster was looking for ways to provide the training without requiring all of his people to sit through lectures. I.e. hands on training outside in real life situations, not hypothetical thought experiments within the confines of four walls. And I have to agree with him for the most part. The best training sessions I ever had were not spent behind a desk but instead hands on, down and dirty training knowing that I learned x,y and z; not oh my god, 4 hours passed and all I learned was x,y, and z. In this situation I think he means going over how to use the ERG again not in a class room but actually using the ERG in an actual simulation.

Edited November 24, 2010 by bvfdjc316

[SteveOFD 176]

I hope I am not misinterpreting the original posters intent but I think that he meant siting in a classroom being lectured at is stupid not the training itself. I think the original poster was looking for ways to provide the training without requiring all of his people to sit through lectures. I.e. hands on training outside in real life situations, not hypothetical thought experiments within the confines of four walls. And I have to agree with him for the most part. The best training sessions I ever had were not spent behind a desk but instead hands on, down and dirty training knowing that I learned x,y and z; not oh my god, 4 hours passed and all I learned was x,y, and z. In this situation I think he means going over how to use the ERG again not in a class room but actually using the ERG in an actual simulation.

I will wait for the Chief's reply and how he feels about the training.