NEWS IN BRIEF

NEWS IN BRIEF

IAFF severs ties with NFPA

On January 14, 1993, the Standards Council of the National Fire Protection Association conducted a hearing on the proposed Tentative Interim Amendment (TIA) #396 to the 1992 edition of NFPA 1500, Standard on Fire Department Occupational Safety and Health. The amendment states that “companies shall assemble crews of at least four members before conducting an interior attack on working structural fires.” At the hearing, the Standards Council heard arguments on both sides of this controversial issue.

The Standards Council rejected the TIA, stating that “a consensus has not yet been achieved on the need for establishing a specific minimum firefighter staffing level beyond that already established by the standard.”

Following is a letter, dated February 10, 1993, to George D. Miller, president of the NFPA, from Alfred K. Whitehead, general president of the International Association of Fire Fighters, announcing the IAFF’s decision to sever its ties with the NFPA over the issue of minimum staffing. (The IAFF represents 195,000 professional firefighters in the United States and Canada.)

Tampering converts hand dryers to flame throwers

Forced-air hand dryers in the rest rooms of some inner-city schools in the Indianapolis, Indiana, area have been made to propel 25to 30-foot flames. Reported through the International Association of Fire Chiefs ICHIEFS fire service computer network and the January 15 edition of On Scene, published by the IAFC, the flame-throwing phenomenon was created by students who poured liquid hair spray into the units while the units were in the upright position. The liquid reportedly forms a puddle near the heating element, which ignites the liquid when the dryer is activated.

David J. Martens, Pike Township (IN) Fire Department’s (PTFD) training academy chief, reports that a leading manufacturer of forced-air hand dryers for commercial application is aware of incidents in which the dryers have been made to perform in this manner and acknowledged the potential for the “flame-thrower” effect. In fact, the company also had had reports of mace and urine being placed in the dryers.

The company sent a dryer to the PTFD for testing. Martens says the objective is to recreate the flamethrowing phenomenon and determine how it occurs. As of press time, the tests had not been completed. Unfortunately, explains Martens, the tests must be conducted in the department’s training tower/burn building, which normally is shut down during the winter. Attempts to get the temperature in the tower up to 70 degrees, the temperature needed to perform the tests, have been unsuccessful due to the area’s extremely cold weather, he says. Efforts to heat the tower so far have produced a maximum temperature of only 40 degrees, he adds.

OSHA moves to enforce TB guidelines

In the wake of an outbreak of tuberculosis (TB) among health-care workers, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is planning to issue a compliance directive for workplace exposure to the disease based on the guidelines issued in May 1992 by its Region II office, which includes New York, New Jersey, and Puerto Rico.

The guidelines stress medical screening for workers, removing workers with TB, training and education, isolating TB patients, and using respirators in high-risk situations.

One facility out of 14 facilities in Region II inspected by OSHA was cited with violating the guidelines and has had proposed penalties of S4,500 levied against it.

OSHA will cite five high-hazard facilities when the directive is made public: hospitals, nursing homes, correctional facilities, homeless shelters, and drug-treatment centers.

An issue under consideration by OSHA is the use of personal respirators to safeguard health-care workers from exposure to the highly contagious TB. The National Institute of Safety and Health (NIOSH) recommends their use: The law requires that NIOSH assess health risks and recommend the best methods for eliminating them without considering cost or feasibility.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends respirators only in high-risk situations. Current research does not support the use of personal respirators except in highrisk situations, says Dr. William Roper of the CDC, who explains that the CDC is assessing the “effectiveness of all preventive interventions, including cost-effectiveness.” The CDC will stress engineering and administrativecontrols so that personal respirators can be used only when necessary and is planning to revise its 1990 TB prevention guidelines. Revisions will address the following areas: patient and health-care worker education in identifying the risks of TB, measures for preventing it, early identification and management of TB patients, and risks of transmitting the disease in outpatient settings.

Source: OSHANHWS, The Merritt Company, P.O. Box 955, Santa Monica, CA 90406; (BOO) 658-7597, Nov. 9, 1992.

Smoke detectors recalled

BRK Electronics is voluntarily recalling its 18391 and 28391 series of smoke detectors in cooperation with the Consumer Product Safety Commission. reports the New York State Department of State Office of Fire Prevention and Control (SIREN, Nov./ Dec. 1992). The horn in some of these detectors may fail to sound in a fire. No battery-operated smoke detectors are affected by the recall. The recall is the second phase of a twopart field and laboratory testing project involving 18391 and 28391 series detectors manufactured from October 1987 through March 1990, which began more than three years ago. A consumer test and replacement program had been implemented for these models.

The recalled detectors were manufactured and installed in new homes, apartments, and mobile homes purchased in 1988. 1989, and 1990. They can be identified through the User’s Manual or, if the manual is not available, through an identification kit available from BRK. The company recommends consulting the kit before removing or replacing the detector.

CHEMTREC® update

CHEMTREC, a public service established by the Chemical Manufacturers Association (CMA) and its members in 1971, is in operation 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It can be reached through its tollfree emergency telephone number, 1-800-424-9300, from anywhere in the United States, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Canada. From outside the l nited States and from ships at sea, calls can be made on the international/maritime line: 1202-48.3-7616 (collect calls are accepted).

Staffed around the clock by trained personnel, CHEMTREC can directly contact the majority of major manufacturers and thousands of shippers of hazardous materials whose products may be involved in an accident and carriers who may be transporting these materials.

Among the services CHEMTREC provides are the following:

• Arranging teleconferences between on-scene emergency responders and representatives of the shipper or manufacturer, medical professionals, and other technical resources for the purpose of obtaining immediate advice and assistance.
• A reference library with more than one million MSDSs (including those from non-CMA members who have registered with CHEMTREC). Emergency responders at the emergency scene can have access, via fax, to them within seconds.
• An industrywide emergency response mutual-aid network whose primary objective is to provide a chemical industry presence on the scene of chemical transportation incidents as quickly as possible. Participating chemical companies and commercial, for-hire contractors under contract to CMA
• provide the teams. The teams are available around the clock.
• A toll-free nonemergency telephone number (1-800-262-8200), which may be called from anywhere in the United States Monday through Friday, from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. eastern time, provides access to health, safety, and environmental information related to chemicals and chemical products.
• A free lending library containing more than 45 audiovisual training programs to guide personnel responding to hazardous-materials emergencies. They provide specific technical information and advice that assist in the safe and timely mitigation of incidents involving a variety of hazardous materials. Among the topics covered are chlorine, ammonia, liquefied petroleum gas (I.PCi), sulfuric acid, hydrogen peroxide, phosphorus, compressed gases, oxidizers, poisons, pesticides, swimming-pool chemicals, incident command, and decision making. Three programs are available in Spanish.
• A five-program series for hazardous materials response team members addressing emergency response for specific hazard classes such as oxidizers, poisons, flammable solids, corrosives, and flammable liquids.
• Training assistance that includes “hands-on” workshops for responders and making CHEMTREC available for emergency response drills.
• Through its Responsible Care initiative, CHEMTREC is committed to continually improving the chemical industry’s performance with regard to the safe distribution of chemicals, emergency preparedness, and prevention of accidents.

Additional information is available from CMA, 2501 M Street, NW; Washington, DC 20037, (202) 887-1 100.

The brand names and model numbers being recalled are the following:

BRK: 18391, 1839WI-12, 1839WIM, 1839112R, 2839WI, 2839TH.

Family Gard: FG18391,

FG1839IHD.

First Alert: SA1839WI.

Note: 1839 and 2839 series detectors with a yellow or orange label and an “N” after the model number are not affected by the read!

For more information, call BRK at 1 -800-228-2250.

NFPA 472 revised

The 1992 edition of the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) Standard i ~l, Professional Competence of Responders to Hazardous Materials Incidents, has been extensively revised. Among the revisions, according to the I la/.ardous Materials Training and Fducation Association, are the following:

• Awareness, Operational levels: Criteria are basically the same as those in the 1989 version of the standard.
• Technician level: Competencies in the areas of transportation, container behavior during emergencies, and defensive actions have been added or modified.
• Hazardous Materials Specialist: Removed from the standard. The committee intends to develop a sepa-
• rate standard for this category. In the meantime, the only criteria for this category are contained in Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 1910.120, paragraph (q).
• Incident Commander level: Specific competencies have been added.
• Off-Site Specialists (responders from industry) “A,” “B,” and “C”: Specific competencies have been added.

NFPA firefighter injury statistics

Based on survey data acquired from fire departments responding to its U.S. Fire Experience survey, the National Fire Protection Association estimates that 103,300 line-of-duty injuries occurred during 1991, or 7.1 injuries per 1,000 incidents. Some 6,200 firefighters sustained injuries requiring admission to a hospital during that same period.

The majority of injuries (54 percent) occurred during fireground operations. The major types of injury categories, based on NFPA 901, Uniform Coditig for Fire Protection, break down as follows:

Fireground Operations

Strain, sprain, muscular pain: 35.2 percent.

Wound, cut, bleeding, bruise: 17.9 percent.

Smoke or gas inhalation: 11.2 percent.

Burns: 8.9 percent.

All Nonfireground Activities

Strains, sprains, and muscular pain: 49.8 percent

Wound, cut, bleeding, bruise: 20.5 percent.

When fireground-related injuries were analyzed with regard to cause (defined as the initial circumstance leading to the injury), the leading causes, again based on NFPA 901, were the following:

• Overexertion, strain: 22.6 percent.
• Fell, slipped, jumped: 21 percent.
• Exposure to fire products: 20.4 percent.
• Stepped on, contact with object: 10.4 percent.
• Struck by object: 9 5 percent.

Other causes involved exposure to

chemicals or radiation (four percent), extreme weather (37 percent), caught, trapped (1.3 percent), and other (7.1 percent).

Among other statistics contained in the report are the following:

Firefighters injured while responding to or returning from incidents in department apparatus numbered 1,075. In addition, 1,375 accidents involved firefighters responding to or returning from incidents in their personal vehicles.

The average number of injuries per department ranged from a high of 470.71 for departments protecting communities with populations of 500,000 to 999,999 to a low of 0.38 for departments protecting communities with populations of fewer than 2,500. In general, the larger the community, the higher the number of injuries.

For additional information, consult the NFPA Journal (Nov./Dec. 1992) or contact the NFPA at (617) 7703000.

NYC Fire Chiefs lobby for sprinkler protection in residential dwellings

Stressing that more than 150 lives— many of them children’s—are lost each year in residential building fires in New York City, the New York City Fire Chiefs Association (NYCFCA) is advocating that the city’s building codes be revised to mandate full automatic sprinkler protection in all new residential building construction, both multiple dwellings and private dwellings.

In addition, the group supports requiring the retrofitting of existing multiple and private dwellings with full automatic sprinklers when these structures undergo major renovations.

“While the total fire deaths in New York City vary each year, what remains constant is that 70 to 80 percent of these deaths occur in residential buildings, both private and multiple dwellings,” says Thomas M. Kennedy, NYCFCA president. He adds that newly developed technology has made low-cost residential sprinkler systems available and that municipalities across the United States arcadopting legislation requiring them.

Emergency Medical Radio Service is now a Public Safety Radio Service

Fhe Federal Communications (aimmission has created a new Emergency Medical Radio Service (EMRS) and has designated it a full-fledged PublicSafety Radio Service, announces the International Municipal Signal Association (IMSA). The joint IMSA/Intcrnational Association of Fire Chiefs frequency coordination team will serve as the FCC’s certified coordinator for the new service. The two associations had petitioned the FCC to establish the EMRS.

Tile new FCC rules limit eligibilityin the new EMRS to “persons or entities engaged in the provision of basic or advance life support services on an ongoing basis.”

According to details available at press time, among the provisions in the FCC directive are the following:

• Various channels currently allocated to the Special Emergency Radio
• Service and five pairs of 220 mHz narrowband frequencies have been reallocated for EMRS licensees’ use.
• Emergency Medical Service communications “are those relating to the actual delivery of emergency medical treatment including: (a) transmissions between rescuers at the scene of an accident or disaster and physicians at a hospital; and (b) the dispatch of emergency medical providers transporting injured persons to hospitals and trauma centers.”

The full implications of the new radio service and its integration into fire, rescue, and emergency medical sector operations will be explored in a series of panel discussions and presentations during the 1993 IMSA Annual Conference at the Waterside Marriott Hotel, Norfolk, Virginia, July 24-30. More information is available from Freda Lippert Thyden, FCC Private Radio Bureau, (202) 634-2443, or Bob Tall, IMSA, (904) 42.3-0743, Fax: (904) 426-1740.

Muster aims to acquaint youth with emergency service career options

The Rocky Mountain Muster ’93 national educational conference for youths interested in careers in the search and rescue, law enforcement, firefighting, and emergency medical fields will be held from August 7 through 14 at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Presented in cooperation with the Boy Scouts of America Exploring program—for youths from 14 to 21 years of age interested in learning about specific careers—the Muster will feature some 70 workshops and handson sessions covering topics such as wildfire safety, hostage negotiations, crime-scene investigations, haz-mat emergencies, urban rescue, wilderness survival, head-injury treatment, and cold-water drowning.

Off-site field courses will include white water rescue, taught on the rapids of the Arkansas river; highangle rope rescue; cave rescue; S.W.A.T. team deployment; and fire pumper operations.

SARCOMP ’93, a search-and-rescue competition designed to challenge participants’ skills, such as using a map and compass, starting a fire, evacuating litters, and searching strategies, will be featured. In addition, a staged mass-casualty incident, which will present attendees with opportunities to work together and practice their newly acquired skills, will mark the end of the week’s activities.

For additional information or registration materials for Muster ’93, contact Rocky Mountain Muster, 3950 Interpark Drive, Colorado Springs, CO 80907, (303) 444-9017 (Chuck Sampson) or (.30.3) 220-2000 (lance Gruner).

Boy Scout Exploring units, available throughout the United States, cover a variety of career areas More than 5,200 of them relate to the emergency service and are sponsored by local police and fire departments, hospitals, and search and rescue teams. Information on the units is available from local Boy Scout offices.

Fire safety education program

The U.S. Fire Administration of the Federal Emergency Management Agency has launched its “Home l ire Safety. Act On It!” national public education campaign. Its objective is to have the fire service use the media more effectively to educate the public about potential fire hazards in their homes and ways to “act on them” so that fire-related tragedies may be prevented. An integral part of the program is a press kit containing press releases, public service announcements, editorials, tip sheets, and ideas for stories to be used to raise the public’s awareness of fire hazards and to increase the chances of surviving a residential fire.

Other program components include fire safety messages that will appear in bedding industry trade publications and national public service announcements featuring television talk-show co-host Kathie Lee Gifford and her son Cody.

For more information or to request a kit, contact the USFA, 16825 South Seton Avenue, Emmitsburg, MD 21727.