Interesting article in todays Advertiser. I always thought it was Mt Bryan, not Mt Thomas? Never heard of that brigade
Off-road training forced on CFS
April 23, 2007 02:15am
COUNTRY Fire Service volunteers are not given fundamental off-road driver training, despite fighting fires in challenging terrain, an investigation has found.
The service has been forced to introduce widespread training and sweeping safety measures after an accident which left one volunteer a quadriplegic.
SafeWorkSA served service chief officer Euan Ferguson with three binding Improvement Notices, under the Occupational Health Safety and Welfare Act.
That follows an investigation into an accident last November 29 when three service volunteers from the Mt Thomas brigade were mopping up at a Bundaleer fireground in the Mid North.
The truck rolled and the driver was thrown from the cabin. He is in the Hampstead Rehabilitation Centre adapting to life without the use of his arms and legs.
The subsequent SafeWorkSA investigation has led to orders that:
ALL drivers of CFS appliances are adequately trained to ensure they are equipped to drive CFS vehicles on the environment they are required to operate.
All CFS personnel involved in making command decisions in fireground operations receive training and instruction in risk assessments.
SEATBELTS are worn at all reasonable times.
CFS manager of strategic services, Mick Ayre, said the accident was "a very big tragedy" but, considering there were 16,000 volunteers, the number of casualties in the organisation was very low.
"We have a motto which is safety first, come home safe and we try to engender that in all volunteers," he said.
Despite this and the fact "our volunteers are working in paddocks and all sorts of topography", he said the issue of off-road training among 450 brigades, with 800 appliances, had not been addressed as an "oversight".
"One of the things we have not been good at doing, is we have never really addressed effectively the driving of 4WD trucks off road," Mr Ayre said.
