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Displaying items by tag: Height Training Programme

#DublinPort - In recent weeks Dublin firefighters scaled 110ft high container gantry cranes in Dublin Port so to play out real life situations as part of an ongoing height training programme.

Firefighters and paramedics from Dublin Fire Brigade were invited to the port by terminal operator Peel Ports, where they were given the chance to practice for worst case scenarios at height.

The cranes are used to load and unload container ships calling at the port and bound for locations in the UK, the Netherlands, France, Iberia and onwards worldwide. Up to 170,000 TEU pass through Peel Ports’ MTL container terminal each year, carrying a variety of goods and materials.

Firefighters recreated a situation whereby a crane driver had suffered a heart attack while in the cab. From the arrival of the height rescue team, they had scaled the crane, treated the driver and safely brought them to ground level within 28 minutes. This scenario also had an advanced paramedic treat the casualty from the top until they were lowered.

In a second drill, a maintenance engineer suffering spinal injuries was stabilised and brought to ground level while being treated by paramedics within 40 minutes.

The visit was also used by Peel Ports to strengthen and test its own health and safety procedures.

John Robinson, an officer and heights rescue instructor at Dublin Fire Brigade, said “It’s a great opportunity to train with the cranes here in the port. This allows us to build our training around a real life scenario that our fire crews could get called to and makes it interesting for them. I’d like to thank Peel Ports for allowing us to train on their facilities and we look forward to building this relationship further in the future.”

Stephen O’Gara, Operations Manager from Peel Ports, said: “We would like to offer our thanks to Dublin Fire Brigade for accepting our invitation to train using our facilities at the port. Working closely with our emergency services and preparing for the worst case scenarios ahead of time is incredibly beneficial for everyone involved and could be crucial when it comes to resolving a potentially life threatening situation. Health and safety is absolutely crucial to everything we do at Peel Ports, with our central aim that each member of staff returns home safely every day. We look forward to welcoming the fire crew back to the port at a future date and continue developing this important relationship”

For more information on Safety365 click HERE

Published in Dublin Port

Irish Sailing Classes and Association – There’s no shortage of one-design classes from which to choose and each gives its enthusiasts great competition, fun and camaraderie, writes Graham Smith in this review of the classes. 

One-design racing is where it all starts. It is, after all, where all the top sailors earned their stripes, battling away for line honours without a thought for a handicapper’s calculator wiping away a hard-fought victory!

Indeed, you could count on less than one hand the number of top Irish sailors who didn’t cut their teeth in a one-design dinghy! Just think of Cudmore, Barrington, Watson, Wilkins, Hennessy and Dix to name a few and you realise that they honed their skills in everything from Enterprises to Lasers and a lot in between.

At present count, there are a little over 30 one-design classes in Ireland, split almost evenly between dinghies and keelboats, a statistic which might raise a few eyebrows. They range from the long-established Mermaids, IDRA14s and Dragons to the newer additions like Fevas, Topaz and RS Elite. They all fill a particular need and give their owners and crews considerable enjoyment.

Many have attracted their World or European Championships to Irish waters over the years and while 2009 is notable for a lack of such events here, the following year will see the Etchells Worlds at Howth and perhaps a few other international regattas too.

In addition to the review, we asked each class to complete a questionnaire giving details of their fleet numbers, whether they were on a growth pattern or holding their own, so we could highlight those ‘on the up’ and those remaining static in terms of numbers. The older traditional designs, as you might imagine, fall into the latter category, although that’s not a negative!

CLASS REVIEW  The State of the Classes – League Table (as at February 2009)

S = Static; U = Up/growing

275     Optimist   U

200+   Laser   S

189     Mermaid   S

160     Flying Fifteen   S

130     RS Feva   U

115     Shannon One Design    U

100+   Mirror   S

100+   Topper   U

99       Topaz   U

94       Laser SB3   U

87       GP14   U

85       Squib   S

70       Fireball   S

70       Ruffian   S

60       J24   S

60       Shipman   S

52       Dragon   S

50       RS400/200   S

50       420    U

43       Multihulls    U

42       Dragon    S

40       Water Wags    U

40       Wayfarer    S

34       IDRA14    U

33       Puppeteer    U

28       Etchells    S

27       E-Boat    U

26       Glen    S

25       Enterprise    S

18       Sigma 33    S

18       Howth 17    U

13       RS Elite    U