West Sussex Fire Brigade carries Fall Protection Equipment on all its appliances and Heavy Rescue Tenders. This has replaced the traditional lowering lines.

Following a review of the confined spaces regulations and consultations with the Health and Safety Executive the brigade carried out a risk assessment on lowering lines and decided that it must replace them as soon as possible in order to be able to put into place a safe system of work at any rescue type incident that either involved confined spaces or required some form of fall protection.

Prior to the introduction of this equipment, a project manager, (T) ADO Dave Dickson was appointed to steer the project and a tight time table for the replacement was set. Evaluations of equipment were carried out at all West Sussex fire stations including some 180 personnel. Following this and a tendering process the contract to supply the equipment was awarded to the National Access Rescue Centre (NARC). The pack of equipment consists of a 100m line, a rescue harness, a casualty harness, a braking device, a lifting device, anchor strops and carabiners, all to be carried in a bag the same size as the lowering line bag it was replacing.

Technical or trade names were deliberately avoided to avoid jargon. Instructors were trained and in turn started to train watch and station instructors in what will be the first phase of skills with the equipment, only when crews are fully conversant with the use of the equipment for confined space rescues will the training move on to working at height.

A safe system of work was developed with the full involvement of personnel. All the equipment has been asset tracked for future monitoring and a five year replacement programme has been set up.

All brick towers were fitted with anchor points to ensure a sound anchor for regular on station training. Within six months of the Management Team decision the equipment was placed on the run. The timetable and limit of skills will be set following an audit of personnel's skill with the fall protection equipment.

The reception that the equipment received from operational personnel has been extremely positive and everyone has appreciated that it is the beginning of a development of skills with the equipment that will only be limited by competence and training time.

Following introduction an exercise on a silo was held where the new equipment allowed the first responding crews to put into place a safe system of work for the stabilisation of a casualty - six months previously we would have been tying a bowline around someone.

The equipment allows the brigade to practically react to a combination of regulations and risk assessments, there is still much work to be done but the first responding crews now have the means to speedily deal with the problem that exists.